Archaeology Research

A team of students and staff from archaeology at the University of Glasgow returned to Festival Park in June to carry out a second season of fieldwork at the site of the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival. This seminal event in the modern history of Glasgow was spread across a 120 acre site on the south of the Clyde, but this has now largely been developed. Nonetheless in May 2022 excavation and survey in Festival Park showed that some Garden Festival features still survive, hidden beneath grass, while others survive hidden in plain sight.

This time the team concentrated on two key Garden Festival sites - the route of the beloved mini-train line that once looped around the site, and the fascinating Antonine Gardens, a recreated Roman bathhouse in Bearsden on the northern outskirts of Glasgow. Excavations were successful in locating aspects of both features including the edge of where the railway line had been constructed, and dismantled walling next to where the Antonine Gardens had been. Material culture directly related to the Garden Festival was found including plant tags, wooden and wire fencing, painted bricks and perhaps even a Ginger Nuts packet. Light was shed on both the creation and landscaping of the Festival site and also its dismantlement across the period 1986 to 1990.

The team largely consisted of Glasgow undergraduate students, many on their first excavation, and they also got a chance to take part in a geophysical survey in the park, and helped orientate members of the public during an open day on 22^nd June. The results of this fieldwork will be shared on the Project website in due course.

The fieldwork was funded by Glasgow City Heritage Trust and the University of Glasgow, and undertaken in collaboration with the After the Garden Festival Project (Gordon Barr, Lex Lamb and our own Dr Kenny Brophy).

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First published: 31 July 2024