St Andrew's Cross, Glasgow

St Andrew's Cross Eglinton Toll
St Andrew's Cross Location within Glasgow
OS grid reference	NS584634
Council area	Glasgow City Council
Lieutenancy area	Glasgow
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	GLASGOW
Postcode district	G5, G41, G42
Dialling code	0141
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish

St Andrew's Cross, also known as Eglinton Toll, is a road junction in the south side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. First constructed during the early 1800s, the junction formerly held several buildings including a power station and cinema, but have been removed for a variety of reasons. Since 1946 when the junction underwent a realignment, the two roads no longer intersect.

Description

The junction includes two roads running roughly north-south which meet, but do not intersect for vehicular traffic since a realignment in 1946:^[1][2][3] the west thoroughfare (A77) is known as Eglinton Street from Laurieston (the Gorbals) until it reaches the junction then becomes Pollokshaws Road to Strathbungo and beyond, while the east thoroughfare is Pollokshaws Road from Laurieston until the same point then is renamed Victoria Road entering Govanhill. Maxwell Road also meets the junction from the west (Pollokshields) but this is also blocked off for vehicles. Addresses on each side of the cross come under three different postcodes (G5, G41 and G42), indicating its status as a locality which is not classed as falling fully within any single district of the city.^[4]

History

Wedge-shaped tenement (known as a gushet in Scotland) building at the north apex (constructed 1878) displaying 'St Andrew's Cross' lettering

It was named after Saint Andrew due to the junction forming the shape of the saltire.^[5]

The alternative name, Eglinton Toll,^[2] derives from the cross being the southern entry to the Port Eglinton industrial area (roughly between Pollokshields to the south and Tradeston to the north). As its name suggests, it was intended to be a dock area serving as the Glasgow terminus of a waterway (the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal) established in the early 19th century by Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton which was intended to run to the coast of Ayrshire; the route was never fully completed and in the 1880s the canal was replaced by a railway (today the Paisley Canal line and the Inverclyde/Ayrshire lines).^[6][7] A major fire occurred at Port Eglinton in 1972.^[8] In 2010, the area was bisected by the extended M74 motorway which is carried through on a viaduct supported by large pillars.^[9][10][11]

View of the junction looking south, showing modern apartment block on the site of the Plaza Ballroom

Facade of disused St Andrew's Works (power station / print works)

Several local bus routes (previously also trams)^[2] use the roads meeting at the cross, and its proximity to the Larkfield bus depot off Victoria Road made it a popular point for drivers to relieve one another at shift ends,^[12][13] with the Star Bar public house and diner, noted for its bargain meal prices^[14][15] located at its northern apex receiving much of its patronage from them. This practice has become less common since the closure of the depot in 2014,^[16] with the new facility, which opened later the same year, located a few blocks further east at Cathcart Road.^[17]

The cross also once had a power station,^[18][19] a gasworks,^[20] a tram depot (1890s),^[21][22] a cinema^[23] and a large dance hall, The Plaza Ballroom, in its vicinity;^[24][25] the latter has since been demolished and replaced by modern apartments which incorporate some of the original red sandstone facade,^[26] while part of the power station, which was later adapted by the local council into a printing works, survives but as a derelict structure.^[27]

There are several new residential developments nearby at Barrland Street^[28][29] and on the sites of the cinema, the gasworks^[30][31] and Larkfield bus depot.^[16] In addition to many buses, Pollokshields East railway station is located a short distance to the south-east, adjacent to the Tramway (arts centre) (based within the tram depot buildings)^[32] the headquarters of Scottish Ballet, and the Guru Granth Sahib Sikh Sabha, a major Sikh temple.^[33]

References

1. Glasgow’s Crosses, Glasgow History, 28 May 2016
2. When the trams still ruled on the streets of post-war Glasgow, The Herald, 30 December 2016
3. Laurieston Guide, Scotcities,
4. "Glasgow postcodes". Postcode Area. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
5. Smith, Adam (2017). Glasgow The Postcard Collection. Amberley Publishing. p. 172. ISBN 9781445667393.
6. Port Eglinton (Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection, 1835), The Glasgow Story
7. Port Eglinton, Gazetteer for Scotland
8. Kilbirnie Street Fire (Glasgow City Archives, Deposited Collections), The Glasgow Story
9. Oblique aerial view of the M74 extension going through the Port Eglinton area, taken from the NW, Canmore, 12 February 2010
10. M74 Port Eglinton Viaduct launch, Dorman Long Technology, 1 March 2010
11. Urban park plan for under Glasgow M74 motorway flyover, BBC News, 15 July 2014
12. The Star Bar, The Bar Biographer, 8 July 2011
13. The Star Bar: Adventures in Eglinton Toll, Hemi the Headlocker, 1 September 2013
14. The cheapest pub lunch in the UK?, The Herald, 2 February 2013
15. We review Glasgow's legendary cheapest lunch – £3 for three courses at the Star Bar, Glasgow Live, 2 January 2019
16. Plans for homes on former Larkfield bus depot site in Govanhill offcially [sic] submitted, Evening Times, 13 January 2018
17. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Opens New Caledonia Bus Depot Janus Architecture, 12 December 2014
18. St. Andrew's Cross Electricity Works, Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
19. Glasgow, 197–243 Pollokshaws Road, St Andrew's Works, Canmore
20. Glasgow, 95 Kilbirnie Street, Tradeston Gasworks, Canmore
21. Glasgow, 522 Pollokshaws Road, Coplaw Horse-tram Depot, Canmore
22. Coplawhill tram depot (Museum of Transport, R. B. McKim Collection), The Glasgow Story
23. BB Cinerama / New Cinerama / Odeon Eglinton Toll, Scottish Cinemas and Theatres Project
24. The last waltz, The Herald, 23 February 1998
25. Glasgow, Victoria Road, Plaza Ballroom, Canmore
26. Is this the ugliest new building in Scotland?, Evening Times, 30 January 2009
27. Gorbals vandalism hotspot could be turned into family play centre, Evening Times, 31 July 2018
28. Westpoint head south for latest Glasgow build, Urban Realm, 14 May 2018
29. Southgate Court, Westpoint Homes
30. 140 affordable homes proposed for Glasgow gasworks site, Scottish Housing News, 17 January 2017
31. More Than 200 Flats And Townhouses To Be Built At East Pollokshields Site, reGlasgow, 21 February 2019
32. Tramway – A History, Tramway
33. Glasgow Gurdwara: £3.8m Sikh temple prepares to open its doors, BBC News, 26 April 2013

External links

• Media related to St Andrew's Cross, Glasgow at Wikimedia Commons
• Leyland Motor Company [Port Eglinton] at Derelict Glasgow [archived version, 2020]