Castles of Glasgow

Castles In and Around Glasgow

Does Glasgow have any castles? The whole reason that Edinburgh exists is because 1000 years ago the rocky hill at its centre was the most easily defended place thereabouts. Whilst Edinburgh Castle is world-renowned, Glasgow doesn't really have the medieval grandeur of a fortified volcano in its city centre. You would not really associate Glasgow with castles. There have been castles in and around the city of Glasgow, but not much physical evidence of them exists now, however the clues are there. There is still a Castle Street in the city centre, an Old Castle Road in Cathcart and a Castlebank Street in Partick. These street names come from the castles that previously stood among open countryside hard to picture in today's city.

Castlemilk (also known locally as Chateau Lait of course) on the other hand has, disappointingly, never housed a castle. The Stuarts who owned the land and gave it the name, were from Castle Milk in Dumfriesshire. When they took the land on the outskirts of Carmunnock they brought the Castlemilk name north with them, but no castle.

So these are the castles in and around Glasgow that I could think of. Have I missed any?

Earliest fortifications around Glasgow

Roman Bar Hill Fort

People have lived around the River Clyde for thousands of years. In 142 AD the Romans camped nearby with 37 miles of  the Antonine Wall stretching from Old Kilpatrick, through Bearsden towards the River Forth, with regular fortifications along it.

Near Twechar the remains of a Roman fort can be seen at Bar Hill, and at Bearsden the Roman fort is hidden under a block of flats but you can still explore the Roman bathhouse attached to it.

At Bearsden, on the outskirts of Glasgow, all the features you would want from a Roman bathouse can be seen, with cold plunge pools, warm rooms, a hypocaust and a nine-seater, communal latrine. Many of the finds from the site are on display at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. The soldiers stationed here were believed to be Gauls, who may have come back with Emperor Antoninus from his North African campaign of 146-149AD. A wee change for them I would have thought.

Only 20 years after building the wall and its fortifications the Romans abandoned the Antonine Wall and withdrew to the south again. Emperor Antoninus was succeeded by the more renowned Marcus Aurelius.

Roman bathhouse at Bearsden

Roman cludgie in Bearsden

Are there other ancient fortifications in Glasgow? At the highest point in Queen's Park, hidden among the tress beside the flagpole are eroded earthworks and a mysterious stone circle.

View from the flagpole at the top of Queen's Park, Glasgow

This is Camphill and there are various theories about what once stood here. The earthworks hidden in the trees at the summit measure over 90 metres in circumference and were for a long time thought to mark the site of an iron age fort or a Roman settlement. There is a small (rather unimpressive) stone circle here also, sometimes described as thousands of years old, or maybe marking a military position from the nearby Battle of Langside in 1568. However the stones were not present when antiquarian archaeologists explored the area in the 18th century. Either somebody has put them there to jazz the place up a bit, or it is just debris from some nearby building work left because it made a nice place to sit.

Stone circle in Queen's Park

Theories about the hilltop fort have swung from it being a 3000 year old iron age settlement, or more likely medieval, or merely a couple of centuries old. All the theories have been hard to prove as the 18th century archaeologists cleared so much stuff away that they have wiped out a lot of clues. And then, in 1985, fragments of Roman pottery were found on the site. So maybe it was a Roman hilltop fort all along? Perhaps all the theories are correct. An ongoing mystery.

Two further similar, circular earthworks lie among the trees in nearby Pollok Park, on the hill above the Burrell Museum.

Bishop's Castle

It wasn't really until the 6th Century that the city of Glasgow was established. Glasgow became a religious centre after St Mungo founded his church at the Molendinar Burn, where Glasgow Cathedral still stands. The burn, now mostly covered over, used to power the Bishop's mills.

The road outside the cathedral in Glasgow is still called Castle Street. This comes from the time that the Bishop's Palace (or Bishop's Castle) stood just north-west of Glasgow Cathedral, where Glasgow Royal Infirmary now stands.

Bishop's Castle around 1560, with Glasgow Cathedral behind it

The first stone built cathedral in Glasgow dates from 1136 and the bishop's residence is presumed to date from this time, originally just a circular earthwork. By the time that Edward I invaded Scotland in 1290 the Bishop's Castle was a fortified building and Edward garrisoned his army here for a while. In the 15th century a five-storey tower was built here by Bishop John Cameron, and his successor built a defensive wall around it. However during the Reformation the Bishop's Castle was besieged six times, until the bishop of Glasgow at the time fled to France. The building later housed a jail before falling into disrepair in the 1700s, with the stone been taken away for new buildings in the growing city. There was still enough of the tower standing at the time of the 1715 Jacobite uprising for it to be used to hold 353 prisoners, guarded by 100 troops.

Castellated gate leading to Glasgow Royal Infirmary on Castle Street

In 1755 some of the stones were removed to build the Saracen's Head Inn. The building was finally flattened to make way for the hospital in 1792, and a castellated gate at the Royal Infirmary entrance commemorates the previous structure on the site. Also in Cathedral Square a pillar marks the site of the former Bishop's Castle/ Palace, although you wouldn't know this from looking at it as the brass plaque is missing from it. This pillar (and informative plaque) were unveiled in 1915. Also a line of stones in the ground near the St Mungo's Museum of Religion marks the place where castle walls were found. This museum is meant to be built in the style of the castle tower that once stood nearby.

Pillar marking the former boundary of Bishop's Castle
 in Cathedral Square outside Glasgow Cathedral

ARE THERE ANY OTHER CASTLES??

