St. Enoch Square is actually sacred ground. It is the site of the chapel and last resting place of St. Thenew, the mother of St. Kentigern, also known as St. Mungo, the Patron Saint of Glasgow. The name Enoch is considered to be a corruption of Thenew. Since consecration, the land has been venerated and marked by a succession of chapels. Sadly, this came to an end in 1926 when the last St. Enoch Church on the site was demolished. With its disappearance, respect and recognition for the hallowed grounds ebbed away. They became a car park and later a bus stance. However, all is not lost and perhaps they will be honoured again in the future.
This Valentine’s Series postcard of St. Enoch Square was registered in 1911 but the photograph may have been taken earlier. It shows the St. Enoch Church, the entrance to the St. Enoch Subway Station and the St Enoch Hotel and Railway Station, the latter being the principal terminus and headquarters of the Glasgow & South Western Railway. The church had been rebuilt from an earlier one whose foundation stone was laid on 12th April 1790 and the spire had been retained. The railway station entrance and hotel were constructed on the site of the Surgeons’ Hall which stood on the east side of the square. Today, only the Subway building survives. The church was unfortunately swept away in 1926 and the station and hotel in 1977.
St. Enoch Station opened in 1876 and the hotel followed three years later. It was described as “the most imposing structure in Glasgow” and with over 200 bedrooms was the city’s largest hotel. Both the station and the hotel were among the first buildings in Glasgow to be lit by electricity. ( This postcard was originally published by E. A. Schwerdtfeger & Co. but the name was subsequently removed from reissues once Great Britain headed into the Great War. )
Here is a later view of part of the St. Enoch Hotel which was an enormous structure extending well round the left hand side. The gas lamps in St. Enoch Square have now been replaced by electric lights and the intricate wrought ironwork of the standard is evident in the foreground. The city wanted its new electric lights to be artistic as well as functional. People are traversing the ramp leading up to the station entrance and there are large posters under the canopy featuring enticing destinations. Various vendors occupy the arches beneath the ramp, including Burgoyne & Co. wine merchants and Brown & Sons, selling paints and varnishes. Ivie Hair & Co occupy a double frontage so they were obviously doing a good business selling soap and candles, oil and lard. ( The publisher’s name is not printed on the card but I believe this to be an E. & A. Schwerdtfeger successor. )
It is now 1949 and much of the Square is now being used as a car park and for taxis. Even though the Second World War ended just four years previously, the scene suggests one of prosperity and not austerity. The banner across Buchanan Street proclaims the Scottish Industries Exhibition. Vendors are selling the same products from premises under the station ramp as were being sold 30 years earlier. ( Postcard published by Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd. )
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Great post as usual!
You’re welcome. Thanks for viewing.
It’s a brilliant site Chris. I remember the St. Enoch Hotel and in the 60s as kids daring each other to go inside the disused hotel and see if we could see the ghost (the grey lady), as I used to live on Bridgegate as a kid.
Thank you for the comment Eric. The site is a work in progress. I see you used to live on the Briggait. It must have been fun growing up so close to the City Centre.
Excellent reference. I will come back for more looks.
Bob
I was really pleased to see the old buildings. Born in Glasgow and using the subway from Govan to St. Enoch was great. The photos bring back memories.
I believe there was a music shop on the opposite side of St. Enoch Square. It was fairly large – you don’t happen to know the name of it do you?
6/10/2011
Very good website Chris; I have enjoyed it today. Hope you don’t mind my mentioning, however, that St Enoch Church was actually demolished in 1926. I researched this subject for a talk in 2006 to mark the 80th anniversary and managed to trace some very good photographs of the demolition work in progress, by consulting the local newspapers’ archive held at the Glasgow Room of the Mitchell Library.
A fascinating “journey through time” Chris! Thanks again for your work on your websites Chris; and again do hope that my information above is helpful.
