Duke Street Prison, looking across Duke Street, 1955.
Duke Street Prison was established in 1798 and various extensions were added until it closed in 1955. The buildings have since been demolished.
The great height of the prison wall is indicated by the relatively tiny figure of a man walking on the pavement. Behind the wall, sheets have been hung out to dry on washing lines set on the prison's lawns. Some of the graveyard monuments in the Necropolis can be seen on the hilltop in the distance.
In 1955 Partick Camera Club set out to create a photographic survey of Glasgow. As the project progressed, other camera clubs joined and each was allocated a district of the city to photograph. Glasgow Museums exhibited the photographs at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and at the People's Place, and in 1956 the exhibition was shown at the Palace of Art in Bellahouston Park. The photographs are now part of Glasgow Museums' collections.
Reference: 1005.97.337 / OG.1955.121.[266]
Reproduced with the permission of the Partick Camera Club
Keywords:
Duke Street Prison, gaols, Glasgow Photographic Survey 1955, graveyards, jails, monuments, Necropolis, North Prison, Northern Prison, prison walls, prisons, sheets, tenements, washing, washing lines