Castle Vaults pub, Maryhill

The Castle Vaults pub which still stands at the lower end of Maryhill Road, dates from the 1880s. It takes it's name from a brewery rather than any castle that once stood here. Proprieter George McLachlan also owned the Castle Brewery in Maryhill. From 1889 the brewery was located where Maryhill Police Station now stands, in a former linen and cotton factory. To meet growing demand, in 1907 MacLachlan opened a larger brewery in Edinburgh and closed the Maryhill works, taking this Castle from Glasgow to Edinburgh. "Fortress Firhill" is the only fortification in Maryhill. There are no records of any castles, apart from the brewery, in Maryhill.

There are a couple of castles still standing on the southside of Glasgow however, and archaelogical evidence of Partick Castle has finally settled the arguments about where this used to stand.

Crookston Castle

Relatively unknown to most people living in Glasgow, and tucked away in a housing estate in the southside ,stands Glasgow's last true castle. Crookston Castle sits among trees at the top of a hill in a non-descript park near to where Levern Water joins White Cart Water. The first fortification here was built by Robert de Croc in the twelfth century, timber structures surrounded by deep ditches. The area of Crookston took its name from Robert Croc, but by 1330 the Stewarts of Darnley owned the estate. Around 1400 they replaced the wooden structures with a rectangular stone castle, with towers at each of the four corners. When John Stewart took part in a rebellion against King James IV in 1489, the king bombarded the castle and destroyed two of the towers and the central block. One of the most famous of the Darnley Stewarts, Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley), was allegedly betrothed to Mary, Queen of Scots beneath an ancient yew tree here in 1565. When the tree was felled in 1816, a model of the castle was carved from its wood and can be seen on Pollok House.

Robert de Croc's defensive ditches, Crookston Castle

Although the Stewarts continued to live in the castle, they finally abandoned it in the late sixteenth century. By 1600 it was in ruins. In 1757 the Maxwells of Pollok bought the castle. In 1847 their family partially restored it for a visit of Queen Victoria to Glasgow. One of the towers still stands and the now roofless central hall can be explored. A staircase and steep ladder can take you to the roof to enjoy the views across the south of Glasgow. Entry to the castle is free, although the gates to it are locked at night.

Crookston Castle, Glasgow

The central hall at Crookston Castle, now roofless

After climbing up ladders to the top of the castle, weather permitting, views can be had
from Eaglesham Moor to The Cobbler, Ben Ledi and the southside of Glasgow

Crookston Castle, Glasgow

Haggs Castle

A photograph from 1855 by Duncan Brown of Haggs Castle

As my granny lived in nearby Mosspark as a child I was often taken to Haggs Castle in Pollokshields At that time it housed a Museum of Childhood. Haggs Castle still stands on St Andrews Drive, but is now a private residence after previous owners, Glasgow Corporation, sold it in 1998, two years after closing the museum. 

Haggs Castle today, now a private house

It was built in 1585 by Sir John Maxwell of Pollok as the family's main residence. It was named after the bogs or "haggs" that were nearby when it was built. Though they lived here in one form or another for a long time, they let it fall into decay in 1753 when the family moved to their newly completed mansion, Pollok House. Haggs Castle was later partially restored and in the 1850s became home to the Maxwell's Pollok Estate factor.

Haggs Castle today

During World War 2 it was requisitioned by the army and after the war divided into flats. In 1972 Glasgow Corporation bought it and converted it into the Museum of Childhood that I remember, which opened four years later. It had rooms filled with old toys and a big kitchen in its vaulted basement. I've still got a Haggs Castle badge that I must have got on a visit there once. 

My Haggs Castle souvenir

With walls in places five feet thick it was always more of a sturdy tower, rather than a fortified castle. To see it now you have to stand across the road and jump up and down to see over the high walls which surround it. Hidden away and fitted with modern adaptions, but still standing.

The Maxwell family's later home on their Pollok Estate

Cathcart Castle

Cathcart Castle is another one on the southside that people may remember from childhood visits, but unlike Haggs Castle and Crookston Castle, it has been flattened now. Located in what is now Linn Park, Cathcart Castle was built as a strong tower on a hilltop location in the 15th century. As the family home to the Earls of Cathcart it was originally a five-storey, stone-built, rectangular keep.

Prior to that an earlier fortification was home to Alan de Cathcart, on this site overlooking the White Cart Water. Cathcart at this time was a much larger area than on current maps, covering lands in Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire, down to Langside. Alan de Cathcart was a staunch supporter of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. With these connections he extended the family lands into Ayrshire.

Cathcart Castle on a 1913 postcard

In 1546 the castle became the property of the Semples, who lived here until they moved into Cathcart House (also now gone) in 1740. The castle is one of the million castles in Scotland which claims Mary, Queen of Scots spent a night here. Eleven days after escaping from Lochleven Castle she had rallied 6000 men in Hamilton and was marching them to Dumbarton Castle. At the pass of Lang Loan (now Battlefield Road) on Thursday the 15th of May 1568 they faced Regent Moray's troops. She is meant to have stood on a hill here watching the battle, which lasted 45 minutes and led to the defeat of her forces. She fled south to Dundrennan Abbey, and then south into England where she was captured and imprisoned. A small hill here just outside Linn Park called Court Knowe is marked with a commemorative stone as the point where she watched the battle.

Court Knowe, with views across Glasgow beyond

From here on the other side of Old Castle Road stood Cathcart Castle. In 1927 Glasgow Corporation took ownership of the castle ruins. Planned restorations never took place and by the 1950s it was closed off to the public as it was becoming dangerous. It was finally demolished in 1980, leaving only a couple of feet of walls standing above the ground. It is no longer marked or signposted, on the edge of Linn Park. I went with my daughter to try and find it, climbing through a hole in the fence on Old Castle Road and clambering through the undergrowth, what now remains only hints at what once stood here.