Hi Brian,
Thank you very much for your comments and the information on St. Enoch Church. I had read in some published material that the church was demolished in 1925 but obviously the newspaper accounts will be more accurate as they were reporting the event as it happened. I have now made the change. Thanks again Brian for the information. I’m glad you are enjoying the website.
This really brings back memories. I lived at the top of number 24 St. Enoch Square in the late 50’s, early 60’s. My dad was caretaker of the office block and the National Commercial Bank (I think it was that one). Skinner’s the baker was next door and R.S. McColl just down. We had a flat on the 5th floor. My sister and I used to play on the flat roof.
John Hogan
Thank you John for sharing this information. I do not have a Glasgow Directory for that period but I have access to a 1927 issue and there was a National Bank at number 22, William Skinner & Son, Ltd., at number 30 and the Commercial Bank at number 32 St. Enoch Square. William Skinner also used to have a branch at 73 Eglinton Street and a long-established bakery and tearoom at 477 Sauchiehall Street on the corner with Newton Street.
Best wishes,
Chris
I remember Galloway the Butchers sat underneath the arches of St. Enoch Station on the Square and the corner of Howard Street – with sawdust on the floor. Galloway’s had a big red neon sign outside their shop which lit up the word GALLOWAYS bit-by-bit saying ‘GO ALWAYS (TO) GALLOWAYS’. My mother bought pork link sausages, pickled brisket, etc to take to her mother and sister-in-law in Newarthill (Lanarkshire) every week. Next to Galloway’s was a sweetie shop, where I’d get sweeties for the long bus journey.
Just after I left school, I worked in Glasgow and always took the train from St. Enoch Station to Thornliebank – 6 people to a compartment and no corridors. The smoke would kill you now. Thanks for your website – it’s been a great trip down memory lane for me.
Alice
Thank you Alice for sharing your memories of St. Enoch Station and the Square. It’s good to take a walk down memory lane.
Best wishes,
Chris
Hi Chris,
I have been told that the St Enoch Hotel burnt down but read on the net it was demolished. Can you clarify?
Nolly
Hi Nolly,
Thank you for your question. It’s my understanding that the St. Enoch Hotel was demolished in 1977 without the aid of a fire.
Best wishes,
Chris
What a great website…came across it while doing some research for work. Thanks very much for all the info!
Marianne
Thank you Marianne for viewing and for your comment.
Chris
Dear Chris,
Love the website, it brings back memories. When we emigrated to Canada in 1957, we were about to leave for the airport on a bus from St. Enoch Square when they told us that our plane was delayed and put us up in the St. Enoch Hotel for two days. To kids from the Glasgow tenements, this was pure luxury! The poor hotel staff did not know what hit them, all these weans running around their hotel. I don’t think the other guests were too impressed either. I later returned to Glasgow for a couple of years, and worked at Timothy White’s the chemist, at the corner of Argyle St. and the Square.
Rose
Hi Chris,
I was in the Gold and Diamond Exchange at 60 St. Enoch Square and there is a fantastic picture showing the demolition of some small structures in the Square where St. Enoch Church would have been. The man in the shop has been there for over 30 years but he did not know what the structures were. He thought it was the 1930s, so his assumption that they were air raid shelters but these did not come until later. Do you have any idea what they might be? If not, you might want to visit the shop to have a look. It is a fabulous photo and there is no doubt it is definitely St. Enoch Square.
David
Hi David,
Thank you very much for this information. I presently live far from Glasgow but am intending to visit this Summer so will endeavour to visit the Exchange and see the photograph to which you refer.
Best wishes.
Chris
I will go in and take a photo of it and send it to you. Won’t be until next week, but it is really intriguing and well worth investigating. I will be in touch.
David
Hi Chris,
Would you know the name of the dance hall in St. Enoch Square back in the 80’s?
Thanks.
Lorraine.
This brings back a lot of memories. I started work in the St. Enoch Hotel in the 1960’s until nearly the days when it closed. It was sad to see such a beautiful building demolished.
