Yesterday I was in Glasgow for a meeting. Having arrived early I explored some of the streets around Central Station. Just off Gordon Street I spotted a dark, dead-end lane that was littered with debris and only brightened by colourful graffiti. I took these photographs:
Once I was home I looked up the name of this street. I found that it is called ‘Union Place’. On the internet I came across a range of photographs of the street, such as this one taken in 2016 of an accordion player at the entrance to Union Place:
This photograph gives a wider view of claustrophobic Union Place:
Exploring more of the history of this street, one of the first search findings offered this:
Looking at the old ordnance survey maps I discovered that Union Place was originally named “Melville Lane”:
Here are some news reports in which Melville Place is mentioned:
24 September 1842, Glasgow Saturday Post:
24 April 1915, Daily Record:
3 March 1919, Daily Record:
It is not clear when Melville Lane became Union Place but the Registered voters no longer mentioned Melville Lane after 1926.
1967 Ordnance Survey map:
From French Braid by Anne Tyler:
From The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy:
