TOURING around Scotland, it is the statues and the stories of men that are most visible. The contribution of women who have shaped our world is just as important, but not as easy to find. That’s why The National is publishing a series of guides highlighting the importance of women to our towns and cities – from art and architecture to food and football. So travel with us round the streets of Glasgow as we explore some of the stories of women past and present.
The shopping centre with a saintly connection
The mother St Mungo, the city’s patron saint, is remembered in the name of St Enoch Square, which also the site of one of Glasgow’s main shopping centres. Known by different names include St Theneu and Thenew, according to legend the sixth-century princess was first banished from court for refusing to marry the man chosen by her pagan king father, then when she became pregnant as a result of rape he ordered her to be hurled from a hill in East Lothian.
She survived the fall and after being guided to shore by a shoal of fish, was given sanctuary and gave birth to Mungo. She was described as being “on record as Scotland’s first recorded rape victim, battered woman and unmarried mother” by historian Elspeth King in her book The Hidden History of Glasgow’s Women.
The tree planted by suffragettes
A wander down leafy Kelvin Way in the west end of the city is always a pleasant stroll. Yet many might not know there’s one tree which has more significance than most. The Suffragette Oak has stood for more than 100 years, although it was left battered by storms.
It was planted to mark the passing of the Representation of the People Act on February 6 1918 which allowed some – but not all – women the right to vote for the first time.
A ceremony to plant the tree marking the long battle for women’s right to vote was attended by various women’s suffrage organisations of Glasgow and across Scotland. In 2015 it topped a public poll to win the recognition of Scotland’s Tree of the Year.
A library dedicated to women
Glasgow Women’s Library in Bridgeton recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and is the only accredited museum in the UK dedicated to women’s lives, histories and achievements. It has shelves crammed with literature and archives relating to women, and also offers in-person heritage walks around the city and a series of downloadable audio tours.
Royalty, political activists and philanthropists
There’s only a handful of statues of women in Glasgow, compared to 11 commemorating men in George Square alone – where Queen Victoria is the solitary female representative. However, sticking with the Victorian era, Elder Park in Govan is named after and home to a statue of Isabelle Elder, a philanthropist and supporter of women’s education who ran one of the biggest shipyards in the world for a short time after her husband died. She gifted the 37-acre Elder Park to the community in 1885.
Two more modern statues of women in the city are La Pasionara at Custom House Quay, which represents Spanish Community Party leader Dolores Ibarruri. It marks the legacy of 550 Scots who left their homeland to fight in the Spanish Civil War against Franco’s fascist forces.
Govan is also home to a statue of political activist Mary Barbour, which was unveiled in 2018 after a long campaign to honour her role in leading the rent strikes of 1915.
The time capsule flat
An intriguing museum in Garnethill offers the chance to step into life in Glasgow frozen in time in the early 20th century. Once home to shorthand typist Agnes Toward, the beautifully preserved flat was taken into the care of the National Trust for Scotland after her death in 1975.
The extensive personal archive at The Tenement House reveals what it meant to be an independent working woman at that time.
A monument to maternity
A giant metal nappy pin sculpture designed by George Wyllie in Rottenrow Gardens, Montrose Street, marks the former site of the Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital – better known to generations of Glaswegians simply as the Rottenrow. The maternity hospital was one of the first specialist hospitals in the city, founded in 1834 in Greyfriars Wynd, before moving to St Andrew’s Square in 1841 and Rottenrow in 1860, where it remained until it was demolished in 2001.
From soul food to Michelin stars
There are no shortages of places to eat in Glasgow, but it was a female head chef who ended the city’s near two-decade wait for another Michelin star. Lorna McNee (above) took the helm at restaurant Cail Bruich in 2020 and was awarded a coveted Michelin star the following year.
You could also try Soul Food Sisters cafe in the Gallowgate, a social food enterprise run by a collective of migrant women which also caters for events and runs cooking workshops.
Or visit the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street, opened in 1903 by Miss Catherine Cranston – also known as Kate. She used Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald – who was also one of the key figures in the “Glasgow Style” – to design the premises, which re-opened in 2018 after extensive refurbishment.
Britain’s first female architect
The Mercat Cross at Glasgow Cross may look medieval but it is actually a replica unveiled in 1930 to replace one removed in 1649. It was designed by Edith Burnet Hughes, who established her own firm in 1920 and was considered to be Britain’s first practising female architect. She was also head of Glasgow School of Art’s School of Architecture and her other works include Coatbridge War Memorial, built in 1924.
Other notable buildings designed by women in Glasgow include the Riverside Museum, the work of internationally renowned architect Dame Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016.
Sporting heroes
Glasgow’s women’s football team became the first Scottish side to progress to a Champions League quarter-final, in 2008. Glasgow City FC, formed in 1998, is based at Petershill Park in Springburn and is the most successful women’s club in Scotland, having won 14 Women’s Premier League 1 titles, including 13 in a row – a national record.
Another sporting hero from Glasgow has a long-standing place in the history books as the only Scottish woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming – a record achieved back at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
Belle Moore, from Govan, represented Britain at the Games, the first at which women’s swimming was permitted. She won gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, setting a new world record, and all this at the age of just 17. Moore, who later emigrated to the US, died aged 80 in 1975 and was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
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