Old Castle Road, access to remains of Cathcart Castle

Walls of Cathcart Castle, Linn Park

Walls of Cathcart Castle, Linn Park

Cathcart Castle, hidden in the undergrowth of Linn Park

Partick Castle

Yes, not only is there a Partick Thistle, but there has been at least one Partick Castle. 

It was known that the Bishops of Glasgow had a country retreat in (what was then) rural Partick as long ago as the twelfth century. Before that the kings of Strathclyde were believed to have a castle or hunting lodge in this area, possibly linked with the ancient Govan church on the other side of a shallow ford which crossed the Clyde here. The bishops' castle, or country house, of Partick is depicted in the old Partick Burgh coat of arms. The other noteworthy matters depicted on the Partick coat of arms are the bishop's mitre, boats marking its maritime links and millstones and a wheat-sheaf. 

Old coat of arms of Partick

At the lower end of the River Kelvin several mills were set up in the medieval period, and were expanded over the years to supply the nearby growing city of Glasgow. It was only in 2002 that this trade ended here with the massive Meadowside Granary being demolished. Now even the Hovis factory in ....street is in the process of being converted into flats and the remaining old mill buildings that can still be seen on the banks of the Kelvin are also now flats.

The Bishops of Glasgow maintained a residence in Partick until the Reformation in 1560, when Bishop James Beaton fled to France. There he was appointed by Mary, Queen of Scots as her ambassador to France. The Partick Castle was believed to lie on the west bank of the River Kelvin, near to where it meets the Clyde. Recent archaeological excavations by Scottish Water in this area, beside Castlebank Street, may have located its location, and also a later castle.

This later Partick Castle was built in 1611 by George Hutcheson. With his brother he also founded Hutchesons' Hospital in Glasgow, and Hutchesons' Grammar School. By 1770 it was empty and fifteen years later was in ruins. In the 1830s it was demolished and its stone taken away to be re-used in local construction. With Partick rapidly expanding the site was cleared in the 1880s to build Partick Railway Station down here, and later a scrapyard occupied the site. Now it is unrecognisable from that period, with waves of student flats being built on this site.

Site of Partick Castle on the banks of the Kelvin,
near the railway bridge at the top of this picture

A few old paintings exist showing this old castle but its exact location was unknown until last year. It was thought that 140 years of industrial activity here would not have left any traces of the previous buildings. However archaeological investigations carried out before Scottish Water built a new plant on the site turned up some surprises. They found the ruins of two separate tower houses that would match the stories of old Partick Castles. This was confirmation of the 12th century Bishop's Castle and of Hutcheson's 17th century tower on almost the same site. The analysis by GUARD Archaeology  is still ongoing.

Recent archaeological dig at the site of Partick Castle

(I have written previously about other old Partick stuff here)

Two Castles in Mugdock Park

Just on the outskirts of Glasgow there are another couple of castles that I sometimes visit with my children. Mugdock Park in the 14th century was home to the Grahams of Montrose. By 1372 they had built a castle where Mugdock Castle now stands, protected on two sides by rocky promontories, and on another by Mugdock Loch which was much bigger then than its current size.

Mugdock Castle on a small hilltop

In the 1640s when the Marquess of Montrose called Mugdock home, the castle was sacked twice during the wars with Charles I. In 1650 Montrose was executed and his lands taken by the Marquess of Argyll. 11 years later when he was executed, the Grahams took possession of the land again and rebuilt the castle as a mansion within the old castle walls. Over the subsequent centuries various occupants demolished sections, built walled gardens and connected mansions to the old building, leaving today's isolated tower connected to a confusing jumble of structures. One tower remains, although you cannot get into it.

The remaining tower at Mugdock Castle

Mugdock Castle

If you walked from the main entrance of Mugdock Park towards the old castle, you probably passed a much more derelict building on the way. This is called Craigend Castle, built as a country house for the Smith family in the 17th century. John Smith was born here in 1724 and after making his money through trade with the slave economy of the West Indies, he founded the booksellers John Smith and Co. that still trades today in Glasgow. The house was rebuilt in a Gothic Regency style, with turrets and castellation in 1824 by James Smith of Jordanhill.

The ruins of Craigend Castle last winter

Craigend Castle, disappearing now into the foliage

A succession of owners lived in the house until it was sold to Andrew Wilson and his son William in 1948. They already owned "Wilson's Zoo" in Oswald Street in Glasgow and they ran the estate as a zoo for a while with elephants, lions, monkeys and crocodiles. Never a successful venture it closed in 1955. Thereafter the grounds became Mugdock Country Park and Craigend Castle has become a ruin. Unless propped up soon, it looks as if it is on the verge of collapsing forever. The former stable block of Craigend Castle is now used as the visitor centre and tearooms at the park and maybe gives an idea of how grand the old building once looked.

Visitor centre of Mugdock Park, previously the stables of Craigend Castle,
 then later still home to Charlie the elephant when the place became a zoo

Other grand villas around Glasgow were built, like Craigend Castle, in the style of a castle, such as Sherbrooke Castle in Glasgow. Now a hotel it was built in 1896 as a private villa, the only fighting it saw was when it was requisitioned by the Royal Navy during WW2 and used as a radar training centre. Similarly in Mugdock Park the emplacements of anti-aircraft guns from this period can still be visited.

Further afield...

