Townhead lies northeast of Glasgow city centre between the campus of the University of Strathclyde and the M8 motorway. It once referred to an area of rising ground outside the Mediaeval town. It was on these slopes, next to the Molendinar Burn, that St. Mungo had established his church in the 7th C. which is now the site of Glasgow Cathedral. Townhead was once the site of public hangings, the most notable perhaps being a pair of Covenanters, James Lawson and Alexander Wood, who were hanged in 1684 and became known as the 'Townhead Martyrs'. Today, it is predominantly an urban area of medium and high rise housing, though it does have a concentration of businesses and warehouses. Urban renewal following the Second World War brought significant changes to the area with the replacement of slums with modern social housing and the demolition of facilities such as Townhead Public Library to make space for the M8 motorway. Townhead Interchange represents a complex junction between the M8 motorway and the A803. The artist Joan Eardley (1921-63) maintained a studio here.
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