A history of Glasgow Green ahead of TRNSMT 2025

We give a short history of Glasgow Green ahead of this week’s music festival.

Transcript

00:00So with Transmet returning to Glasgow Green in just a few days time for its 2025 edition,

00:04we thought we'd share a bit about the history of the site. While you may associate this area

00:08of town mainly as a festival ground, it was actually Glasgow's oldest park,

00:12the land of which was gifted to the people of Glasgow in 1450 by Bishop William Turnbull.

00:17At this point, it was very uneven and swampy with only a few green areas. For centuries,

00:21it functioned as the city's only public green space and was initially used for washing,

00:25bleaching linen, grazing, drying fishing nets and swimming. In response to mass unemployment in

00:30the 19th century caused by an economic depression, Glasgow Town Council hired over 300 jobless workers

00:36to remodel the green and over the course of nine years they set about draining and levelling the

00:41land. This is what moulded it into the site it is today. It has hosted many historic events.

00:46It was the site of Glasgow's first wash house. In 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie arrived with his army

00:52with their clothing in tatters, where merchants provided them with new garments. From 1830 to 1914,

00:59it was a favoured meeting spot for the suffragettes. The last public hanging in Glasgow took place at

01:04the Green in 1865, where Dr Edward Pritchard was executed for the murders of his wife and mother-in-law.

01:10It has been used by two of Glasgow's oldest sports clubs, the Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club

01:15and Glasgow University Rowing Club. It has hosted a number of political protests.

01:21Download Festival Scotland took place here in 2004, featuring Metallica, Linkin Park, Corn and Slipknot.

01:28As part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it became one of 27 sites in Glasgow to be protected by the

01:33fields of trust, to ensure it is preserved as public recreation. And since 2017, it has been the

01:39home of Transmet Festival. So will you be heading along this year? And who are you going to see?