Without going far from Glasgow there are plenty of other castley castles worth a visit. Stirling Castle is one of my favourites for taking visitors too. Edinburgh Castle I always think looks better from down in Princes Street, but is a bit of a disappointing jumble of British Army offices once you are inside it. Nearer to Glasgow but worth a visit....

Bothwell Castle

Bothwell Castle is run by Historic Scotland, and parts of it are currently under renovation (October 2016) but is a proper grand castle as drawn by any child.

Dumbarton Castle sits atop Dumbarton Rock

Built on a spectacular volcanic rock on the Clyde, Dumbarton Castle has a long history and a great location. It offers lovely views across the Clyde and, on the other side, down onto the appallingly named home of Dumbarton FC - The Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium.

Newark Castle

On the opposite bank of the River Clyde Newark Castle is one of the most intact castles around. Just outside Port Glasgow there are no longer any defensive walls, but plenty of rooms inside to explore and a handsome doocot too.

(Okay, within two minutes of me posting this three decent suggestions for castles I had never heard of were sent to me. Any other suggestions gratefully received

Castle Levan, near Gourock

Castle Strathven, didn't know it existed, looks impressive

Springburn Castle, a gothic villa from 1820, aka Balgray Tower)


Anyway, in a country that has spent 2000 years fighting against Romans, fighting among ourselves, against Vikings and against our beloved southern neighbours there are plenty of castles and forts in Scotland. Even in a city like Glasgow, that exploded into existence with the Industrial Revolution, they are all over the place if you look hard enough.

Björk - Hammersmith Apollo. 24th September 2016. Live review

Björk - Hammersmith Apollo

Live review. 24th September 2016.

In recent years Björk has not played many live concerts outside of festivals, so when I found out that she was playing in London when I happened to be in town I jumped at the chance to get a ticket. This meant meeting up with a German punk with a 1980s British electronic pop obsession, who had flown from Berlin for the concert, and a woman who had flown in specifically from Spain to be here. Her next trip to Britain will be to see Korn and Limp Bizkit play in Glasgow. 

I know it's a song by a different Icelandic mob,
but it seemed an appropriate place for pre-gig drinks

It is fair to say that Björk has a diverse collection of admirers, as eclectic as her music has been over the years. After my German friend and I had traded stories of recent Adam Ant concerts we had been to we settled down to see what Iceland's pop pixie had dreamt up for us tonight. Sitting next to me was another guy from Glasgow. He was seeing Björk again for the first time since he saw her play the Barrowlands with The Sugarcubes in 1988. For me it was my first time, definitely one ticked off of my personal bucket list.

Björk at the Hammersmith Apollo, London 

As the lights darkened the string orchestra who would accompany her all night took their places. With an elaborate, lacey mask covering her face and dressed like a diaphanous, white jellyfish complete with dangling tendrils, she came on stage and launched into the songs from her recent Vulnicura album. When originally launched the album was co-produced by Arca and the Haxan Cloak. The lyrics told the story of the recent end of her marriage, her rising and falling voice crackling with emotion. A few months later a new version of the album was released, Vulnicura Strings; her voice, no percussion and a string section accompaniment. Seeing this live it had an almost Baroque quality to the sound. With just her voice and the Aurora chamber orchestra, here a 26-piece strings section, it's a sound that could have been made anytime in the past 450 years since the violin was invented, if anyone had ever imagined it before now. Despite it being 28 years since she sang at the Glasgow Barrowlands her distinctive voice and vocal style are undimmed. In fact I was blown away by the energy of her singing.

Björk and the Aurora Orchestra 

Her fluorescent costume flicked through various colours as she hovvered in front of the musicians, the biting History of Touches a stand out performance from the first half.

Björk at the Hammersmith Apollo 

After a quick break, and change of costume, in the second half she went through several older tracks, now given string arrangements. Dressed in red, this half had a different energy and pace, her voice the lead instrument, playing just off the rhythm of the orchestra throughout. With three songs from the 1997 album Homogenic, and The Anchor Song from her 1993 album Debut in her final encore, there was plenty for the fans that have been with her all the way to enjoy. Only at the end was I aware that I'd been grinning warmly all evening. 

Aloof, ethereal, weird, dramatic. If ever one person seems to encapsulate the place they come from, Björk seems to be Iceland, the land of ice, fire and elves, condensed into one human being. A work of art.

Holiday snaps from beautiful Iceland 

Iceland 

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus

I have previously written about how much I enjoy seeing the works of ancient Greece in our theatres when I wrote about the National Theatre of Scotland re-working The Oresteia by Aeschylus earlier this year at the Citizens Theatre. The resonances in the modern world of these works first performed 2500 years ago are crystal clear. Barely five months later and Aeschylus is soon to be back on the stage in Scotland with The Suppliant Women being performed at the Lyceum Theatre in October 2016.

"Aeschylus. Translation & Lexicon"

The old edition of Aeschylus translations which I have at home starts with a quote on the frontispiece from an earlier translator. In a preface to his 1824 translation of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, John Symmons, complaining about the challenges he faced wrote...

"The times, customs, religion and manners are changed; words which vibrated to the ear, and went straight to the heart, of an Athenian, causing a thrill through their crowded theatres, are known to us only by the dim light of lexicons, context, and glossaries; and even when understood, we search in vain for corresponding expressions in or own language."

Knowing that I was definitely planning to go and see the new version of The Suppliant Women at the Lyceum Theatre by David Greig I read through Aeschylus' words today. One thing that jumps off the page from the off is the fact that the "the times, customs, religions and manners" do not seem to have changed so much.

