The ancient parish of Cathcart straddled the county boundaries of Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire. It extended over a much larger area than the present Glasgow suburb, stretching all the way from Langside to beyond Netherlee.
This early map of the Renfrewshire part of Cathcart dates from before 1800. It shows just one crossing over the White Cart Water, the present day Snuff Mill Bridge. Looking at the map it would appear to have been a toll bridge.
The familiar place names in the map give some clues as to their origins, even though the spellings have changed over the years.
This later map of Cathcart, from the mid 1880's, shows the county boundary still in place, but gives more details of the Lanarkshire side of Cathcart parish. By 1886 the railway had arrived in Cathcart and would soon expand into the surrounding areas.
At this time Cathcart had a twin village, New Cathcart, a settlement developed on the other side of the White Cart Water.
Cathcart Parish Council Chambers
Cathcart Parish Council Chambers were completed in 1907, 5 years before most of the lands within the old parish boundaries became part of the city of Glasgow in 1912.
Cathcart Old Parish Church, 1831
Cathcart Old Parish church was dedicated to St Oswald and built in a Norman style which is unusual in Scotland. James Dempster was the architect. Victorian photograph of Cathcart Old Parish Church Tower of ruined Cathcart Old Parish Church Present day Cathcart Old Parish Church
Construction of the new church had began in 1914 but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Great War. When work was restarted in 1923 its architect, Henry Edward Clifford, had retired on medical advice. His partner, Thomas Melville Lunan, was so badly affected by his experiences in the war that he was unable to work on his return to Scotland.
Cathcart Police Station, 1892
Cathcart Police Station was housed in a two storey building situated at the prominent corner where Merrylee Road meets Clarkston Road. It was designed in the Scottish vernacular style by Paisley based architect, Charles Davidson.
New Cathcart Church, 1908
The "New" in the church's title refers to its location in New Cathcart rather than the building, which was erected by the United Free Church of Scotland in 1908.
Cathcart Trinity Church
Cathcart Trinity Church was known as Cathcart South Church from 1929 until its merger with New Cathcart Church in 2002. Stained glass recovered from New Cathcart is on display in lightboxes near the entrance to the church. I've created a Illustrated Guide to Cathcart Trinity Church to show off the beautiful features of the building.
Glazed dome at Cathcart Trinity Church
The present day church hall was actually the original church when it was completed in 1889. The Buchanan Hall, behind the old church hall, was added to the complex in 1912. It features the beautiful dome, shown above, as part of its extravagant styling.
Couper Institute
The Couper Institute in Clarkston Road was funded by a bequest from Robert Couper, a member of the family who operated the Millholm Paper Mills on the banks of the White Cart Water.
The Public Halls opened in 1887, commerated by the plaque (left), above the entrance. The architect was James Sellars of the prodigious Glasgow partnership of Campbell Douglas and Sellars, who were responsible for other southside landmarks such as the Victoria Infirmary and Queen's Park Church.
Couper Institute Library, Cathcart
In 1923 the Couper Institute was extended with a new hall, followed the following year by a library (above). The stone colour and the building style closely match those of the halls erected 30 years earlier, creating a seamless frontage to Clarkston Road.
Holmlea School, Cathcart
Holmlea School, which was designed by A. Balfour, opened in 1908. It has a symmetrical Renaissance style frontage with modernistic Art-nouveau decoration to both the stonework and the fencing surrounding the playground.
The red sandstone façade has more elaborate features than is usual for schools of this time.
Holmwood House
Holmwood House in Netherlee Road, at the Glasgow city boundary, is Cathcart's architectural masterpiece, dating from 1858.
The house has been acquired by the National Trust for Scotland, and the original internal decoration restored. Fortunately the stencilled decoration by C.T. Bowie was left intact under layers of wallpaper during the period when the house was used as Our Lady of the Missions School by an order of religous sisters. A Illustrated Guide of Holmwood House and the surrounding scenery can be viewed at my dedicated page.
Savings Bank, Muirend
The former Savings Bank of Glasgow in Clarkston Road illustrates an inter-war version of the neo-classical which is much simpler than the Victorian interpretation of the same style. It has a glass roof over the banking hall which can be compared to the elaborate glazed dome over the Savings Bank in Ingram Street, which can be seen in the
Merchant City page of this website.
The district was the base of the Cathcart family, whose hereditary seat was Cathcart Castle. Very little remains on the site of the castle (left), which stood at the top of Old Castle Road. In 1980 what was left of the castle was declared dangerous and required immediate demolition.
The castle had been built by the Cathcart family around 1450. During the time of Wallace and Bruce an earlier structure was occupied by Alan de Cathcart, who was a staunch supporter of those legendary Scottish heroes.
