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Walking Tour: Tracing Glasgow’s Imperial Past in Kelvingrove Park

Saturday, October 18, 2025, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Glasgow’s often referred to as having been the ‘second city’ of the British Empire, a nickname coined in the early-nineteenth century that represented the might of its industries and the reach of its trade connections. The city’s capacity for making and exporting all manner of goods, commodities and capital was well known, and the influence of Glasgow and its citizens was as evident in Kingston, Jamaica as Kingston, Ontario. But, Glasgow’s involvement in the British imperial project had a profound impact here as well, including shaping the city’s built environment.

This walking tour takes you through Kelvingrove Park, stopping at various locations that reflect Glasgow’s past as an imperial metropolis. Beginning at the eastern tip of Kelvingrove Park, we’ll wind our way along its avenues and pathways exploring sites that reveal Glasgow’s connections to slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Traces of this past are largely invisible today – there are no signs or plaques telling us about this – but by slow walking and close looking we can bring these ‘hidden’ histories into focus.

Free event

Event by Glasgow City Heritage Trust – Booking and information 

The meeting point for the tour is intersection of Clifton Street and La Belle Place. Location on Google maps.

Accessibility

Most of the walking tour takes place across the lower portions of Kelvingrove Park, however, there is a steep incline towards the end of the tour when reaching Park Circus where it finishes. The route through the park follows marked and paved pathways, but these surfaces are uneven in places. Wherever possible stops will be located next to park benches or other forms of seating. The tour takes place entirely outdoors and so attendees should dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Public toilets are available at Kelvingrove Bandstand and inside Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. 

Additional Information

This walking tour is led by Dr Rosie Spooner, a lecturer in the School of Humanities at the University of Glasgow. Rosie’s research sits at the intersection of history, museum and heritage studies, cultural studies and public humanities. Trained as a cultural historian of the British Empire, her work concerns the history, theory and practice of museums and other memory institutions within an imperial context and the contemporary legacies of these entanglements. She is particularly interested in the role of the past in the production of power, identity, memory and place.

Rosie has been leading walking tours examining how Glasgow’s imperial past surfaces within the built environment and the city’s museum collections since 2018, activities that now form part of an ongoing research project about walking as a critical heritage practice. You can find out more about this work at www.criticalwalking.gla.ac.uk.

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