This is the Tron Tower in Glasgow’s Merchant City. Tron is a Scottish word for a weigh beam, essential for all trading cities. It is derived from the old French, ‘troneau’ meaning balance. This general area is still called Trongate. The original building was a Catholic Church ‘Our Lady and St Anne’ constructed in 1525 which later was ‘Reformed’ as a Protestant church. The tower was added in 1628 and is all that remains after fire in 1793. A previous devastating fire in 1652 destroyed much of the Merchant City buildings – most of them had wooden frames. Glasgow had various peaks in its history but much of the wealth came from trading tobacco, cotton and shipbuilding. Daniel Defoe, in his book ‘A Vision of Britain Through Time’, wrote –
‘Glasgow is, indeed, a very fine city; the four principal streets are the fairest for breadth, and the finest built that I have ever seen in one city together. The houses are all of stone, and generally equal and uniform in height, as well as in front; the lower story generally stands on vast square dorick columns, not round pillars, and arches between give passage into the shops, adding to the strength as well as beauty of the building; in a word, ’tis the cleanest and beautifullest, and best built city in Britain, London excepted’.
Let’s not forget, however, that this wealth was built on the back of African slaves. I doubt there is a country in the world that does not have a dark history.
This rather sinister building is the Tollbooth Steeple built in 1626. It was attached to a later demolished town hall, court and jail. Public hangings and other ghastly punishments were a spectacle for the medieval locals.
Glasgow Cross, between High Street leading to St Mungo’s Cathedral, Gallowgate and Saltmarket.
When I was a child this was still the bustling Glasgow Fruit Market. The father of one of my first school friend’s worked here. Every day I looked with interest in her lunch box to see what exotic fruit she had. Now it has been transformed into a bustling, glamorous event space with bars and restaurants. On the day I visited, there was a craft fair in the middle. One of the artists, a man of my age, noted that I had a silky voice with my mutated transatlantic vowels. A silver tongued merchant methinks…
I graduated from college in this very building in 1980 – Glasgow City Halls. I always feel a tinge of regret when I think about my graduation. Family issues made me choose not to continue with a post graduate qualification. In time I could have lectured at my alma mater. One of my fellow students did exactly that with lower grades.
He spent two years wallowing in unrequited love for me because I thought he was gay and he didn’t make his intentions plain. Maybe this is the ‘troneau‘ in life. He got the dream job but not the girl. Speaking of dream girls, I have a new admirer at work. He thinks I am too beautiful to work with the masses. It is hard to know how to respond but perhaps I should retire to my brown recliner throne and have Teddy bring me sugared plums?
Beautiful architecture…yes the tower is both beautiful and sinister when you think of the horrors that might have taken place beneath it.
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I hope I haven’t put anyone off visiting! Every town had a public gallows…
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That tower DOES look menacing. On a side note, the city looks extremely clean.
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It is cleaner than it used to be but since I left it became a City of Culture, Our teachers used to scare us with stories about the tower…
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I used to visit Glasgow quite often while living in Edinburgh, yet I never paid much attention to surrounding architecture or cities historical background. Would love to stroll through the streets one day again, thanks for sharing and inspiring 😀
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I was going out with an architecture student when I was at college so I know much more about the architecture than I expected to. The rule of thumb in Glasgow is always look up – the tops of the buildings are amazingly decorated.
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I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m in Glasgow, thanks for the lovely read and have a good day
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You, too!
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I visited Glasgow in 2017. It’s an impressive city!
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Thank you, Q. It certainly is.
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I’d love to visit there someday – that building is pretty sinister-looking. You can almost feel it through the photograph
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It always feels like that, but even worse in dreich weather.
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Interesting. That’s not how I thought Glasgow would look.
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It is a very gracious city, architecturally and it was a fun place to grow up with many museums.
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Gorgeous pictures, Kerry. What does Teddy think of you new admirer at work? 😉
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He has an proud expectation that I would have admirers at work and is very chill…😄 I am sure it is the accent!
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Haha… good! 🙂
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Sugared plums, hmm, why not something more interesting once you’re anyways sitting on couch, sorry, bejewelled throne with followers at your beck and call?
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I always fancied sugar plums but have never tasted one. Wine and chocolate are on demand anyway…😄
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I dunno how to upload pictures. I saw a plaque – you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy prosecco which is kind of the same thing
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Prosecco is a pretty good substitute, except for the next morning… 😍
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Always love to be reminded of the derivation of names. Knowing them adds so much.
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Me too! Why do people use so few words these days when there is a plethora to choose from? Why does no one study Latin or Greek at school anymore? Why am I so old and grumpy???
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That is a splendid observation – the whittling down of our word usage – you are not old and grumpy, just aware
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Beautiful shots
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Thank you Leyla!
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Enjoyed the photos and it piqued my interest that had lived there and you left a broken heart behind
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I left many broken hearts…😄
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Nice post Kerry. I have fond memories of visiting Glasgow. I remember eventually ferrying my car from there to Belfast to continue on my journey..
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Thank you, Gary, It is a pretty city.
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What a nice appreciation of an oft-scorned city. I’ve never been to Scotland, let alone Glasgow. My loss.
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Not been to Scotland – what kind of a Celt are you!!! Put it on your bucket list. 😄
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