Tag Archives: George Square

The Duke of Wellington in Glasgow

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More often than not the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow has a traffic cone on his head. Apparently it was way back in the 1980s when someone decided that the addition of a cone would be an improvement and it’s the sort of irreverence which goes down well in Glasgow.

Wellington

But the powers that be feel the need to remove the cone, feeling that somehow it gives Glasgow a ‘bad name’. How out of touch can you be?! Everyone goes there especially to see the cone topped statue. Anyway, it’s never gone for long as some daredevil usually takes their life in their hands to replace the cone within 24 hours.

Just before Christmas Santa climbed up there and the police arrested him, much to the chagrin of the bystanders. You can see some photos of the incident here.

And following the horrific accident which occurred on December, 22nd a lovely Glaswegian changed the normal traffic cone for a black one. It was only fitting that Old Ironsides should be in mourning with the rest of us.

I took the above photo of the statue on Saturday when we were in Glasgow, amongst other things we visited GOMA which has an Alasdair Gray exhibition on at the moment.

Wellington

Glasgow’s George Square at Christmas

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It was a dark and dampish night when we decided to walk into the city centre to have a look at Glasgow’s Christmas lights. Below is George Square which has played a part in Glasgow’s more recent history as it was the location of mass protests in 1919. It is the only time that tanks were deployed in Britain. You can read about it here.

George Square

It has probably been about 15 years since I had seen George Square all lit up at Christmas, so I must admit that it was a wee bit of a shock to see a big wheel and those flying swing things actually in the square, but I don’t suppose there is anywhere else they could go.

George Square

I’m pretty sure that they used to have a mini ice rink set up in George Square years ago but thinking back to my childhood memories of the place at Christmas it’s really only the nativity scene which sticks out in my mind. I don’t know why that should be as I know that I always found it to be a bit tacky looking. Anyway the fairground attractions seem to have taken over.

George Square

The war memorial is just visible on the right hand side of the photo above. And there it is again in the photo below, it’s the massive light coloured stone monument. The building which is lit up behind it is the Glasgow City Chambers, a really beautiful building. At the time it was built there was consternation over the cost of it all as it is marble lined but as they said at the time – the marble meant that they would never have to pay out any money to have it re-decorated, it just needs a wash down every now and again.

George Square

You can see images of the Glasgow City Chambers here.

Below is the central portion of the City Chambers.

George Square

If you want to see some daylight photos of George Square have a look here.

A bit of the inside of the City Chambers was used in the film of Edith Wharton’s book House of Mirth and more recently Glasgow has been used as a stand in for San Francisco. You can read about some of the films which have been made in Glasgow here.