From Hillhead to Haghill: How Glasgow's famous 'hills' got their names

A list held in the City Archives has the number at almost 100....

The rise and fall of her grounds have created some very steep streets and many areas of the city have been named for these hills.

Some beautiful views of the dear green place can be seen from the tops of her steepest streets and hills.

One of my favourites is the view from the crest of Gardner Street where the aptly-named district of Partickhill lies.

The street slopes sharply down before levelling out and meeting Dumbarton Road, Partick’s main thoroughfare. Beyond this former burgh’s streets is the Clyde and beyond that, another former burgh is visible, that of Govan. It is a spectacular view.  

There are many more such views from Glasgow’s summits. Climb the steep rise of the well-named Sighthill Cemetery in the north east of Glasgow and see the spread of the city below your feet.

Many people did just that after the cemetery opened in 1840. As a green space with a vantage point high above the sprawl of the city, it became a popular spot for an afternoon stroll. We hold the records of this cemetery (and others) in the City Archives.

Not far from Sighthill is Edgefauld Road, the former site of Barnhill Poorhouse.

This was Scotland’s largest poorhouse and had 2000 inmates by 1905. The premises also incorporated a hospital. The applications people made for poor relief (whether for admission into the poorhouse, for medical aid or for another reason) are among our most popular family history sources. They provide an insight into the circumstances of those whose lives would have otherwise gone unrecorded.     

Millerston Street c1935 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

Lambhill Cemetery, built on another of the city's hills, was named for the nearby district of Lambhill, which is home to Lambhill Stables. Originally built in the early nineteenth century as a staging post for the horses who pulled vessels along the adjacent Forth and Clyde Canal, it’s now a community hub. 

Nearby Maryhill, of course, is named for a person rather than a geographical feature.

Mary Hill owned the Gairbraid Estate and, together with her husband, created a village on the land.

This later became the burgh of Maryhill, the papers of which we hold as part of the archive collections.

Indeed, quite a few of the annexed burghs incorporate hills in their names such as Crosshill, Govanhill and Hillhead.

To the south-east of Maryhill is the area of Firhill, famous as the home of Partick Thistle Football Club. The club was established in 1876 and moved to the area in 1909, playing its first game there in September of that year.  

Camp Hill in Queen’s Park on the south side is a centuries-old earthwork which has been the subject of several archaeological excavations.

Dovehill Primary c1970 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

A similarly ancient hill, that of Dow Hill, gave its name to the beautifully named streets of Little Dovehill and Great Dovehill just off the Gallowgate. The name continued with Dovehill Primary School in Bell Street. The school was originally designed by James Thomson for the School Board of Glasgow in 1877 and extended by Honeyman and Keppie in the 1880s.

Haghill in the east of the city also had a school named for it which opened in 1904.

Haghill Primary (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

The area has a long history as the papers of the Todd family of Haghill held in the City Archives show. These papers date from the late sixteenth century.

During the expansion of Glasgow in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the city acquired yet more hills. In 1926, the former coal-mining village of Nitshill became part of the city and was earmarked for Glasgow Corporation house-building. South Nitshill is now home to the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.

You won’t need to walk far along Glasgow’s streets before you happen across one of her hills.

Though many are now covered in concrete, it’s often well worth the while to climb them and view the city’s expanses.

For example, Hill Street in the city’s Garnethill district leads towards a viewing point where you can see Charing Cross, the West End and the surrounding hills.