Old Houses in Castle Street, Opposite the Cathedral, 1843 by William Simpson (1823-1899).
This watercolour shows a row of buildings which were situated at the top of Castle Street in the 1840s. In the foreground is Provand's Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow, which was known as the Black Land until the end of the 19th century. The small shop added on the south side of the building was, reputedly, once the home of Glasgow's hangman. The houses in the distance, one of which was the birthplace of the artist William Leighton Leitch, were demolished in 1884. There is a pump-well on the far right.
The painting is one of a series of fifty-five painted by Simpson between 1893 and 1898. Most are based on sketches he completed fifty years earlier and which originally appeared as black and white illustrations in Views and Notices of Glasgow in Former Times, published in 1848 by Allan & Ferguson.
Reference: 765.89.257
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
artists, Black Land, hangmen, houses, lamp posts, Provand's Lordship, pump-wells, shops, street lighting, streetscenes, tenements, watercolours