Glasgow

“Here is the bird that never flew,
Here is the tree that never grew,
Here is the bell that never rang,
Here is the fish that never swam.”

— Classic Rhyme About Glasgow's Coat of Arms

St Mungo—Patron Saint of Glasgow

St Kentigern trained as a priest at the monastery of St Serf at Culross (near Edinburgh), where he was renamed Mungo, meaning “dear friend.”

Mungo finished his training around 550 AD and visited the home of a dying holy man named Fergus, who died on the night that Mungo arrived. Mungo placed his body on a cart yoked to two wild bulls, commanding them to convey it to the place ordained by the Lord.

The bulls stopped at a place then known as Cathures where Fergus was buried. Mungo named the spot Glasgui, which translates from Gaelic as “dear green place,” and established a church on the site which is now occupied by Glasgow Cathedral.

Mungo died in 603 AD, “having lived an austere and holy life.” He was canonized and became the Patron Saint of Glasgow with a feast day on the 13th of January.

Today the city lives up to its name: with over 90 parks and gardens, Glasgow claims to have more green spaces per capita than any other city in Europe.

The City Crest or Coat of Arms—with the bird, tree, bell, and fish—references back to the city’s patron saint, St Mungo.

The bird commemorates the wild robin which St Serf, St Mungo's old master, tamed. It was accidentally killed by some of his disciples who blamed St Mungo. He took the dead bird in his hands and prayed over it, whereupon it was restored to life and flew chirping to its master.

The tree is now an oak but it started in the legend as a hazel branch. As a boy in the monastery, Mungo was left in charge of the holy fire in the refectory. He fell asleep and some of the other boys, being envious of him, put out the fire. When he woke and found what had happened, Mungo broke off some frozen branches from a hazel tree and caused them to burst into flames by praying over them.

The bell was allegedly given to St Mungo by the Pope, although there is no formal record of such. At any rate, in the 15th Century St Mungo's Bell had become a notable institution in Glasgow.

The fish with a ring in its mouth is a salmon and the ring was a present from Hydderch Hael, King of Cadzow, to his Queen Languoreth. The Queen gave the ring to a knight and the King, suspecting an intrigue, took it from him while he slept during a hunting party and threw it into the River Clyde. On returning home, the King demanded the ring and threatened Languoreth with death if she could not produce it. The Queen appealed to the Knight who, of course, could not help and then confessed to St Mungo who sent one of his monks to fish in the river, instructing him to bring back the first fish caught. This was done and St Mungo extracted the ring from its mouth.

Glasgow came up with no fewer than four legends (five if you count the story with the bulls), and to think the very best story we could come up for Paso Robles is: there is this pass through the hills with beautiful oak trees in it. 😴

Where is our creativity? No legends of an oak tree spontaneously bursting into flames as a sign from God to some pioneer to settle there? 🔥 No treasure buried under a Golden Oak at the top of a hill? 💰 So unimaginative! 🥱

Native Glasgow

In our experience, location is crucial when selecting a place to stay in the bigger cities (Edinburgh, London, Dublin, etc.). Glasgow is Scotland’s biggest city and so we selected a bespoke “ApartHotel” called Native Glasgow, located right in the heart of town. (The Brits love the word bespoke; it means custom-made.)

The apartments are situated within this beautiful Edwardian building that was formerly the headquarters of the Anchor Line Shipping Company (a transatlantic passenger service founded in 1855).
We have the smallest-sized room, what we would call a studio. Native prefers the more sophisticated sounding French term *pied-à-terre*—meaning a small living unit, e.g., apartment or condominium, often located in a large city and not used as an individual's primary residence.
We do have a small kitchen which has really come in handy and ultimately saved us money. Here is a quick video tour of our “home” in Glasgow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQgtjNPV0Sw

The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, located outside the the Gallery of Modern Art in Royal Exchange Square, is one of Glasgow's most iconic landmarks. Since at least the 1980s it has been traditionally capped with a traffic cone by members of the public.

Murals

Australian-born mural artist Sam Bates, better known as **Smug**, came to live in Glasgow some 20 years ago and he’s been leaving his mark on the city ever since.
His distinctive style has been praised for its hyperrealism by Glaswegians as well as his choice of subjects. His most famous piece depicts a modern day St Mungo—Glasgow’s patron Saint.
Above is called **Saint Mungo** by Smug. In the mural, St Mungo is depicted with a robin, in reference to the pet robin of St Serf which was brought back to a life by St Mungo after being accidentally killed.

**St Enoch and Child** by Smug. This time Smug depicted St Mungo as a young child being breastfeed by his mother St Enoch. The robin is once again featured in the mural.

This long mural was commissioned by Glasgow City Council to celebrate some of the wildlife that you will see in Glasgow’s green spaces, such as squirrels, foxes, and highland cows.

The entire piece is named **Fellow Glasgow Residents** and it was completed by Smug.

The entire piece appears to be bursting through the wall.

Look out dude!!
If you search “Smug Glasgow” and click on Images, you can see even more amazing Smug works.

**The World’s Most Economical Taxi** by Rogue-One.

There are three murals at **Strathclyde University** in Glasgow (Strathclyde is an older regional reference to the southwest part of Scotland, which included Glasgow.)
The **Land-Ship** (above) was a mock up navigation bridge on the roof of the School of Navigation in the Royal College, used to teach the principles of compass adjustment.

The **Dansken equatorial telescope** was once used by the university to teach nautical astronomy.

The 7-story-tall **Wonderwall** celebrates the people of the University of Strathclyde and their many significant achievements. All three projects were completed by Art Pistol, Rogue-One, and Ejek.

