Cowlairs

Cowlairs
View northwards from Pinkston Road of theGlasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Linerailway bisecting Cowlairs (2009)
Cowlairs Location withinGlasgow
OS grid reference	NS598678
Council area	Glasgow City Council
Lieutenancy area	Glasgow
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	GLASGOW
Postcode district	G21 1
Dialling code	0141
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Glasgow North East
Scottish Parliament	Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn

Cowlairs(/kaʊˈlɛərz/) is an area in theScottishcity ofGlasgow,part of the widerSpringburndistrict of the city. It is situated north of theRiver Clyde,between central Springburn to the east andPossilparkto the west.

Administratively, in the 21st century Cowlairs is divided by theGlasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Linerailway tracks (which played a crucial role in its history), with streets to the west of the lines falling underGlasgow City Council'sCanal ward,and those to the east within theSpringburn/Robroyston ward.

History

Until the 19th century, the area was a country estate centred around Cowlairs House,situated just west of theEdinburgh and Glasgow Railwaytracks. TheCowlairs railway workswas founded in 1841 by the E&GR on the west side of the railway at Carlisle Street.It was the first works in Britain which built locomotives, carriages and wagons in one factory. In 1866, Cowlairs became the main workshop for the new owners, theNorth British RailwayCompany, as Springburn became a global centre of railway-related manufacturing.

A residential community developed around the railway works and other local industries,initially off Cowlairs Road from theCowlairs railway stationup to the western side of Springburn Road, then off the northern side of Keppochhill Road (the south side already being occupied bySighthill Cemetery),spreading west to occupy the site of Cowlairs House which was demolished in the 1910s – it was located at what would become the junction of Endrick Street and Gourlay Street (named after the most prominent family which owned the mansion).To the west of this, an eponymous public park was laid out around a decade later. North of the park, a grid pattern of streets running east from Saracen Street, Possilpark was extended along to the perimeter of Cowlairs Works, lined with grey 'rehousing' tenements constructed cheaply to accommodate residents previously living in slum conditions elsewhere in the city.

In 1923, Cowlairs Works passed into the ownership of theLondon & North Eastern Railway(LNER), no more engines were built, and the works reverted to repair and maintenance. After nationalisation in 1948, the works became the property ofBritish Rail Engineering Limited(BREL), who used steam locomotives until 1968.

From the 1960s, the area changed greatly the railway station closed in 1964, followed by Cowlairs Works in 1968 (contracts were transferred toSt. Rollox railway works,which was renamed as BREL's Glasgow works). North Glasgow was badly hit by the decline of traditional heavy industry, with the locomotive factories of Springburn joined by theSaracen Foundryat Possilpark in closing its doors.At the same time, the oldest part of the Cowlairs neighbourhood was levelled as part of the 'Comprehensive Redevelopment' of Springburn which later included a realigneddual carriagewayto replace the old Springburn Road as belated attempts were made to adapt Glasgow to modern times.

The economic hardship that followed led to a deterioration in the condition of the housing in the area and an increase in health problems, social issues and crime.By the 1980s, parts of Springburn and particularly Possilpark had a very poor reputation.Ahousing associationwas established for the Hawthorn neighbourhood of east Possilpark which led to its refurbishment,but the tenements uphill from Hawthorn closer to Cowlairs were subject to wholesale demolition in the 1990s, without being replaced. The former site of Cowlairs Works was partly occupied by aScotch Whiskybonded warehouse, while its southern half remainedbrownfield.The decline in the local population caused Cowlairs Park to be underused, vandalised and left to become increasingly dilapidated and overgrown, adding to the acres of wasteland in that part of Glasgow, less than 2 miles (3.2 km) from the city centre. At the physically isolated Cowlairs House area, some further tenement demolitions were followed by the building of new houses, as well as a small ballgames area for children and a regional headquarters for theQuarriershomeless charity. Nearby to the south, the looming presence of theSighthilltower blocks diminished as the ten structures were demolished in stages over a decade between 2008 and 2018, at which point a facility for addiction rehabilitation at the southern edge of the park closed, with services relocating toAnniesland.

In July 2019,Glasgow City Councilannounced their intention to build around 800 homes on the vacant land to the west of the old works, including the park, within the next five years under a 'Cowlairs Masterplan'.The proposal did not include the smaller, but still substantial, works site itself as the council did not own that land; however, ten months later an outline plan was submitted by a private developer to construct 300 additional houses there.

There remains an association with railways in the area in the form of a diesel maintenance depot at Eastfield, half a mile to the north of the old works. In October 2013 the signalling centre at Cowlairs, which controls trains fromGlasgow Queen StreetHigh Level closed and transferred toEdinburgh Waverley.The West of Scotland Signalling Centre, located close to where Cowlairs station once stood and controlling much of the south of Glasgow, opened at Cowlairs South in December 2008. It controls the area formerly controlled by Glasgow Central Signalling Centre, and is expected eventually to control most of the west of Scotland.

Sport

Cowlairs F.C.played in the area between 1876 and 1896. The club were founder members of theScottish Football Leaguein 1890 and played at Gourlay Park andSpringvale Park.