In 1754 the gardener and owner of the White Hart Hotel, Robert Tennent, acquired the graveyard of Little St Mungo's chapel in the Gallowgate and built the Saracen's Head Inn. Much of the stone he required to build his hotel was recovered from the ruins of the Bishop's Castle in Townhead and from the walls of the old Gallowgate Port (the city's east gate), which was demolished to make way for the inn. The Saracen's Head had thirty-six rooms with stabling for sixty horses.
Tennent died bankrupt two years after the opening of the hotel and it was managed first by his widow Katherine, then, when she died in 1768, by James Graham, and following his death in 1777, by his widow Jean. The hotel was for many years the most fashionable in the city, but the opening of new hotels in the city centre offered stiff competition for custom and its popularity began to wane. In 1792 it was acquired by William Miller of Slatefield and converted into shops and apartments, as shown here.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 941.435 GOR
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
Bishop's Castle, chapels, city gates, Gallowgate Port, hoteliers, hotels, houses, inns, Little St Mungo's Chapel, pubs, shops, taverns, White Hart Hotel
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