Jim
Unless memory fails me, I seem to recall that before the St. Enoch Centre was built the old station platforms were actually used as a car park. I’m sure I used to park my car in there sometimes. Would that have been late 70’s perhaps?
Norman
Hi Norman,
You are correct about the old station platforms being used as a car park. St. Enoch Station closed to railway traffic on 27 June 1966 as part of the reorganizationation of the railways undertaken by the then chairman of the British Railways Board, Dr. Richard Beeching. Subsequently, part of the station was used as a car park. Demolition of the station structure and the St. Enoch Hotel took place in 1977.
Chris
Chris,
There’s a photo of cars parked on the old station, during the redevelopment of the subway, on SPT’s site. See http://spt.co.uk/corporate/about/our-services/glasgow-subway/ or the page about St. Enoch at The Beauty of Transport blog.
I never knew there was a chapel in the square. Thanks for sharing these (and the comments too). I’ll need to have a look at the photos in the Gold and Diamond Exchange some time.
Derek
Hi Derek,
Thanks for sharing this information and for your comment.
Chris
Great pictures. I took my son and daughter on the old subway just before it closed. Whenever we visit the transport musem it reminds us of that last journey.
Hi Chris,
Loving all the old Glasgow shots. I’m working on an advertising campaign and was wondering if the top two shots of the St. Enoch are available for use? It would be good to hear from you and chat more if possible.
Regards, Scott
Hi Scott,
Thank you for your comment and I’m happy to help. I’ll contact you via email.
Best wishes,
Chris
During my student days, I got temp job assisting a security guard who was employed to oversee the car park (I think) on the then closed railway station platforms, circa 1968. During one evening I wondered through the disused part of the station buildings only to find long since abandoned offices and storage rooms (one or two levels below the platforms) wherein railway schedules dating back to the late 1890s were in abundance. I also recall seeing rooms filled with hundreds of large batteries (large glass jars still filled with acid + electrodes). Each battery had a maintenance card showing topping up procedures. What was surprising was the almost new state of these items (after 70 or so years)! Britain made quality products in those days.
Les
Hi Les,
Thank you for sharing this information. I wonder what such an early design of batteries would have been used for in the time leading up to closure of the station.
Best wishes,
Chris
Hi there,
Really enjoyed your site and the comments. I lived in Glasgow up to the age of 24 (now 58) and knew this area extremely well in the late 1960’s and 1970’s.
I can answer Lorraine McCarthy’s question about the dance hall. In the late 1970’s, the dance hall (disco as it was then) was known as the “Terminal One Club”. This name was an allusion to the fact that the early (1950’s and 60’s) coaches for Glasgow Airport departures to exotic climes left from here; I suppose it gave club patrons a sense of the “exclusivity” that the “Terminal One” had exuded in earlier years.
I hope this is of some help.
If I may can I ask a question about the Grey Lady ghost? Having grown up in Glasgow I had heard rumours as a child about the ghost. As an adult interested in supernatural stories, I cannot find any significant reference to the Grey Lady anywhere. I read a short story once, many years ago, that purported to tell a story of a hotel guest witnessing the apparition but I cannot recall the name of the book it was in.
Does anyone know any more about the Grey Lady of St. Enoch and have there been any more sightings since the hotel was demolished?
Many thanks
E. F. Traynor
Thank you Eddie and I have posted your comment and question.
Best wishes,
Chris
What an astonishing collection of photographs….utterly compulsive viewing.
In the early 1940s we evacuated as a family to Prestwick to escape the anticipated air raids which didn’t come until we had returned in 1942! During that brief time away I travelled daily by train from St. Enoch Station to and from school. I can vividly recall the curved incline from the Square up to the Station which was bordered by a low, stepped wall decorated with enamel advertising panels. The one best remembered (and I cannot be alone) was stark white with dark blue or black lettering proclaiming:
“They come as a boon and a blessing to men,
The Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley Pen”.
