Glasgow's 'secret garden' which has lit up community for 20 years

Now an internationally respected arts venue, the building began life in 1893 as the Coplawhill tram shed, the city’s main tram depot and factory.

Coplawhill tramworks (Image: Glasgow City Archive)

When the trams stopped running in the early 1960s, the shed became the city's Museum of Transport and when it moved, in 1986, to the Kelvin Hall, it looked like the end of the track for the historic building.

A young boy admires a Glasgow tram at the Transport Museum, when it was based inside Tramway on Albert Drive (Image: Newsquest)

However, demolition was avoided in the late 80s when Peter Brook’s version of Indian epic Mahabharata needed a home for what would be its only UK performances. The ambitious plans paved the way for Glasgow’s year as City of Culture in 1990 and the venue has grown in stature and reputation ever since.

The land at the back was, in the early 19th century, a commercial nursery where trees were grown for big mansions like Pollok House.

In the early 2000s, plans were unveiled at The Lighthouse for a transformation of the old nursery site into an urban greenspace. Pupils from Dowanhill Primary visited to examine the models for the £500,000 project.

Pupils from Dowanhill Primary inspect the original models for the gardens (Image: Newsquest)

In 2003 the Hidden Gardens arrived, and the following year, they were illuminated by a series of light installations inspired by diverse cultural traditions: Diwali, Eid al-Fitr, Chanukah and Advent.

(Pictured, main image and below, is Linda Macdonald, garden resource manager for the Hidden Gardens, inspecting part of the lighting display for Eid-Al-Fitr, the key festival in the Islamic calendar.)

Preparations for Eid-Al-Fitr (Image: Newsquest)

Since then, there have been festivals and gardening projects, wildflower meadow-planting and communal food activities - everything designed to welcome and celebrate the diverse communities of surrounding Pollokshields and beyond.

Arts have figured strongly - such Scottish Ballet’s production of Alice, based on the stories of Lewis Carroll, which brought together children from across Scotland to take part in a specially created physical performance project combining dance and parkour.

Scottish Ballet's performance project based on Alice (Image: Newsquest)

Groups from across the world, such as the Tibetan Singing Bowl Orchestra pictured here in 2003, have performed in the gardens.

Tibetan Singing Bowl Orchestra practising in the Hidden Gardens (Image: Newsquest)

Community is at the heart of it all, with men’s groups, tai chi on the lawn, outdoor classrooms, tours and more, bringing people in.

The Hidden Gardens is celebrating its 20th anniversary (Image: Newsquest)

The Hidden Gardens has become a part of the life of the city - during COP26, it hosted the Sacred Flame for the Climate Emergency by Minga Indígena, and worked with partners to amplify the voices of Indigenous peoples from across the Americas and their call to action that “we are all guardians of biodiversity.”