The Suppliants is the first, and only surviving part, of a tetralogy of plays telling the tale of the Danaides. These 50 women, the daughters of Danaus, leave their home near Syria and flee across the Mediterranean Sea in boats and land in Greece. They are being pursued by 50 sons of their uncle Aegyptus who wish to force them to marry. When they arrive in Greece they seek asylum in Argos. King Pelasgus is reluctant to take them in but puts it to his people who welcome them warmly. As a Herald from Aegyptus arrives to drag them away, King Pelasgus threatens the Herald and takes the women into his city.

The Supplicants by Aeschylus

The echoes in our world of today barely need spelled out, but let me do just that. There are many translations and editions of the story but I am quoting from the one that I have. This was a kind gift to my wife from an old family friend many years ago; a 19th century edition of 2500 year old plays, given to a 14 year old.

Unusually for a Greek play the chorus play a part as characters in the story, here made up of the 50 women fleeing their homeland. In the opening lines they tell of their journey.

"wafted here in ships having set sail from the mouths of the Nile.....having left the divine land bordering on Syria, we fled."

Refugees arriving in Lesbos

If this scenario is unsettling in its familiarity, the language that the chorus use to describe those whom they are fleeing is similarly disquieting in its modern echoes.

"...the male-abounding insolent swarm, sprung from Aegyptus..."

Whilst he was British Prime Minister, David Cameron was accused of dehumanising migrants by describing those trying to get to Britain to seek a new life as "a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean". This type of language, relating to insects rather than people, was then quickly picked up and used again in subsequent days by Nigel Farage, and the Daily Mail and The Express newspapers. Comparisons were drawn between the way The Daily Mail described refugees coming to Britain today to the inflammatory and irresponsible way it described Jews fleeing Nazism as "pouring into" Britain from Germany in its pages in 1938.

Daily Mail newspaper articles in 2015 and 1938

The women hope that the local gods have been kind to them by allowing them calm waters to cross the sea and they humbly plea for help from Jove at his altar, suppliant, laying boughs here.

"...fearing my friends, if there is any one who cares about this flight of ours...But there is even to those who fly from war afflicted an altar, a defence..."

...a "surer defence than a tower" they hope. They invoke Apollo, a god who like them was "once exiled" from heaven. King Pelasgus arrives, suspicious of their foreign appearance.

"Of what country is this band that we address, not Grecian in its garb, delicately clothed in barbaric robes and many folds of dress...you are more like to Libyan women"

Syrian women arriving in Greece

When they make their case for help Pelasgus is torn between the possible consequences whichever way he acts; fearful of bringing danger upon his city or the shame of not welcoming strangers.

"...lest at any time the people shall say, if perchance any thing fall out not such as we desire to happen, honouring strangers you have destroyed the city."

When the women threaten to hang themselves from the temple walls, King Pelasgus puts it to the people of the city, who vote wholeheartedly to accept the women, and threaten exile for those that do not.

King Pelasgus asks them to leave their suppliant boughs at the temple "as a sign of their trouble." To me this phrase just made me think of the piles of (often useless) life-jackets lying on beaches in Lesbos, the modern sign of the troubles today's refugees have faced. Bound to people and clutched by people making perilous crossings, more in hope than expectation that they will bring some safety.

Life jackets on a beach in Lesbos, Greece

The Herald of Aegyptus' sons arrives to demand their return. In fear the women call out about the fate they fear awaits them in their homeland.

"There await us draggings, draggings and stabbings, bloody deadly cutting off of heads."

King Pelasgus dispatches the Herald sent from their pursuers, demanding he show respect for the gods and the will of his people. He offers the homes of his city to take in the women. They enter the city walls and safety, but know that they cannot tell what fate lies ahead for them. They are in the hands of the gods. Their father, Danaus, cautions them.

"But every one bears a ready evil tongue against a stranger, and to speak slander is an easy thing."

I was going to put a photograph of Nigel Farage here to illustrate the point, but instead an image of refugees trapped at a camp near the northern border of Greece. Here they face further hardship, suspicion and help seems in short supply. A modern chorus whose voices seem to be going unheard.

In last week's newspapers Scottish local authorities were being praised for welcoming their 1000th Syrian refugee to the country, a third of the total which the UK has accepted. However in Greece, a country struggling with a crippled economy, 856,723 refugees arrived in 2015, like The Suppliant Women, by sea. The attitudes and fears of the rulers and people of ancient Argos are playing out there on a daily basis. The scale of the situation is difficult to grasp.

In modern Greece the ancient, crumbling walls of Argos still sit atop a hill in the Peloponnese, but in the time of Aeschylus the audience would know them well, the city where the women sought help. Like the words of Aeschylus, these ruins still speak to us today, and his words speak with an alarming authority, a comment on recent events in the Mediterranean.

The walls of Ancient Argos, atop a hill in Greece today

The spectacle of Ancient Greek theatre is lost to us, as are many of the major works. Things go badly for the Danaides in the next stage of the story, but we will never know how Aeschylus told this part of their tale. 

Theatre of Dionysus, Athens, where Aeschylus' plays were often performed

With the original in mind, obviously the piece of theatre being created at the Lyceum Theatre will use this as a springboard for a novel work. Re-uniting writer David Greig, director Ramin Gray and composer John Browne who worked together to produce The Events, it would appear a nod to the music of Greek theatre is being planned. So it is with great anticipation that I aim to make a birthday trip to Edinburgh to see the work of Aeschylus on stage again.

Tickets are available at the Lyceum website (but do seem to be going fast).

