Edit What do you know about Riddrie?
It is a residential area mainly consisting of 1930s semi-detached houses, originally built as council housing but now largely privately owned. The former Monkland Canal to the north was filled in the 1960s and is now the M8 motorway.
It is also the site of Barlinnie Prison.
There is a library, bowling green and local shops.
Writer and artist Alasdair Gray grew up in Riddrie and the "Thaw" sections of his novel Lanark loosely document his early life there.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Paisley Philip Tartaglia was brought up in Riddrie and educated at St Thomas' Primary School in the area.
The Monkland Canal was a 12.25 mile (19.6km) canal which connected the coal mining areas of Monklands to Glasgow in Scotland. It was opened in 1794, and included a steam-powered inclined plane at Blackhill. It was abandoned for navigation in 1942, but its culverted remains still supply water to the Forth and Clyde Canal. Much of it now lies beneath the course of the M8 motorway, but two watered sections remain, and are well-stocked with fish.
The idea for the Monkland Canal was thought up in 1769 by tobacco merchants and other entrepreneurs as a way of bringing cheap coal into Glasgow from the coalfields of the Monklands area.
The plan was adopted by the City of Glasgow, an Act of Parliament was obtained, and the earliest phases of surveying the route and its construction were supervised by James Watt, with work beginning on June 26, 1770 at Sheepford.
However, financial difficulties brought the project to a halt after about two years, and it was not until 1789 that construction restarted, under the direction of the Monklands landowner Andrew Stirling.
He negotiated with the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, which resulted in a new Act of Parliament to authorise the joining of the two canals near Port Dundas and the extension the canal to Calderbank in the east.[
The junction with the Forth and Clyde Canal was made in 1791, and the whole canal was completed in 1794. Water supply would be taken from the North Calder Water at Woodhall, which would ultimately be supplied by a new reservoir at Hillend, which was constructed by the Forth and Clyde Canal Company and completed in 1799.
The canal wound its way towards Glasgow, as it followed the contours in order to avoid the need for locks, and the delays that these introduce. Only one lock system was originally intended, at Blackhill, where the canal falls by 96 ft (29.3m), but the extension to Calderbank resulted in two more locks being constructed at Sheepford, to raise the canal by another 23 ft(7m).[2] The depth of the canal was 4 ft (1.2m).
The canal was a broad canal, suitable for boats which were 71 ft by 14 ft (21.6 x 4.3m).
The opening of the canal heralded an increase in coal mining in the area. Initial activity was on the Faskine and Palacecraig estates, which were on the eastern extension.
Traffic was further augmented by the construction of ironworks at Coatbridge around 1825. By the 1850s and 1860s, the canal was transporting over one million tonnes of coal and iron per year.
A passenger service was operated from Sheepford to Townend, Glasgow, although passengers were required to disembark at the top of the Blackhill locks and walk to the bottom, where another boat completed the journey. Inevitably, the canal suffered from competition from the railways, and by the 1920s trade was down to 30,000 tonnes per year.
In order to better serve the ironworks, four branches were constructed at the upper end of the canal. The branches to Calder Ironworks and Gartsherrie Ironworks were both about a mile (1.6km) long, while those to Langloan Ironworks and Dundyvan Ironworks were about 0.25 miles (0.4km) long.
The Blackhill incline resulted in a number of engineering solutions to speed the transit of coal and iron to Glasgow. Initially, the two sections of the canal were separate, and there was an inclined plane, down which coal was transported in boxes, to be reloaded into boats at the bottom.
This was replaced by locks by the time Messrs William Stirling & Sons of Glasgow had completed the construction of the canal. The coming of the railways resulted in plans to improve the canal, and a second set of locks was constructed. Groome describes them as "two entire sets of four double locks each, either set being worked independently of the other", which were "of such character as to excel all works of their class in Great Britain".
Additional water supplies were needed, and new reservoirs were built at Shotts, feeding the canal at Woodhall.
Traffic continued to increase, and by 1850 water supply was again insufficient for the volume of traffic using the Blackhill flight. To overcome this, an inclined plane was designed and built by Messrs Leslie & Bateman. It was 1040 ft (317m) long, with a rise of 96 ft (29.3m), and carried the boats in caissons, with power being supplied by a steam engine. Its operation was a success, with water volumes being reduced by 83% and transit times reduced by 90%.
HM Prison Barlinnie is mainly used for short term prisoners or those awaiting trial in Glasgow courts, but also long term prisoners awaiting transfer to prisons such as Saughton or Peterhead.
It also housed the Libyan diplomat held responsible for the Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie plane disaster but who has now been transferred to HM Prison Greenock. Barlinnie prison consists of 5 halls - A, B, C, D, and E.
The infamous Scottish murderer Peter Manuel was hanged here in 1958.
The prison is colloquially known as "Bar-L" in some parts of Scotland. The bucket-as-toilet routine known as slopping out was still in practice there as late as 2003. Since 2001 refurbishment has taken place after critical reports by the Scottish Chief Inspector of Prisons.
I have just been having a look at the site. I lived with my Grandma at 12 Liberton street beside the Vogue cinema. I went to Carntyne school about 1947. I have not visited for many years. I was at Riddrie Cemetery looking for my Grandmother's grave it was in a shocking state. I have been back just recently and it looks like they have cleaned it up,this site brings back memories thank you. June Barbour.
My Grandmother lived at 12 Liberton Street from about 1928 until 1953 when she died but my uncle lived in it after that until he married. Their name was Fulton. I played in Alexandra Park and also used to go to Hogganfield Loch. It was a very sought after place to live. I can remember lots of the people who lived there. It is nice to have contact with my past. June Gibson (nee) Barbour
June i didnt grow up in Riddrie but from Ruchazie which was next door, I had to pass Barlinnie to get the bus to work and i remember the day Manuel was hung,,My sister and i used to walk to Hogganfield loch with a bottle water and pieces/jam we stayed there for hrs those were the days when kids could play outside and not worry,,Happy days,,
Hello Anne, I remember going up to the canal and watching the horse pull the barge but that is all motorway now. I suppose you have to move on but it makes me feel sad. They used to have prisoners out in the fields with guards, that was along time ago. I am now 66-yrs-old but can just remember it. When I used to visit my Gran I had to get the number 6 tramcar from Killermount Street and I was only 8-yrs-old you could not let children travel anywhere on their own now, so I had to take the bus in, we had moved to Larkhall.They were happy days.
I was raised at the prefabs at Hogganfield Loch...We nt to Riddrie School ..Then Onslow Drive....I used to get off the tram at Barlinnie & walk up Leader St to Riddrie School. (1951 to 1956)....I have enjoyed reading this article about Riddrie...Many a time we looked down at the locks into Monkland Canal...I am surprised none of us fell in & drowned......My name is Eileen Moore.. Feel free to get in touch if you remember me...I have been in USA for 44 years .. Currently living in Fort Worth Texas.. Cheers the noo, Eileen.