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Parkhead () is a
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small
weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necropolis cemetery was laid out in the area in 1847 beside the Gallowgate. It borders with
Shettleston Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...
and Tollcross to the immediate east, and
Camlachie Camlachie (; ) is an area of Glasgow in Scotland, located in the East End of the city, between Dennistoun to the north, and Bridgeton to the south. Formerly a weaving village on the Camlachie Burn, it then developed as an important industrial s ...
and
Dennistoun Dennistoun () is a mostly residential district in Glasgow, Scotland, located north of the River Clyde and in the city's Glasgow#East End, east end, about east of the city centre. Since 2017 it has formed the core of a Dennistoun (ward), Dennist ...
to the west.


History

The area flourished with the discovery of
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
in 1837 and grew into an industrial centre. In 1897
William Beardmore and Company William Beardmore and Company was a British engineering and shipbuilding Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active from 1886 to the mid-1930s and at its peak employed about 40,000 peo ...
became famous with the production of high grade
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
and castings at the local ''Parkhead Forge'', founded about 1837 and extended between 1884 and 1914. After years of decline, the massive plant was closed in 1976, and in 1986 the construction of the first phase of
The Forge Shopping Centre The Forge Shopping Centre (or Parkhead Forge) is in the East End of Glasgow, in Parkhead. The shopping centre bore the name from the former William Beardmore and Company steel works site, which had closed in 1983. History Construction The ...
began on the site. The shopping centre opened in the autumn of 1988, and in 1994 an indoor market was added adjacent to it. The final element, a
retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Retail parks form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, ...
, was completed in three stages between 1996 and 2002. Parkhead Cross is a major road junction which is the meeting point of Gallowgate, Duke Street, Westmuir Street, Tollcross Road and Burgher Street, which together form a turreted
Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
five-way junction, including several fine buildings making the junction notable, such as the former ''Glasgow Savings Bank''. The junction, which also incorporates the northern termination of the major Springfield Road thoroughfare, can become very busy due to traffic for football games at nearby
Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...
. Most of the district's amenities and places of worship are situated within a few blocks of the Cross.


Hospitals

Belvidere Hospital, built on the Belvidere estate which extended from London Road to the
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
, originally consisted of wooden huts thrown up rapidly when the city's older fever hospital at Parliamentary Road was overwhelmed by a
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
epidemic in 1870. A self-contained
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
hospital of five brick pavilions was built from 1874. After this, nineteen pavilions of red-and-white striped brick were set up for the fever hospital. In recent times, with the general closure of infectious disease hospitals, care of elderly people became its main function before closing in 1999. Parkhead Hospital, which opened on 12 November 1988, was said to be the only new psychiatric hospital to be built in Scotland in the 20th century. (However, some 18th and 19th century institutions did move to new buildings during the 20th century.) It was built on part of the old forge land, next to the Parkhead Health Centre, and replaced the psychiatric and psycho-geriatric admission wards of both Duke Street Hospital (formerly known as the Eastern District Hospital) and Gartloch Hospital – both units moved into the new hospital in 1988 on the day of a Rangers-Celtic match at the nearby Celtic Park. The hospital closed in 2018, with the intention of building a new health facility on the site.


Libraries

Parkhead also has one of Glasgow's original Carnegie libraries, deftly designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by James Robert Rhind.


Sport


Celtic Park and Barrowfield

Parkhead is perhaps best known as the home of
Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...
and their stadium
Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...
, which opened in 1892 after the club moved across the road from their old ground, which they had been playing on for their first three years. A journalist covering the event reported that it was like "moving from the graveyard to paradise", referencing the proximity of the adjacent cemetery, hence the nickname "Paradise". Celtic Park is located at 95 Kerrydale Street, just off London Road. The
stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
itself is commonly referred to as 'Parkhead' because of its location. The stadium was substantially rebuilt between 1994 and 1998 and is Scotland's largest football stadium by seating capacity. From the early 1960s, Celtic conducted most of their training routines at a facility on the periphery of Parkhead named Barrowfield, east of Celtic Park (it is not located in the Barrowfield residential area which lies to the west of the stadium toward Bridgeton). By 2005, those facilities were seen as antiquated, particularly in comparison to those of their
Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...
rivals Rangers at Auchenhowie. Celtic considered building new facilities at their site in Barrowfield, but instead decided to develop the Lennoxtown training centre outside the city. Today there are still football pitches on the land as well as a large Celtic social club; the Celtic first team temporarily resumed training at Barrowfield in November 2011, after a spate of training ground injuries led manager
Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. During his playing career he represe ...
to fear that the Lennoxtown pitches were responsible. In 2019, Celtic announced plans to redevelop Barrowfield for use by their youth academy and women's team, including an indoor pitch and a matchday venue, augmenting the Lennoxtown base which would continue to be used by the first team squad and strengthening their connection to their roots in the East End of Glasgow.


Other

Prior to its dissolution, Parkhead FC was one of the most successful Junior sides of the first half of the 20th century. Two other strong teams of the time, Bridgeton Waverley and
Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Welsh language, Welsh; in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic, meaning 'strath
alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...
of the River Clyde') was one of nine former Local government in Scotland, local government Regions and districts of Scotland, regions of Scotland cre ...
also had their grounds in close proximity (New Barrowfield and Springfield Park respectively); none of the three clubs survived into the late 20th century. Parkhead's ground ''Helenslea Park'' is now a landscaped public park. There are also two bowling clubs and a derelict sports ground (''Helenvale Park'', formerly used by the
Glasgow Corporation Transport Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in west central Scotland. It is the third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom and the 27th-most-populous city in Europe, and comprises 23 wards w ...
department which had a large bus and tram depot nearby) in the vicinity – ''Crownpoint Sports Complex'', a replacement modern outdoor athletics track, is located beyond the western border of the district adjacent to St Mungo's Academy. After the
2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...
was held in Glasgow, Parkhead now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: the
Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome The Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, known for sponsorship reasons as the Emirates Arena, is an indoor arena and velodrome in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, Scotland. Built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, these venues hosted the badminto ...
are located in nearby
Dalmarnock Dalmarnock (, ) is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of the River Clyde opposite the town of Rutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods of Parkhead to the north-e ...
.


Rail

* Parkhead North railway station * Parkhead Stadium railway station


Famous Residents

*
John Scott Russell John Scott Russell (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architecture, naval architect and shipbuilder who built ''SS Great Eastern, Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Is ...
, engineer * Jim Cairney, footballer *
John Cairney John Cairney (16 February 1930 – 6 September 2023) was a Scottish stage, film and television actor who found fame through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William McGo ...
, writer


See also

* Glasgow tower blocks


References


External links


Parkhead HistoryParkhead and Dalmarnock
socio-economic profile at ''Understanding Glasgow'' (2012) {{Authority control Areas of Glasgow