Ela Orleans - Circles of Upper and Lower Hell

Ela Orleans - Circles of Upper and Lower Hell - Album launch. Stereo, Glasgow

Live gig review, Stereo Cafe Bar, Glasgow 1.9.2016

I can't say that I've ever before come away from a concert thinking "I really must make a point of reading that 14th century poem about Hell". However that was the situation I found myself in as I meandered back from Stereo in Renfield Lane last night, after watching Ela Orleans perform at the launch of her new album. It has obviously not been an easy process getting to the point where there was an album to be launched. An earlier incarnation of the album was released last year as Upper Hell, produced by Howie B. In the sadly familiar story of music industry machinations however, that led to the artist who made the work not getting paid and lawyers having to get involved. With that now behind her, and with the support of Night School Records, the music as envisaged by Ela herself has now seen the light of day. 

Ela Orleans album, Upper and Lower Circles of Hell

As the title of the album suggests it is inspired by Dante's Inferno, and many of the pieces on it play on Dante's journey down through Hell, led by ancient Roman poet Virgil. I have had it sitting on my wobbling pile of "to be read" books for a while, but after having the album playing for the past wee while in the house, my 16 year old son has picked it up and got right into it (he tells me that after the Inferno part, Purgatory and Paradise are a bit disappointing). Mixed in with the grand ideas of Dante, the music feels very personal and private. Ghostly vocals and echoes of other tunes bounce about in your head listening to it. There is the obvious spirit of the early electronic music of Daphne Oram and the sound collages of Delia Derbyshire here. Listening to the album I was also thinking back to one of my favourite LPs that I haven't listened to in years, The Eurythmics early nu-wave sound from In The Garden. 

Stephen Pastel, who features on Ela's album, was DJ-ing downstairs at Stereo throughout the evening. Head of Night School Records, Michael Kasparis (Apostille) started things off, with a fierce performance of his own one man industrial-electronic sound. John Lemke (Lost In Sounds) gave us a more soothing, cinematic set. If you judge a person by the company they keep, this augured well for the main event tonight.

DJ set from Stephen Pastel

Ela Orleans often uses the tagline "movies for ears" and the last two occasions that I have seen her perform she was accompanying the visuals of other artists. In 2014 she performed with Swedish artist, Maja Borg at Counterflows in Glasgow. Then earlier this year she provided a live score to the 1929 silent film Lucky Star at the Glasgow Film Festival. That performance was at the beautiful Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed Queens Cross Church in Maryhill. It seemed fitting that for music that engages more than just the ears we were tonight again housed in a Mackintosh designed building. The former Daily Record printworks on Renfield Lane, now Stereo Cafe Bar, may not be one of his most celebrated buildings but if you pay attention there is a feast of elegant features built into the structure. I won't labour the metaphor too much, but I liked descending into the stripped and bare basement of this elegant building to hear the music of a descent into Hell.

Mackintosh's former Daily Record building after dark. Now home to Stereo

On stage against a kaleidoscope of images projected behind her, Ela layered her gauzy soundscape together. It is an atmospheric and immersive sound, but has occasional pop sensibilities and catchy riffs breaking through. The haunting vocals of track Circle One was what I was trying to sing to myself on the way home last night. The influences from a Catholic upbringing in Eastern Bloc Poland, to working with noise artists in New York, to life among her current world of the Glasgow independent music scene have created a unique sound all her own. I hope now that she has signed up to do a PhD at the University of Glasgow, Ela Orleans has been snared by our city for the foreseeable future. She creates so much beautiful work for us that we are all richer for having her here.

Now if my son would finish off Dante's Inferno I could finally make a start on it...

Buy the album here

Edinburgh Festival 2016 - Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh International Festival 2016

I only realised a couple of years ago that the Edinburgh Festival is a whole pile of festivals all happening at the same time. The fringe, the art festival, the book festival, the gardening festival (I made one of those up). The main Edinburgh International Festival has a much more focused and normally highbrow atmosphere. This year the world of alternative popular music has elbowed its way into the International Festival with Mogwai, Young Fathers, Sigur Ros, God Speed You! Black Emperor and Karine Polwart in the programme alongside the likes of the Russian National Orchestra and Scottish Ballet. Several of these concerts it was impossible for me to get to from Glasgow and others were sold out very quickly. I made do with a couple of Edinburgh jaunts to wonder around the galleries, catch some fringe theatre and book readings. There is only so long I can join the Edinburgh festival-going crowd before I want to scream though. There is a particular demographic that fills the city in August, and it feels like a good proportion of them will all trudge to the Henley Regatta and Glyndbourne at other times of the year.

I did make it to two International Festival events at the Usher Hall. A concert by a Swedish Orchestra and one by a Senegalese superstar. 

Hello Edinburgh

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra - Usher Hall

Beethoven Piano concerto No. 1 in C major Op 15
Mahler Symphony No. 9

English conductor Daniel Harding, led the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Usher Hall on Friday night. First up was Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, which was actually the third piano concerto he had written, but the first to be published. Written by the 26 year old Beethoven he performed the piano himself on the first performances of the piece. As you would, he has written the best parts for himself and Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov took this role. His performance was mesmeric, without being overly showy and flamboyant. At times hunched over the keyboard with his face inches from his fingers I fear he has an old age filled with back pain ahead of him if he keeps that up, but his playing was fantastic.

After the interval the orchestra had to pause for a while until someone silenced an electronic alarm (getting a round of applause when they managed). Mahler's 9th Symphony is often described as a contemplation on death and the first movement was indeed very dramatic. I found the rest of the evening rather colourless after that and a bit disjointed. Beautiful crisp playing throughout, particularly the strings, but the music didn't sing out to me.

