Parkhead & Dalmarnock Community Heritage Project
Since the 19th century, Parkhead and Dalmarnock, in the East End of Glasgow, have seen the rise – and decline – of heavy industry. Huge changes in its population and way of life continue to the present day. The Parkhead and Dalmarnock Community Heritage Project is a new, locally driven investigation into the history of both areas and their communities through the changes from the 19th century till today.
To achieve this, the local community is working in partnership with academics from the University of Glasgow and other stakeholders, collecting, preserving and interpreting the oral history, artefacts, archives and physical landscape of the area.
Together, we are focusing on aspects of life in the past which affected everyone, such as the nature of housing, childhood, leisure, work, spiritual and social life, and how these have changed through time.
Using the data we are collecting, we aim to create a permanent resource to safeguard and investigate the heritage of the area, help integrate new members of the community and pass on the feeling of belonging to a vibrant community to future generations.
Objectives
- provide opportunities for people to record their stories and experiences of living and working in the area
- gather information, photographs, artefacts, documents and other data associated with local history
- enable people to understand what has happened to the physical environment and to celebrate life in the area, through exhibitions, community events, publications and electronic media
- develop discussion forums, both in person and online
- involve a wide range of people of all ages and backgrounds
- hold an ongoing dialogue to continue the development of the project; please contact us with ideas!
Activities
Our project is based in Calton Parkhead Church, a striking art deco Neo-Byzantine church complex built in 1935, and Dalmarnock Community Centre. So far, we have held a day of oral history recording, and are currently stimulating memories through a series of ‘What do you remember?’ posters, displayed at Calton Parkhead Church and the Dalmarnock Community Centre.
We have just begun exploring the archives of Calton Parkhead Church, which include letters, photos and other documents going back to 1794, and look forward to revealing their secrets soon...
We are also planning to show a display of objects of daily life in Glasgow from 100 years ago, thanks to the Open Museum. Watch this space...
Team
As well as a team of local people from Parkhead and Dalmarnock, the project is supported on the academic side by Kirsteen Connor, Michael Given, Kevin Grant, Morgana McCabe and Fiona Watson, all of the University of Glasgow. We are also grateful for the support we have received from Faith in Community Scotland. There are lots of opportunities to get involved: please contact us!
Contact
Whatever your connection with Parkhead and Dalmarnock, we want to hear from you! Ideas, suggestions, material, involvement and anything else would be very warmly welcomed. Please contact Jean Armstrong at Calton Parkhead Church, 142 Helenvale St, Parkhead, Glasgow G31 4NA; or email Michael Given.
