COWCADDENS - A Tale of Two Fountains

Cowcaddens, once a small steading with hay in the loft and cows in the byre, and now engulfed by the metropolis that is the city of Glasgow. But oh how things change. The rows of old tenements that heralded that engulfing process became slums and were replaced with new tenements which themselves became slums and in the end everything was bulldozed As you wander around Cowcaddens today it is impossible to imagine what it looked like even as late as the 1960s. Street upon street lined with tenements, each with shops and pubs at ground level, and the occasional church, business and park sprinkled here and there. Today, there is more or less nothing of the old Cowcaddens left. Like the Gorbals, Townhead, Springburn and other areas of the city, street upon street lined with tenement upon tenement were razed to the ground. Another Glasgow community torn asunder. But what is it with the fountains, Ed, I hear you say; I thought this was a tale of two fountains? Well, gather around the telly my friends, and we will begin … … Long long ago, there were two fountains in Cowcaddens. One was in a park: the Phoenix Park, and the other was by a pub in a tenement: The Gushet Bar at the corner of Cowcaddens Street and Port Dundas Road. But then came the 1950s, 60s and 70s and the big bad dragon of ‘Comprehensive Redevelopment’. And so the park with the fountain and bandstand was demolished, and in its place was a motorway, the M8 motorway, along with tall high-rise flats – much higher than a tenement – that allowed residents to see beyond Dobbie's Loan and the motorway to small steadings with haylofts and byres far far away. The other fountain – a drinking fountain – still exists, but like most fountains in Glasgow it has been moved about many times over the years, like it’s always just been in the way. The William Annan fountain was gifted to the city of Glasgow in 1915 by publican William Annan, but what with all the destruction of tenements, pubs and most of Cowcaddens it wasn’t required any more, and so was dismantled and placed in storage. In the 1990s it was taken out of storage, given a dust, and re-erected at the top of Renfield Street. But it sort of got in the way again and so was dismantled and moved a short distance, still in Renfield Street. Today, the William Annan fountain is once again in the way, cluttering up the place. Student accommodation is being built, and it has been decided that the fountain should form a part of the development, but not where it currently stands. Sigh! Ending with a pint in the Station Bar, Ed rambles on some more about this and that, and in the end wishes Cowcaddens was just a little steading once more; one with hay in the loft and cows in the byre, back in those halcyon pre-engulfment days when fountains weren't a problem.