Summer in Scotland

Youssou N'Dour - Usher Hall

One of the greatest figures in African music, "Senegalese superstar" Youssou N'Dour was in the incongruous setting of the stuffy Usher Hall on Wednesday night. His appearance was like a slash of light and warmth in a cold, wet Scottish summer. His audience were a refreshing change from the majority of Edinburgh crowds that I've been sat amongst this week, with many black and younger people dressed up to the nines mixed up with the usial Edinburgh Festival white, middle class, elderly audience.

I have seen him play once before, but that was 26 years ago now, a brief set in a Wembley concert for Nelson Mandela, so I was greatly looking forward to seeing him here tonight with his band in full flow. The band were impressive, 10 musicians and an acrobatic dancer and two singers backing him. With four of them on percussion rhythm was to the fore.

Youssou N'Dour at the Usher Hall 

Youssou N'Dour himself is a slight figure, out front in his shiny white suit, with a voice that's uniquely his. A few songs in we were given a piece of impromptu Scottish cabaret as ushers tried (ineffectually) to usher an obstreperous man away from the front row, where he had planted himself. They needn't have bothered as Youssou soon had sections of the crowd on their feet and dancing at the front of the stage and in the aisles. He slowed things down for a bit with "7 Seconds" before whipping the crowd up again as the tumbling dancer started jumping over the head of the djembe player, who was now draped in a Senegal flag from the crowd.

A captivating performance. Would love to have seen him in a more relaxed venue. Maybe next time.

Look. Youssou even brightened up the Edinburgh weather 

Edinburgh Festival 2016 - Edinburgh Festival Fringe Theatre

Edinburgh Fringe 2016  - Theatre

I've come all the way to Edinburgh and the first two things that I saw were set in a Glasgow school and a Glasgow night club toilet. Quick reviews of a few of the theatre performances I saw at this years Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Glasgow Girls - Assembly Hall ****

Produced by National Theatre of Scotland Glasgow Girls, by David Greig and Cora Bissett, is based on the story of seven Glasgow school friends from Drumchapel who stood together in 2005 when their classmate and her family, seeking asylum in Scotland, were taken from their home to be forcefully deported. Based upon true events the song-filled play has been touring since 2012 but I have only now caught up with it. It is being shown in the Assembly Hall on the Mound at present, and the hall doesn't do it any great favours - a room filled with multiple restricted views and echoey acoustics, which made some of the speaking a bit difficult to discern.

Assembly Hall on The Mound, Edinburgh

The story is probably very familiar to most people now and is told with energy and enthusiasm. I am not a great fan of musicals I must admit, so would generally rather be shown things than told them through song. However when Terry Neason takes centre stage as Noreen, one of the women who organised look-outs for Home Office vans doing dawn raids, the whole story suddenly feels more real and visceral, largely due to her acting abilities and phenomenal voice.

First General Assembly, Edinburgh
 "Did he just say that the cheesemakers shall inherit the Earth?"

 An uplifting piece of theatre, which passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours, still reaching a wide audience as it tours again. Later this month it will be returning to Glasgow at the Citizens Theatre.

Expensive Shit - Traverse Theatre *****

Written and directed by Glasgow based Adura Onashile, Expensive Shit at the Traverse Theatre takes place in the women's toilet of a nightclub. If it hadn't already happened recently in the real world, you would think that the idea of having men getting kicks from staring through two-way mirrors into this private place was an over the top theatrical device. The Shimmy Club in Glasgow was shut down in 2013 after men were found to be paying to leer from behind the glass at women using their toilets. In the play we, the audience, sit in their place, voyeurs to a place people feel they can relax and be themselves.

If you have ever felt uncomfortable with unpaid, often African, toilet attendants in night clubs handing you paper towels, a skoosh of deoderant or a lollipop for tips, then you will recognise Tolu as that character. Nigerian toilet attendant Tolu, (Sabina Cameron) works in the toilet of a Glasgow nightclub, talking to the women and gets paid extra to encourage them to linger at the mirrors or leave the cubicle doors open. The story flits back and forwards between the present and the past where she lived at Fela Kuti's Kalkuta commune, hoping for a better life dancing at his  Afrika Shrine club.

Fela Kuti was an inspirational and controversial figure, married to umpteen of his dancers and singers.  The title of the play, an elegant word play for their stories, takes its name from a Fela Kuti album, an Afrobeat classic. The ideals of the commune, the freedom the women hoped to gain by coming to it, is questioned when the women have to face the reality of what they are being asked to do. The four Nigerian women rehearse, talk and argue in the sanctuary of the women's toilets there.

It is an arresting play, with excellent performances from Sabina Coleman in the lead role, Teri Ann Bobb Baxter, Jamie Marie Leary and Diana Yekinni. Their dance moves are slick and their arguments swing back and forth like the cubicle doors. The audience here in Edinburgh was very white and middle aged, complicit maybe in looking at the African woman in the corner of the room, but perhaps not noticing her.

Diary of a Madman - Traverse Theatre **

Gogol's novella, Dairy of a Madman, is transferred to modern Scotland by writer Al Smith and Gate Theatre. In the original a lowly civil servant driven mad by his unrequited love, eventually believes himself to be able to understand the language of dogs and that he is the next King of Spain. He gives a proper, early description of delusions and symptoms we would now recognise as schizophrenia. (Everyone knows that Gerry Britton, former Partick Thistle player and manager, now in charge of youth development, ins thee true King of Spain). I am a big fan of Russian literature and have been to visit Gogol's house in St Petersburg. So I was looking forward to this re-imagining of the story.

