Maryhill


Glasgow City

A former village and burgh, which now forms a suburb of Glasgow, Maryhill is situated 3 miles (5 km) northwest from Glasgow's city centre. The settlement was established by Robert Graham in the late 18th Century and was named after his wife, Mary Hill. The Forth and Clyde Canal was cut across the Graham's estate between 1775-90. The flight of five locks on the canal here were referred to as the Botany Locks: prisoners are said to have been able to choose between transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, or to work on the canal. Maryhill became the location of the first temperance society in Britain after their daughter Lilias Graham became teetotal in 1829.

By the mid-19th century it was an industrial village producing textiles, paper, lumber, boats and iron. In 1856 it became a Police Burgh and in 1912 Glasgow annexed the area. Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed Maryhill's Queens Cross Church (1899), which now is home to the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society. Maryhill Burgh Halls opened in 1878 and includes remarkable stained-glass windows which illustrate the trades of the settlement. The Halls were bought by the community in 2009 and now includes Maryhill Museum. The Loch Katrine Aqueduct was built in 1859 and follows Maryhill Road.

Maryhill Railway Station provides a commuter service to Glasgow Queen Street.

Notables born in Maryhill include the nurse Louisa Jordan (1878 - 1915), actors Duncan Macrae (1905-67), John Grieve (1924 - 2003), David McCallum (b. 1933) and Robert Carlyle (b. 1961), businessman Lord Smith of Kelvin (b. 1944) and singer Donovan (b. 1946).


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