Gorbals
| Gorbals | |
|---|---|
 Gorbals
|
|
| Gorbals shown within Glasgow | |
| OS grid reference | NS 59100 64000 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area |
|
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | GLASGOW |
| Postcode district | G5 |
| Dialling code | 0141 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated and adversely affected by local industrialisation. Many people lived here because their jobs provided worker housing and they could not afford their own. Poor sanitation and poverty contributed to problems. As industrial jobs declined during restructuring, this area became widely known as a dangerous slum associated with drunkenness and crime. In the later 20th century, it was subject to efforts at redevelopment, but poorly designed and constructed tower blocks of social housing contributed to more problems. Since the late 20th century, much of the area has been demolished and redeveloped with a mixture of market and social housing. Some buildings are being refurbished and restored to a higher standard.
In the early 21st century, a local group has started a campaign to reinstate the Cross fountain, aided by people attracted to their Facebook page, Old Gorbals Pictures (Heritage Group). The group have discovered that a copy of the original cross fountain was installed on the Caribbean island of St Kitts & Nevis. They are working to engage professional help to digitally scan this object to allow for the manufacture of Gorbals Cross, No 3, to be installed in a new development near to where it originally stood.
The name is first documented in the 15th and 16th centuries as 'Gorbaldis,' and its etymology is unclear. It may be related to the Latin word garbale (sheaf), found in the Scots term garbal teind (tenth sheaf), a tithe of corn given to a parish rector. The taking of garbal teind was a right given to George Elphinstone in 1616 as part of his 19-year tack (lease). The placename would therefore mean "the Sheaves". The name is similar to a Lowland Scots word gorbal/gorbel/garbal/garbel (unfledged bird), perhaps a reference to lepers who were allowed to beg for alms in public. Any Gaelic form of the name is conjectural, since none survives from medieval times. Gort a' bhaile (garden of the town) conforms with certain suggestions made by A.G. Callant in 1888, but other interpretations are also popular.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area was home to large numbers of migrants from the Scottish Highlands, and immigrants from Italy and Ireland, attracted by the industrial jobs. They often left homelands struggling with social problems and poverty. It also housed a new wave of Jewish immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe, and for a time housed the great majority of Scotland's Jewish population. The Jewish population moved out of the area as its members gained education and rose in economic class. Although the Irish-Catholic population has declined to an extent, many of this group have remained since the area's redevelopment.
...
Wikipedia