SO, is there a Scottish equivalent of Pompeii buried beneath Central Station in Glasgow?

Historian Joe Fisher dealt decisively with the question nearly thirty years ago in his Glasgow Encyclopedia. In a section headed Urban Myths he wrote: "A most persistent belief is that below Central Station lies a buried street, complete with shops and houses.

"When the station was erected the small village of Grahamston, with its single thoroughfare, Alston Street, leading down to Argyle Street, was razed and the site built up to the level of the incoming railway tracks; there is no evidence for the evidence of such a Scottish Pompeii".

Nevertheless, the story of Grahamston village has continue to intrigue. Most notably, Norrie Gilliland made it the subject of a painstakingly-researched and much-publicised book, Glasgow's Forgotten Village: The Grahamston Story, in 2002. 

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In April this year the Glasgow Times told of Kevin Scott, 60, a history buff who last summer launched Walking Glasgow, a series of free city tours aimed at locals and visitors.

He said: "A couple of years ago, I pushed my family tree back and found out, instead of the Borders where I thought I was from, everyone was from this little village called Grahamston.

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"At the time, in the early 1700s, it only had 110 people. And my ancestors, mother, father, and nine or 10 children, were 12 of those 110 people. So I thought 'I'm more original Glasgow than most of Glaswegians'."

As Norrie Gilliand relates in his book, the only surviving remnants of Grahamston, which flourished from 1680 to almost 1900, are two buildings.

The first is the Duncan's House building (today, the Rennie Mackintosh Hotel) on Union Street; the other, just round the corner at 186-190 Argyle Street, at the Hielanman's Umbrella, is the public house currently known as the Grant Arms.

The Herald: The Rennie Mackintosh hotel, once the site of Duncan's HotelThe Rennie Mackintosh hotel, once the site of Duncan's Hotel (Image: Google)

Gilliland found strong evidence during his researches to suggest that the Duncan's Hotel building is first generation - the first building on that site.

The Herald: Duncan's Temperance Hotel on Union StreetDuncan's Temperance Hotel on Union Street (Image: From Norrie Gilliland's book, Glasgow's Forgotten Village)

Gilliland also takes us through the history of Grahamston: how a huge growth in shipping at the nearby Broomielaw, spurred by the 1707 Act of Union, was a major factor in the growth of the village - though the major factor was the opening in 1790 of the Forth and Clyde canal.

This "dictated the development of the community over the next few decades, as merchants and industrialists sought facilities for storage and processing adjacent to the city, with good access to the south and west and to the ocean-going ships at the Broomielaw".

Grahamston, the author adds, "had a comparatively short life as a village in the accepted meaning of the term, becoming instead an important commercial centre. It stood literally at the crossroads of the main north-south and east-west axes of the city, and metaphorically at the crossroads of Glasgow’s graduation from a quiet backwater to a serious player in world trade.

"The story of Grahamston is undoubtedly a microcosm of Glasgow’s growth into a diverse, multi-cultural and internationally renowned city of the 21st century".

At the top of a low-level escalator at Central Station today there's a plaque, unveiled by Rikki Fulton in June 1990.

The Herald: Gamp's, opened in 1971, occupied the premises now known as the Grant ArmsGamp's, opened in 1971, occupied the premises now known as the Grant Arms (Image: Newsquest)

It reads: "Alston Street Theatre 1764-1780. This theatre ... was built in 1764 in Grahamstown which was then outside the city because the authorities in Glasgow considered all theatre to be immoral.

"The money for the building was subscribed by four rich citizens to display the talents of the actress Miss Bellamy whom they had admired in Edinburgh.

"Unfortunately, on the day she arrived a mob of the unco-guid, their zeal inflamed by a Methodist preacher, set fire to the building and destroyed the stage, costumes and props. The 'Fashion' of Glasgow rallied round and replaced Mrs Bellamy's wardrobe and she performed as promised. The theatre was repaired and was in use until 1780 when it was again burned down".

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The Alston Bar & Beef restaurant is located underneath the Station, named after the long-forgotten main street of Grahamston Village.

The last census for Grahamston appeared in 1871 and showed that the area was buoyant, with no fewer than 300 shops. But within five years of that census, Alston Street was closed and the bulldozers moved in. Grahamston was gone forever.

* https://www.grahamston.com/