"Diggings In Glasgow Green", a song which has been preserved in a scrapbook entitled Old Glasgow Street Songs etc, 1850 held at the Mitchell Library.
A seam of coal was discovered beneath Glasgow Green in 1821. In 1858, when the Town Council was attempting to raise revenue to lay out the new Kelvingrove Park, councillors agreed to lease the mineral rights to the Green to a local industrialist, John McDowell. There was a storm of protest from residents in the East End, who resented the proposal to surrender their most popular amenity to industrial development in order to pay for a park for the wealthy residents of the West End. The plan was dropped in the teeth of fierce opposition led by the radical Gallowgate councillor James Moir. Nevertheless, Council proposals to encroach on the Green have re-emerged (and outraged popular opinion) on many occasions since then.
Reference: GC 398.5 GLA
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
Arn's Well, Chartists, coal mines, coal mining, conservation, councillors, Diggings In Glasgow Green, environmentalism, environmentalists, folks songs, Kelvingrove Park, lyrics, Old Glasgow Street Songs etc, 1850, parks, poetry, political activists, Radicals, street songs, West End Park
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