Can anybody add to this? Lipton’s Tea maybe? The demolition of the magnificent facade of hotel and station was one of the acts of appalling corporate vandalism to which the city has too often been subjected. This splendid website stands in testimony.
Thank you DNA for your kind comments and for sharing your experiences. Perhaps a reader will recall the advertisement to which you refer.
Best wishes,
Chris
Hi Chris,
This brought back memories of St. Enoch Square when I was young. I worked in a derelict building across from the hotel which had been empty for about 10 years. We renovated it and then it became the Firework Factory nightclub. During the renovations, when we lifted the floorboards, I found a 3rd Class passbook for St. Enoch Station and I have kept it ever since. I hope in the near future I can get it valued and sell it to someone who will appreciate it. Thanks for the memories.
Harry
Glasgow
Hi Harry,
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I’m glad you enjoyed the site and I hope you find a buyer for your passbook.
Best wishes,
Chris
Hi Chris,
I remember going to the Terminal 1 club in the 1970’s, it was great, with a friendly group of people. I also remember going to Gamps pub in Argyle Street, aw they were the days. Brilliant.
Margaret
Thank you for sharing this Margaret.
All the best,
Chris
I have a portrait of family members taken by Wm Elsmore of 4 St Enoch Sq Glasgow.
It was possibly taken in the 1930’s. Does anyone know anything about this photographer ?
Good morning,
I’m a writer at Scottish Field magazine and I’m putting together an article on ‘phoenix’ buildings – historical buildings which have been saved from falling into disrepair – and lost buildings in Glasgow.
I’m wondering if you could help me source the pictures of the following buildings you have used so that we can obtain permission to use them in our magazine:
The Grand Hotel, St. Enoch Station and Hotel, and St. Enoch’s Church.
I’m hoping to get images of the buildings in their prime and possibly the site once demolished/or the buildings put in place.
I appreciate any assistance you can give me with this.
Many thanks,
Stephanie
Hello Stephanie,
Thank you for your inquiry and you are welcome to use the images. The ones you mention are all from postcards and you could reference the Christopher Jones Collection at http://www.GlasgowHistory.com if you wish. Let me know if require high resolution scans.
Best wishes,
Chris
Hi Chris,
I have just begun to build a full 3D model of St. Enoch’s Square from 1900. The problem is that I can’t really make out the names of shops that were under the arches. Is there anywhere I could find this out? The Mitchell Library perhaps?
Thanks.
Ian
Hi Ian,
Thank you for your inquiry. There are currently some photographic prints listed on eBay that were taken around 1900, featuring the St. Enoch Hotel, the entrance to St. Enoch Station, and the shops under the arches. There is also an earlier lantern slide of the scene by GWW (George Washington Wilson) and it may be possible to make out the names of the businesses under the arches. And yes, you should certainly contact the Mitchell Library as they have an extensive photographic collection. I hope this helps.
Best wishes in your project.
Chris
Hiya Chris,
I met my then future husband on holiday in Blackpool in 1964. Then at 18 I moved up to Glasgow to be near him. I lived in Govanhill St. with a girlfriend and had my typist’s job transferred to BICC in Helen St., Govan. I used to catch the old underground railway from St. Enoch’s to Govan and back each day. Coming from St. Helens in Merseyside this was a bit of a culture shock for me but I loved it. My soon to be husband lived at 165 Gallowgate. Before I moved up to Glasgow I used to fly up from Manchester to Prestwick via BEA and an airport coach would drop me off at St. Enoch Square where my boyfriend was waiting. We married after moving back to England in 1966. Happy Days. Loved the photos.
Susan
Hi Susan,
Thank you for sharing this special time in your life and for giving us an insight into your Glasgow experience.
Wishing you all the best,
Chris
As a boy in the 1950s, I remember that there was an ironmonger/cutler on the West side of the Square. There was a Swiss Army Knife supposedly with a hundred blades in the window. I wish I could remember the name of the shop. Perhaps someone can help me.
Bruce