Police Boxes

The first public police telephones in Britain appeared in Glasgow in 1891. These tall, hexagonal, cast-iron boxes (above) were painted red and had large gas lanterns fixed to the roof, as well as a mechanism which enabled the central police station to light the lanterns as signals to police officers in the vicinity to call the station for instructions. These were known as the "Glasgow Style Police Signal Box System.”
Trusted public officials also had keys to use the telephone in emergencies. A special key that was registered to them would remain trapped in the lock until released by a master key carried by a policeman.

A newer, rectangular type of cast-iron police box was introduced in Glasgow in 1912, but with the signal light powered by electricity rather than gas, and access to the telephone restricted solely to the police.
Between 1933 and 1938, over three hundred of a newer rectangular Police Signal Boxes were erected throughout the city. Beat officers would report on/off duty from the boxes and the public could communicate with the local Police office in an emergency. Police pillars were also erected where space for a box was restricted.

The typical British police box contained a telephone linked directly to the local police station, allowing patrolling officers to keep in contact with the station, reporting anything unusual, or requesting help if necessary. In the newer boxes, a light on top of the box would flash to alert an officer that they were requested to contact the station. The mini waffle merchant above still has an operational blue light!

The boxes evolved to include a small door with a phone inside that would connect any member of the public the the police.

Police boxes were usually blue, with the most notable exception being Glasgow, where they were red until the late 1960s (go figure, every box we’ve seen in Glasgow has been blue). The one above is a mini coffee shop. In addition to a telephone, they contained equipment such as an incident book, a fire extinguisher, and a first aid kit.
Of course, the blue police box is most often associated with Doctor Who’s "Time And Relative Dimension In Space" (TARDIS) hybrid time machine/spacecraft disguised as a British police box.

Finally, on Thursday (Jun 22), Amanda found a red box—ironically selling CBD edibles. 😂

Found one more on our last night out on the town…that makes five!

Glasgow Necropolis

The early 1800s saw Glasgow grow as a major industrial city. With it came a new class of merchants and entrepreneurs who had made vast fortunes in tobacco, spices, coffee, and cotton. By 1831 Giasgow's population had tripled from 70,000 to more than 200,000. Flooded by immigrants, most notably Irish and Highlanders, the existing urban structure was inadequate and could not cope with such an influx.

The working classes suffered considerable conditions of deprivation, exacerbated by inadequate housing, dire poverty, poor sanitation, and contaminated water supplies. This sudden dramatic increase in Glasgow's population directly affected cemeteries since the poverty and squalor resulted in fierce epidemics of cholera and typhus. In the 1830s over 5,000 people were dying each year and were being buried in unhygienic churchyards. Previous burials in the 1800s outside of a churchyard had been reserved for the unbaptised and lunatics.

Growing concerns with hygiene and sanitation led to the opinion that this policy of burial in urban churchyards had now to be avoided.

The Necropolis remains one of the most significant cemeteries in Europe, exceptional in its townscape, its symbolic relationship to Glasgow Cathedral, and the medieval heart of the city. In common with other major Victorian cemeteries, it was designed as a botanic and sculpture garden to improve the morals and tastes of Glaswegians and act as an historical record of past greatness. It is a memorial to the merchant patriarchs of the city and contains the remains of almost every eminent Glaswegian of its day.

Glasgow Cathedral sits on Cathedral Square below the Necropolis.

From the cathedral, the dead were placed in a carriage and carried across Molendinar ravine and taken to the Necropolis.
The **Bridge of Sighs** over the ravine has been described as “the separation between time and eternity.”

Entrance to the Necropolis, just over the bridge.

This imposing 70 foot **John Knox Monument** predates the Necropolis and is capped with a 12 foot statue of the brutal Reformationist and founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in his Geneva gown clutching a bible in his right hand.

From the Necropolis looking down over Glasgow Cathedral.

Workers taking a break on the cathedral roof.

Certainly not the cityscape of Edinburgh, but it’s still a beautiful day.

A beautifully detailed cross with an amazing Celtic Knot in the middle.

We both really loved this contemplative angel.

“Glasgow’s a bit like Nashville, Tennessee: it doesn’t care much for the living, but it really looks after the dead.”

— Sir William Connolly the “Big Yin,” Glasgow, Scotland

William Wallace Monument at the foot of the Necropolis.

Glasgow Police Museum

Long before a police siren was ever heard, you knew the constable on patrol (COP) was coming because you heard their clappers or rattles. How crazy is that!

The whistle eventually replaced the clapper and baby rattle.

And we sometimes think our flashlights suck!

Police in the UK do not typically have badges the way they do in the USA. Instead, the car “warrant cards.”
Before warrant cards, the baton was your official ID. The crown symbolized that the bearer had the authority of the monarch to carry out his duties.

Non-uniformed officers could not carry a baton around so they were issued a “tipstaff” to act as a symbol of their authority.

A “receive only” radio set from inside a UK-made “Alvis” brand patrol car c. 1937.

Somehow the museum managed to obtain the Stone of Destiny movie prop from the 2008 film The Stone of Destiny.

The museum has an absolutely astonishing collection of uniforms, patches, hats, and uniform insignia from all over the globe. They rotate through the USA police uniforms, but did have a few familiar items currently on display.

If you’re wondering, the ID on the real badge is **13205** and on the flat badge its **12007**. I agreed to send him Air Operations wings pins after I return home.

The most astonishing item in the collection was a police cap from **North Korea**.

He also had some insignia from North Korea. Apparently a trader from China had secured the items and traded them to him for the museum.

Waxy O’Connor’s

I know we’re probably supposed to be eating haggis, neeps, and tatties every night, but we went to Glasgow’s biggest (and perhaps best) Irish Bar for our final dinner in the city.