Visiting Gogol in St Petersburg

Instead of Arksenty Poprishchin we have actor Liam Brennan playing Pop Sheerin, a painter maintaining the family tradition, painting and repainting the Forth Rail Bridge. The first half hour is witty and quips pass back and forth between father, daughter Sophie and her mouthy pal. The arrival of English chemical engineer Matt White (boom, boom) as Pop's apprentice lays the foundation for Pop's future redundancy, at work and at home. Matt's burgeoning romance with Sophie upsets Pop's ideas of manliness. As he descends into madness the plot takes a strange turn, with wrong-headed ideas about Scottish nationalism and history shoehorned in. Pop Sheerin becomes increasingly unhinged in a cartoonish fashion, dressing as Mel Gibson's Braveheart to stand against the foreign, globalisation pressures of new-fangled American paint, Qatari share ownership and English nobility.

The portrayal of mental illness in the style of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the women's roles ("kingmakers" through sex with men or as passive wife, who inexplicably doesn't phone a CPN) and the ideas of manliness all felt clichéd, old fashioned and the political jibes were ill-informed. Matt's put down, that the Forth Rail Bridge is "no more Scottish than I am" because it's constituent parts come from elsewhere is so upside down and flawed as to be offensive. I'm quite embarrassed that this play is going on to be performed in England and give people the daft impression that people in Scotland think like the characters here. Surely it's widely accepted that once you're here, you're here and you are part of the country, whether you are a bridge or a dinner lady? Anyway, now I'm nit-picking. It started well, then went off in several strange directions.

Last Dream (On Earth) - Assembly Hall ****

Taking my kids to see Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin and rocket designer Sergei Korolev are two heroes of mine, which has led me to drag my kids to see the Monument to the Conquerors of Space in Moscow to pose under Yuri Gagarin, and drive to London to see an exhibition on the Cosmonauts. In this theatrical piece in Edinburgh Yuri sits on the launch pad, expecting death, but hoping to orbit the Earth. Our attention shifts to an African who has traveled with smugglers across the Sahara and stands on a beach in Morocco about to launch towards Europe.

These are the starting points for this performance/ sound installation designed by Kai Fischer and the National Theatre of Scotland. The five performers and musicians on stage are lined up in a row facing the audience, and we all don headphones to hear their amplified utterances, mixed with radio static and sound effects. Silences are exaggerated in this environment, as we fall below the waves of the Mediterranean or enter radio silence on the dark side of the Earth. The performers hold our gaze at the front, with excellent performances from Edward Nkom, Kimisha Lewis, Michelle Cornelius, and musicians Tyler Collins and Gameli Tordzro. The parallels are clear as we flit back and forth between those about to embark in a toy dinghy and our Cosmonaut about to launch into the darkness of space. The crackled back and forth between Vostok-1 and mission control contrast with the refugees' attempts to make re-assuring mobile phone calls home. The real transcripts used of Yuri Gagarin's communications with mission control are phenomenal. He is the epitome of calmness, reporting "mood buoyant" and "Let's go!" as the launch arrives. Both of our travellers are brave/ foolish pioneers. We only know that one of the trips will definitely end in glory.

Call Mr Robeson - Spotlites ***

Actor, singer, lawyer, campaigner Paul Robeson is the inspiration for Tayo Aluko's one man performance (with piano accompaniment), telling the story of the great man's life. Paul Robeson's booming bass voice was a familiar sound in my childhood home from an old album that my mother often played, a mixture of his singing, reading poetry or Othello's speeches from Shakespeare. He famously attended the Glasgow May Day parade in 1960, and in the play his dealings with striking Welsh miners featured prominently in the play.  

I knew a bit about the life of Paul Robeson, but learned a lot more, particularly about the extent of the hostility he faced from the American state. The tireless efforts made to deprive him of his passport, of his ability to work, even of his health, was remarkable. Tayo Aluko doesn't have the bone rattling quality to his voice that Robeson did (who does?) but his singing earned applause throughout and evoked the music that Robeson used to such powerful effect protesting against the injustice that he saw. Back home to dig out my mum's old Paul Robeson album that I've got in a box somewhere.


Milk - Traverse Theatre *****

Orla O'Loughlin of the Traverse Theatre Company directs Ross Dunsmore's first full length play, Milk. A trio of couples riff on a theme of nourishment and sustinence. Steph and Ash aged 14 (Helen Mallon and Cristian Ortega), their teacher Danny Doig and his wife Nicole (Ryan Fletcher and Melody Grove) and elderly couple May and Cyril (played by Tam Dean Burn and Ann Louise Ross). Steph's body image fixation and self-confidence issues lead her to chase after her teacher. His pregnant wife feels crushed by her inability to breastfeed when the baby comes. The old couple play the most touching scenes, with their electricity cut off, ex-soldier Cyril is too fearful of the outside world to go out and buy food. Although all the ideas don't always gel, I found the later scenes incredibly moving. It made me think back to people I know who struggled to breastfeed and were given increasingly unhelpful advice from people who should have known better. I'll admit that I was a wee bit weepy in the final scene. It brought back a moment I'd completely forgotten, the most supportive thing I ever heard for a stressed parent. Dashing around a supermarket with a screaming baby when an old man leans over and instead of moaning, says "that's the most beautiful sound in the world, the cry of a baby". Try it next time you see someone looking stressed.

Anyway, really enjoyed the play. Nicely paced direction kept things flowing along. I finished up at the Traverse and ran across to Nandos for some grub. (It only got about 10 mentions).