Glasgow
Glasgow (which means “Green Place,” according to my friend, Steven, who is from Glasgow) was established in the 6th century, and it was a small fishing village with 1500 people. In 1100, they got a Bishop and a cathedral. Glasgow grew when tobacco lords wanted to build, and they left when immigrants wanted to live there, which made it become “slummy.”
There is a bridge over the River Clyde that is called the Garbles, which connected the city to a leper colony. When people came across the bridge from the leper colony, they had to ring a bell and cover themselves. They also had to have their own water cup because it was thought that leprosy was contagious. The leper colony had its own cemetery and church.
James Watt was a steamship engineer who worked with others to make the river deeper so that boats could come up the river. Before that, boats had to stop at the Port of Glasgow, which was 16 miles downstream. Before the 20th century, Glasgow facilitated 20-25% of the shipping, but it has decreased since then.
In 1560, there was a Reformation in Scotland, and it transformed from Roman Catholic to Protestant. The biggest issue in Glasgow was between the Catholics and Protestants. When there are football (soccer) matches between the Rangers and Celtics, there can be significant problems between the fans afterwards.
In 1707, Scotland and England came together to form Great Britain. Glasgow had to get permission to trade with the Americas because of where they are located. They also traded goods with Africa for slaves, and were tied into tobacco trade with plantation owners. After the American War of Independence and Civil War, they cut out the cotton trade. It should be noted that Glasgow was not really impacted by WWII.
In 1806, Glasgow was the second City of the British Empire. When asked about the push for independence for Scotland from Great Britain, our guide said there was a vote a few years ago, and the vote was 55% to 45% against that cessation. Of note, when Scotland lost their war of independence, the tobacco lords refused to put up a monument to King George III and, instead, put up a monument to Sir Walter Scott in the middle of George Square.
The Irish came to Glasgow during the potato famine if they had no money. The Highlanders did not like the lowlanders, but many cultures went to Glasgow (including Jewish, Irish, and Eastern European) to settle and that made it the second city. It is now the third biggest behind Birmingham (England) and London.
Interesting Fact: There used to be a fine to commit suicide, and there also used to be a fine to try to stop someone from killing themselves. Tragically, the man commissioned to fish bodies out of the water died by drowning.
Glasgow is considered to be an industrial city, whereas Edinburgh is considered to be a tourist city with lots of good architecture. Glasgow is also reportedly seen as the second best place for shopping behind London (I don’t know that I agree with that…)
Kilts were designed to help men get on and off of horses more easily, and were worn mostly by Highlanders. A proper kilt has 12 yards of material, as they were also used for shelter (like a sleeping bag) when they slept in the highlands.
Interesting/Fun fact: John F. Kennedy did his first public speech at Central Station at ag 16. He did so in place of his father, who was an ambassador at the time, but was not able to do his scheduled speech.
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Edinburgh (pronounced “ed-in-bur-oh”)
320 million years ago, Edinburgh was volcanic, and glaciers carved their way West to East. When they got to what is now called Castle Rock, it was split in two and created what is now the Royal Mile (though no royals have lived here since the power was moved back to London). And it’s not actually a mile – it’s one mile and 107 yards long. Edinburgh was not meant to be the capitol of Scotland, but it became the administrative capitol, and this is when it began to expand to what it is today.
James VI of Scotland was the first to be king of both England and Scotland. His son, Charles I, imposed upon the Scottish people as head of the Church of England during the time when there were mostly Presbyterians in Scotland. The Scottish chased the minister out when they got to church and saw the English book of prayer instead of their own. They differ on the fact that the Catholic church believes that there is a divinely appointed leader and the Presbyterians do not believe that there is one divinely appointed leader, and they felt that they should be beholden to God and not the king. The Catholic cathedral has a seat for the bishop and they do not have that in Scotland. Therefore, St. Giles is technically a church or kirk, and not a cathedral.
John Knox was a major religious reformer who felt that everyone should be able to access the Bible, and that it should be translated from Latin. He pushed for national religious education in Scotland and succeeded. Scotland was 80% literate at the time, and it took 100 years for England to catch up. He is currently buried in what is now the parking lot of St. Giles church because he asked to not be buried more than 100 yards from the church even though there was no cemetery at St. Giles. Out of respect, nobody parks in the parking lot- except the current minister, who thinks it is humorous to do so.
In 1340, Robert the Great won independence for Scotland and vowed to never be ruled by England. However, when Alexander III died, there were no heirs to the throne. Edward I of England was asked for help about what to do about getting a king. He chose John Balial, who was the “puppet king” and was manipulated by Edward I. However, when Balial was asked by Edward I to fight against France, Balial said no, and signed an allegiance with France. This resulted in Scotland being stripped of its stripes.
Other notable people from Scotland who influenced Edinburgh included: James Hudson (father of Modern Geology); David Hume (philosopher and leading figure of Scottish enlightenment [applying reason to everything], who did not believe in God. People rub the big toe on his statue for good luck); Robert Louis Stevenson (talked about the two sides of Edinburgh); Robert Burns; and Sir Walter Scott (he was a local lawyer who wrote literature anonymously due to the stigma associated with being a writer; his is the largest statue to an author in Scotland; He also brought the kilt back to the culture, and encouraged literature as a noble art and not something about which to be ashamed.)
Speaking of authors, the inspiration for Harry Potter stems from Edinburgh. The George Harriet School, in particular, has particular meaning as an inspiration for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. George Harriet supplied gold for the king and his court. When he died, he was worth more than the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Scotland! He had no heirs, so, he left his money to the city to build this school for less fortunate children. It now costs 10,000GBP/year to attend the school, but they do designate 40 seats a year for less fortunate children. Interesting/Fun Fact: There is a café that touts that JK Rowling often went there when she was writing Harry Potter, and it shows where in the café she would sit when she was there.
Interesting Tidbit (Please note that I cannot vouch for the veracity of these anecdotes that were relayed to us by our tour guide. I’m sharing them because I thought they were humorous): The term “sh*tfaced” comes from drunk people looking up as they walked out of bars, as the residents of the town were emptying their feces out of their windows and onto the street. The concept of “trip the alarm” came from thieves walking up old staircases and not knowing which ones would creak. So, when they stepped on those planks, they would wake the owner, which would alert them to the fact that someone was in their house.
