Townhead
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Townhead

Townhead (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann a' Bhaile, Scots: Tounheid) is a district within the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of Glasgow's oldest areas, and contains two of its major surviving medieval landmarks – Glasgow Cathedral and the Provand's Lordship.

In medieval times, Townhead was the gateway into Glasgow from the north, while today it forms the north eastern extremity of the city centre. Townhead experienced great change between the mid 1950s and late 1970s following the publication of the infamous Bruce Report, when it was substantially depopulated and redeveloped. Today, it contains a much reduced resident population, a commercial/industrial sector and an educational quarter centred around the campuses of both the University of Strathclyde and City of Glasgow College.

In ancient times, Townhead was an undeveloped area situated north of the cathedral and town with no definitive boundaries. Today, it is bordered to the west by Cowcaddens, to the north by Sighthill, to the east by Royston and Ladywell/Dennistoun and to the south by the Merchant City. The notional boundaries of Townhead are thus North Hanover Street and Dobbie's Loan to the west, the M8 motorway to the north, Castle Street and High Street to the east and George Street to the south.

Housing is primarily ex-council stock (Glasgow has no council houses since their transfer to the Glasgow Housing Association), although the area contains a large number of student residences for International Christian College, Glasgow Caledonian University and Strathclyde University. Most of the housing units are fairly modern 8 in a block flats, although its most visually obvious features are the four 24-storey high-rise flats named "2 Taylor Place", "15 Grafton Place", "7 St Mungo's Place" and "12 Dobbies Loan Place".

It is widely accepted that near the eastern edge of modern day Townhead, is where St Kentigern, also known as St Mungo, built his church by the banks of the Molendinar Burn and thus established Glasgow. Glasgow Cathedral, dedicated to St Mungo, is roughly situated where Mungo's original church once stood. The present building dates back to the 12th century. Today, the Cathedral sits immediately outside of Townhead's boundaries and falls into the Ladywell area.

Provand's Lordship, Glasgow's oldest remaining house, was constructed from the late 15th century by Bishop Andrew, later given the surname Muirhead as part of St Nicholas Hospital, a lodging for the poor. The hospital, or more accurately hospitium, provided accommodation and care for twelve poor men who contributed through work in the hospital, Bible study and growing produce in the gardens. The gardens were restored in 1997 and, like the original St Nicolas garden, the herbs grown are those known for healing properties and medicinal use.

The martyrdom of the Covenanters took place in the modern area called Townhead. The northern part of Castle Street was the town limits beyond which was called the "Howgait". Howgait was the scene of public hangings and used until 1781, when they moved to Glasgow Green. The area is now mainly taken up by Junction 15 of the M8.

The former Martyrs' Church building (moved to its current location in 1975 and then closed by members vote in 2011) contained until September 2013 the Martyrs stone, which details the executions in 1684 of James Nisbet (a farmer from Louden Parish in Ayrshire), James Lawson and Alex Wood. The stone, which originally stood in front of Townhead library, along with a large part of the once densely packed Townhead, was demolished to make way for the M8 motorway. The stone can now be found in the church wall of "The Evangelical Church" which is at the South East side of Cathedral square. Martyrs church also contained the "Martyrs church bell", which was preserved from the old Martyrs West church building until 2013 at which point, finding no new home, the bell was melted. The church of Scotland is currently seeking a buyer for the land which has planning permission for an extensive housing development and community building.

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