Nitshill

Nitshill (Scottish Gaelic: Cnoc nan Cnòthan)[1] is a district on the south side of Glasgow.

It is north of South Nitshill, south of Crookston, and southwest of Silverburn and Pollok. Nitshill was originally a coal mining village. The Nitshill Colliery was the scene of one of Scotland's worst mining disasters—on 15 March 1851 in which 61 men and boys died.

The village fell within the county of Renfrewshire until about the 1920s, when it was incorporated into the City of Glasgow. The change in local government was mainly related to education and community services such as roads, water, sewerage and housing.

The village grew to accommodate people relocated during the Glasgow slum clearances in the 1950s and 1960s. The village became a low socio-economic area on the main Glasgow-Kilmarnock road and rail networks. However, there has been a move towards improving the district with the building of The Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, which houses the Nitshill Open Museum. This is a new purpose-built museum storage facility and visitor centre.

Nitshill is classed as a low socio economic area, part of the Greater Pollok ward. Studies have confirmed a strong association between deprivation and crime. It is no surprise, therefore, to find that the highest rates of crime in residential areas in Glasgow are to be found in the most deprived areas of the city.[2]

The poet and folk singer Jock Purdon was born and grew up in Nitshill.

Tunnel under railway east of Nitshill Station

Nitshill railway station is on the Glasgow South Western Line and has a memorial to the former station clerk John Meikle, killed in action in France in 1918, aged 19, and awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

Househill Mansion

Househill Mansion was built in the early 19th century to replace an earlier house on the lands of Househill belonging to the Dunlop family. It became the home of John Cochrane and his wife Catherine Cranston, proprietor of Miss Cranston's Tearooms including the Willow Tearooms in Glasgow designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. In 1904 she commissioned Mackintosh to re-create the interior of her home, including redecoration of rooms, provision of new fire-surrounds and design of furniture. One end of the music room was semicircular in plan, and he extended the shape into the room with a horizontal rail at picture rail height about two feet (600 mm) clear of the curved wall which continued round into the room space to complete the circle. This horizontal circle was supported on a curved screen of narrow vertical slats for much of its length in the room, and on fittings against the wall which incorporated benches and window seats in his typical style. The centre of the circle was marked by a similarly slatted light fitting hanging from the ceiling. Catherine Cranston sold the house in 1920 after her husband died. The house was demolished around 1930 after being badly fire damaged.

Victoria coal pit disaster

On 15 March 1851 an explosion at the Victoria coal pit killed 61 of the 63 men and boys in the mine at the time. Two survivors were rescued 45 hours after the explosion.[3]

References

  • Robert Macleod, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Country Life Books 1968

Notes

  1. ↑ "List of railway station names in English, Scots and Gaelic – NewsNetScotland".
  2. ↑ "The deadly link between alcohol and crime Police call to limit sale of drink in deprived areas". HeraldScotland.
  3. ↑ Nitshill 15 March 1851 scottishmining.co.uk, accessed 10 February 2010

Coordinates: 55°48′N 4°22′W / 55.800°N 4.367°W / 55.800; -4.367

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