On 14th August 1336 he was recorded as giving 20 shillings sterling out of the lands of Bogton to the Blackfriars Monastery.
The castle and surrounding lands of Cathcart, Bogton and Tankerland passed out of the possession of the Cathcarts in the mid 1500's, but were restored to family ownership in 1801 when purchased by the Earl of Cathcart.
Bogton had its own castle near to the present day Muirend Railway Station. Bogton Castle was actually a tower house built in 1543 for the Blair family.
It was demolished many years ago.
The architects, Crawford and Veitch, designed the building in an appropriate style for council chambers, with Baroque touches to brighten up the single storey frontage. The symmetrical façade features a central dome clad in lead.
The Chambers are situated in Prospecthill Road and are now occupied by local doctors as a surgery and health centre.
A photographic study of this building can be found in my Mount Florida Illustrated Guide.
Mount Florida is the nearest station on the Cathcart Circle to this building.
In 1931 it was partially demolished, leaving only the frontage accessed from Kilmailing Road, illustrated above, still standing. The surrounding graveyard is worth visiting if you wish to discover more about the local history of Cathcart.
The construction work to complete Clifford’s design intentions was overseen by the practice of Watson, Salmond and Gray. The church was finally completed in 1929, allowing the destruction of most of the previous church to commence two years later.
The new church's very solid mediaeval styling is certainly not typical of early 20th century Scottish architecture.
There is an unusual semi-circular feature facing into Merrylee Road which compensates for the simplicity of the overall design. The Police Station was built in pale cream sandstone, with the year of construction, 1892, featured in the stonework.
Cathcart is the nearest station to this building, which now serves as a local medical centre.
The village of New Cathcart grew around the present day Clarkston Road which dates from 1810. The new settlement was situated on the other side of the river from the old village.
The original building (now the hall) was erected in 1898 for the Free Church of Scotland, which combined with the United Presbyterian Church in 1900 to create the United Free Church. The present church was completed in 1908 for the new body. It was designed by John Bennie Wilson and built with rock faced red sandstone with an attractive octagonal tower.
The first minister of the church, Reverend Thomas Pearson, served the various congregations of New Cathcart for over 30 years from 1898 until 1929, when the United Free Church became part of the Church of Scotland.
The church ceased to be used as a place of worship on 19th November 2002, when New Cathcart merged with Cathcart South Church in Clarkston Road.
Cathcart is the nearest station to this building.
It was designed by William Gardner Rowan for the United Presbyterian Church, with the opening service taking place on 3rd May 1894. Rowan specialised in the Scots Gothic style of architecture although he made occasional forays into other styles. He lived in Pollokshields and is associated with many other southside churches, including Queen's Park Baptist Church and Pollokshields Glencairn Church.
This church faces into Clarkston Road, between the Police Station and the Couper Institute, where its small scale Gothic charm contributes much to the architectural variety of the street.
The building was constructed with locally quarried sandstone in an attractive Beaux-Arts style featuring a squat little spire. The 1895 Ordnance map shows the original outline of the halls with a small library and reading room to the left of the main building. These were replaced after the First World War with an additional hall which, together with a new public library on the other side, left the original building at the centre of the extended complex.
Matching pavilions were built on either side of the existing halls to give a balanced composition. They were designed by Glasgow Corporation's Principal Architect, John Houston, who had been influenced by the pioneering work of William J Anderson, the Dean of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1890's. Some of the unusual buildings designed by Anderson and his other pupils are featured in my Victorian Commercial Architecture page.
Holmlea served as a local primary school for nearly 100 years, until June 2005, when the last pupils crossed its doors.
The costs of repairs and renovation, required to bring the building up to the same standard as modern custom-built schools will mean that if an alternative use cannot be economically found, demolition will be the eventual fate of this fine old structure.
Cathcart is the nearest station to this building.
It was designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson as a house for James Couper who, with his brother Robert, owned and operated paper mills on the River Cart.
Holmwood shows a novel adaptation of Classical Greek styling to fit in with mid-19th Century Scottish taste.
The house is open to the public on afternoons during the summer months, when the surrounding gardens are also at their best.
It was completed in 1927 to the designs of architects, Alexander Nisbet Paterson and Donald McKay Stoddart.
The bank was converted into Muirend's first ever pub, which opened in the summer of 2006 with the highly imaginative title of "The Bank"!
It's good that some useful purpose has been found for this unusual little building.
The nearest station is Muirend, the first stop after Cathcart on the Neilston branch line.
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All original artwork, photography and text ©G.Blaikie 2002-2010 Contact: admin@scotcities.com
Unauthorised reproduction of any image on this website is not permitted.
