An engraving derived from a drawing by Robert Paul, a member of the Foulis Academy, and completed in the year of of his death, 1770. The engraving was cut by William Buchanan in the same year.
The view is from Glasgow Cross looking west along Trongate. The Tolbooth is on the right with a sentry box at the door. The equestrian statue of King William III stands outside the adjacent town hall with its arcaded frontage, and the bollards behind the statue mark off a paved area - the "plainstanes" were laid in 1744 - that was reserved for the use of prominent merchants, including the famous "Tobacco Lords."
The Tron Church and its distinctive steeple are the most prominent landmarks on the south side of the street, but the building on the left was popular with those who wished to get a good view of public lashings and hangings from its bay windows. The well on the left is probably the West Port Well, so called because it was located near the site of the old city "port", or gate.
Reference: Mitchell Library, FA 4/2
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
arcades, artists, council chambers, Foulis Academy, Foulis Collection, guardhouses, horses and carriages, merchants, municipal buildings, piazzas, plainstanes, prisons, public hangings, public lashings, public whippings, sentry boxes, statues, steeples, streetscenes, Tobacco Lords, Tolbooth, Tolbooth steeple, Tontine Faces, town hall, Tron Church, Tron steeple, wells, West Port Well
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