End of the Line: Photographs of Glasgow’s Industrial Past, by John R Hume

An avid photographer, John R Hume has spent the last six decades documenting historic buildings across Scotland as part of an illustrious career that spans academia and the role of Chief Inspector of Historic Buildings for Historic Scotland.

The dramatic changes in Glasgow’s urban fabric since the 1960s were in large part a consequence of the decline of industry after the Second World War. Postwar government policies, such as clearances for Comprehensive Development Areas and the creation of the M8 urban motorway, virtually flattened areas of the city including the Gorbals, Hutchesontown, Anderston and Bridgeton. The photographs in End of the Line: Photographs of Glasgow’s Industrial Past represent the enormity of the loss of Glasgow’s industrial heritage: almost every building depicted has subsequently been demolished.

The powerful black and white photographs demonstrate the monumentality and ambition of Glasgow’s industrial buildings, as well as the diversity of architectural styles; they span neogothic, neoclassical, and Venetian to name a few. The reader is encouraged to admire the intricate architectural details of each building and to imagine the lives of the people who may have worked there. While many of these images were originally included in John R Hume’s book Industrial Archaeology of Glasgow (Blackie, 1974), this is the first time they have been collected together on a large scale.

About the Author

John R Hume is Honorary Professor at the Universities of Glasgow and St. Andrews. He was for 20 years a lecturer in Economic and Industrial History at the University of Strathclyde, and was for 15 years first a Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments, then of Historic Buildings with Historic Scotland, retiring as Chief Inspector of Historic Buildings in 1999. Prof Hume has published a wide range of books and articles on the industrial archaeology and historic buildings of Scotland, and is currently Convener of the Committee on Church Art and Architecture of the Church of Scotland and an advisory member of the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland.