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Queenslie

Coordinates: 55°51′54″N 4°08′37″W / 55.865126°N 4.143562°W / 55.865126; -4.143562
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Queenslie
Aerial view from the west; Queenslie at centre-right of image between Glasgow Fort and Cranhill
Queenslie is located in Glasgow council area
Queenslie
Queenslie
Location within Glasgow
OS grid referenceNS658656
Council area
Lieutenancy area
  • Glasgow
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGLASGOW
Postcode districtG33
Dialling code0141
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
Glasgow
55°51′54″N 4°08′37″W / 55.865126°N 4.143562°W / 55.865126; -4.143562

Queenslie is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Established in the 1950s as a large industrial estate with a small area of residential housing with a primary school, by the late 1990s the condition of the tenement properties had deteriorated and the local authority decided to demolish them altogether and extend the industrial provision, which in the early 21st century is the largest such dedicated estate in the city (Hillington falls just outside the city boundaries).

Location

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Situated just to the east of Cranhill with the boundary being Stepps Road, Queenslie is separated from Garthamlock to the north by the M8 motorway, originally the Monkland Canal,[1] while Bartiebeith Road forms the south-east boundary with Wellhouse – these are all residential housing schemes built in the same era as Queenslie. To the south-west is the A8 Edinburgh Road, a major trunk road and bus route. The Springboig and Barlanark neighbourhoods lie on the opposite side of the main thoroughfare.

History

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Queenslie is within the 'Greater Easterhouse' conurbation in the north-east of Glasgow,[2][3] developed following World War II to provide badly-needed housing in new peripheral 'schemes' for residents of the city (in this case largely from East End districts such as Dalmarnock, the Garngad and Parkhead) living in overcrowded and unsanitary accommodation alongside heavy industry. The area was once farmland,[4] built mainly on the Easter Queenslie and Wester Queenslie farms; on the William Roy map (1747–1755) the farm and general area was spelled 'Quinsley' which latterly evolved into Queenslie.[5]

Modern Queenslie started as an industrial estate in the 1950s,[6][7] with housing (a complex of three-storey tenements) added a short time later followed by a primary school[8] – the main streets running through Queenslie were Horndean Crescent, Penston Road, Lonmay Road, Lonmay Path and Blairtummock Road.[9][10][11][12] The nearest Catholic schools were in Cranhill, with nondenominational secondary education provision at Garthamlock (the Queenslie housing was originally connected directly to Garthamlock by a footbridge over the canal until 1969,[13][14][15] but was not replaced by an equivalent over the motorway until 1980).[16] At its peak in the 1960s and 1970s Queenslie was a vibrant scheme with a close-knit community with most of the residents employed locally, with factories nearby including Olivetti.[6]

From the early 1980s onwards, like many working class estates across Glasgow,[17] various inter-related factors including poor building quality and resultant health problems, poor provision of amenities, drug and alcohol abuse and territorial gang violence[18] caused the neighbourhood to go into terminal decline. With the Queenslie tenements arranged in a tight grid design in an isolated location already surrounded by industry, altering the use of the land to another function was easier to accomplish than elsewhere in the city, and in the mid-1990s all the housing was demolished along with the primary school, and the industrial estate expanded in its place. The community centre building was spared and remains in situ; it was used as a substance abuse rehabilitation centre for almost two decades up to its closure in 2017, despite protests from locals.[19] Other local areas were similarly affected by the physical and social deterioration of the schemes; the schools serving Queenslie all closed[20] as the surrounding population fell considerably during a lengthy period of demolition of the worst properties, replaced by housing of a lower density and higher quality, and renovation of others[21][22]

The industrial estate continues to have high levels of occupation, owing to its location alongside the M8 and close to other motorways leading across Scotland and beyond.[23] In addition to commercial tenants, it is the site of one of the four main waste recycling facilities in Glasgow, serving the north-east sector.[24]

References

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  1. ^ M8 Motorway, The Glasgow Story
  2. ^ Neighbourhoods: Greater Easterhouse, The Glasgow Story
  3. ^ East End (1950), The Glasgow Story
  4. ^ "General view, Queenslie, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 1937. Oblique aerial photograph, taken facing east". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Roy Lowlands, 1752-55". Explore Georeferenced maps. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  6. ^ a b Queenslie Industrial Estate, The Glasgow Story
  7. ^ Queenslie (c.1962), Virtual Mitchell
  8. ^ "Scanned copy of perspective view: Glasgow, Easterhouse, Queenslie Primary School". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Ordnance Survey 1:10560, 1949-1968". Explore Georeferenced maps. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Glasgow, Queenslie. Oblique aerial view (1) - 1990". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  11. ^ "Glasgow, Queenslie. Oblique aerial view (2) - 1990". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  12. ^ "Glasgow, Queenslie. Oblique aerial view (3) - 1990". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Monkland Canal, Glasgow: View showing canal at Queenslie (1966)". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Monkland Canal, Queenslie Bridge, Glasgow: General view of original bridge (1966)". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Monkland Canal, Queenslie Bridge, Glasgow: General view showing replacement span (1969)". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  16. ^ "M8, Monklands Motorway, Garthamlock, Coxton Place Footbridge Frame 10: Oblique view of footbridge from SSE (1980)". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  17. ^ Smack City tries to kick the habit, The Independent, 8 August 1998
  18. ^ With more officers on the streets, the high-profile police operation is producing results; Quiet night under the Spotlight, The Herald, 16 December 1996
  19. ^ Glasgow drug rehab centre New Horizon to close after 17 years, Glasgow Live, 20 January 2017
  20. ^ Glasgow leads first wave of closures, TES (magazine), 5 April 1996
  21. ^ Working together to crack crime, BBC News, 22 August 2002
  22. ^ Cranhill has a new lease of life after cleaning up its act, Evening Times, 30 April 2009
  23. ^ Glasgow's Queenslie Park close to full occupancy after two firms agree new leases, Business Insider, 30 May 2018
  24. ^ Household Waste Recycling Centre, Glasgow City Council
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