Visit Sandyhills Places

Welcome to Visit Sandyhills Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Sandyhills

  

Sandyhills Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Sandyhills

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Sandyhills history

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The pattern of urban growth in the area has led to an irregular tract of land being referred as Sandyhills today. It was originally a small settlement beside the Tollcross Burn, on the road (now the A89) east from the village of Shettleston in Lanarkshire, and took its name from the extensive country estate of the same name located to the south; both features are clearly marked as Sandyhills on William Roy’s Military Map of Scotland (1755). The wider area became known for mining in the 19th century, with two pits in the immediate area (part of the Mount Vernon Colliery) sited where Blackford Road and Crownhall Place are today. The coal was exhausted by the turn of the 20th century, but Sandyhills survived on the periphery of Shettleston, where several other industries became established leading to its growth in size and importance. Among the oldest buildings in the area are a set of row cottages and the adjacent tenement block containing the ‘Gables’ public house, and a terrace of sandstone houses on the opposite side of the road. Railways provided links in and out of the area for workers and industry, with Mount Vernon North the closest station between the 1880s and the 1950s. Sandyhills Church is located in this area, with the original premises dating from 1900 replaced in the mid 1980s. Shettleston was one of several outlying areas which became part of Glasgow in 1912; however the older part of Sandyhills remained in Lanarkshire (along with Mount Vernon, Baillieston, Springboig, Carmyle, Fullarton and Foxley) and would remain in the Bothwell constituency until all were absorbed by Glasgow in a reorganisation under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The southern part of the Sandyhills House estate (which was part of the 1912 transfer to Glasgow) had been converted to a golf course in 1905, and in the early 1930s a housing scheme was constructed on the north-west part of the estate, essentially being a continuation of the contemporary and near-identical ‘garden suburb’ development south of Shettleston Road which extended to Ardgay Street at the Tollcross Burn. Centred around Amulree Street, this suburban area has changed little since it was built and is where Sandyhills Bowling Club (1930) and Sandyhills Post Office are located. These streets are separated from the Tollcross district to the south by a recreation and parkland area, previously a quarry and the Glasgow Corporation’s factory producing foamslag – a housebuilding material derived from steelworks slag (demolished 1981). This park’s grass football pitch, used by several local teams, was subjected to vandalism on several occasions in the 2010s. The city’s need for new accommodation in less space accelerated after World War II, with the remainder of the Sandyhills House estate, including the mansion itself (dating from 1853), converted to housing using two vastly different approaches: 205 temporary and quickly-built prefab dwellings, and four 22-storey tower blocks containing 528 apartments, which upon their completion in 1968 became a landmark for the area. Since the demolition of the Derby Street flats at Hilltown, Dundee in 2013 and the Bluevale and Whitevale Towers and Red Road Flats in Glasgow two years later, the 66 metres (217 ft)-high Sandyhills blocks in Balbeggie Street and Strowan Street have held a distinction as the tallest inhabitable buildings in Scotland eastwards of those in Springburn (Martello Court in Edinburgh is 2 metres shorter). Nowadays managed by Glasgow Housing Association which oversaw a refurbishment and recladding in light blue in the late 2000s, soon followed by another reclad in white due to dampness problems which resulted, the towers far outlasted the prefabs which were replaced by a landscaped park at the base of the towers and some permanent houses closer to the older part of the neighbourhood on the main road. From the late 1970s onward, much change happened to Sandyhills’ low-rise housing stock as part of the wider GEAR (Glasgow Eastern Area Renewal) project. Both the Glasgow Corporation-managed housing and the SSHA estate (known locally as the “steel estate” – owing to the buildings being constructed using the Atholl steel system) were substantially refurbished. Properties were re-wired, re-plumbed and coal fires were replaced with gas central heating, and in the case of the steel estate – externally re-rendered. In 1990, the site of the former “prefabs” at the foot of the Sandyhills House tower blocks was redeveloped with brand new social housing – these were among the last properties to be planned by the SSHA prior to its dissolution into Scottish Homes. The Lizzy Lodge was a pub situated between the tower blocks and the golf course in an isolated late 19th century sandstone villa; the business was earmarked for closure in the late 2000s due to the economic downturn, with the building destroyed entirely a few years later. The construction of the ‘Farmington’ private housing development north of the main road (on the site of Sandyhills Farm, and the path of the old railway line to North Mount Vernon which had since been removed) in the late 1980s was the most recent major stage in the growth of the area. In 2012, the police beat covering Farmington had one of the lowest crime rates in Glasgow.

You can visit Sandyhills places with Walkfo Sandyhills to hear history at Sandyhills’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Sandyhills has 90 places to visit in our interactive Sandyhills map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Sandyhills, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Sandyhills places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Sandyhills & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 90 audio facts unique to Sandyhills places in an interactive Sandyhills map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Sandyhills Places Map
90 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Sandyhills historic spots	Sandyhills tourist destinations	Sandyhills plaques	Sandyhills geographic features
Walkfo Sandyhills tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Sandyhills

  

Best Sandyhills places to visit

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Sandyhills has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Sandyhills’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Sandyhills’s information audio spots:

Athletes’ Village (Glasgow 2014) The Athletes Village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was situated on a 35-hectare (86-acre) site, in the east end of Glasgow. The site was used as accommodation for up to 8,000 athletes and officials from all over the Commonwealth nations. After the games, the site was further developed and has up to 1,400 homes, a portion of which are available for social rental.

Barlanark Barlanark is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated east of Budhill, Shettleston and Springboig, north west of Baillieston, west of Springhill and Swinton.

Barrachnie Barrachnie is a place in Glasgow, Scotland adjacent to Garrowhill. It is located in the centre of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Carntyne Carntyne (Scottish Gaelic: Càrn an Teine) is a suburban district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde, and in the east end of the city. It has formed the core of the East Centre ward under Glasgow City Council since 2007.

Cranhill Cranhill was developed from public funding in the early 1950s. Infamous for its illegal drug trade and anti-social youth culture. The community was redeveloped from the late 1990s, although unemployment stood at 50% as of 2009.

Cambuslang Cambuslang (Scots: Cammuslang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Glasgow. It is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population. It has a long history of coal mining, iron and steel making, and ancillary engineering works.

Visit Sandyhills plaques