Glasgow’s greatest gifts

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The magnifi cent, Georgian Pollok House was fi rst built in 1752

Words by FIONA LAING

Pollok Country Park, in Glasgow’s Southside, is home to one of the greatest art collections in the world and a grand Georgian stately home, both of which were gifted to the city

Stand in Pollok Country Park and you could be in the heart of the countryside – there are woodlands, elds, and Highland cattle. Of course, you are not in the countryside but in Scotland’s largest city, and though the rural idyll is something of an illusion, the two world-class cultural attractions are not.

The Burrell Collection is housed in a modern, awardwinning building designed speci cally for its art. Pollok House is also lled with works of art, but it is a considerably older stately home.

That the Burrell Collection and Pollok House – and their valuable contents – are open to visitors is thanks to the generosity of wealthy Glasgow families, as both were gifted to the City of Glasgow.

The Burrell Collection is the star of Glasgow’s cultural scene this year, as it has recently reopened following a £68 million six-year refurbishment of its ageing building.

With the nest Chinese ceramics, medieval stained glass, tapestries, and French art, the 9,000-piece collection is an art experience like no other.

The galleries invite you to admire the objects while simultaneously distracting you as the light changes on the whim of the clouds as it oods in through the glass walls, which in turn reveal the woodland drama outside.

Turn a corner and there’s another treasure to cast its spell over you. A group of porcelain Qing Dynasty Immortals, ‘China’s superhuman heroes’, remind me where my passion for Chinese art was rst ignited.

The exotic colours and forms fascinated me when I rst visited the Burrell Collection in the 1980s, sending me off in search of Oriental designs on my subsequent travels.

Today these small gures, with their inscrutable expressions and owing china robes, enthral me again. Elsewhere, paintings hang at child-friendly heights, while videos and interactive features open the experience to everyone. The refurbishment has opened more gallery space, improved energy ef ciency, and allowed a fresh take on displaying its treasures. Of course, the world-class stars of the collection are the late Gothic and early Renaissance works, which include tapestries, stainedglass, furniture, sculpture, Chinese jade and ceramics. Degas is the headline star in terms of 19th-century French artworks.

The collection was amassed by Sir William Burrell (1861–1958), a Glasgow-born shipping merchant who made a fortune that allowed him to indulge in his lifelong passion for art and antiques.

By his 40s, Burrell was a respected collector and benefactor, donating artworks to the 1901 Glasgow International Exhibition.

However, it was not until the 1930s that Sir William formed the idea of handing his collection over to public ownership. And when he eventually did, in 1944, he set very speci c conditions on the location of the building (which he also funded) wanting it in a rural setting to protect the items from the high pollution levels of the industrial city. Sir William speci ed it should be within four miles of Killearn in Stirlingshire and not less than 16 miles from the Royal Exchange in Glasgow. The city council was unable to change his mind on these conditions. No decision on the location had been made by the time Sir William died in 1958 and it was only when the Pollok estate was presented to the city in 1966, that a site was found. After an international design competition, construction began in 1978, with the Burrell Collection opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1983.

The excitement around the Burrell Collection was palpable, people ocked to see the collection and it spearheaded the transformation of Glasgow into the worldrenowned city of culture we know now. Today, rediscovering the collection feels just as magical.

Gifted to Glasgow by Dame Anne Maxwell Macdonald, Pollok Country Park is the remnant of a much larger estate owned by the Maxwells for more than 700 years.

It came to the city with an art collection and Pollok House, a ne mansion house beside the White Cart Water.

First built in 1752 and remodelled 150 years later by Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, founding member of the National Trust for Scotland, today’s visitors can explore an Edwardian home set in elegant Georgian plaster-encrusted rooms.

Sir John’s father, Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, was an expert on Spanish art, writing in 1848 the rst English language books on the subject, Annals of the Artists of Spain. Sir William’s inherited fortune funded an outstanding collection of Spanish art, which includes pieces by Goya, and El Greco. When Sir William died, the works were divided between his two sons, and those inherited by Sir John remain to this day at Pollok House.

CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT:

A stained-glass panel in the Burrell Collection; Pollok House; Christmas at Pollok House; the Music Room

CLOCKWISE, Sir John’s improvements to the FROM RIGHT: A compact Georgian design of Pollok fragment of the ‘Temple Pyx’; Sir House introduced many modern William Burrell; features, including kitchens, electric ‘Luohan’ figure; lights, and central heating. 16th-century tapestry The design by Edinburgh architect, Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, had to accommodate his inherited art collection, as well as the family library.

The sympathetic extensions enhance the original rooms, with the library and its thousands of books the most delightfully elegant space overlooking a parterre.

The grand entrance hall was one of Sir John’s first alterations and it offers a sumptuous welcome, with marble floors, mahogany bannisters, and elegant plasterwork.

However, the rooms overall do not feel ostentatious – they are more often comfortable in the style of a wealthy early 20th-century family. They are decorated with favourite heirlooms or contemporary pieces, such as a portrait of Sir John’s wife, Lady Christian, by Sir James Guthrie, one of the Glasgow Boys.

It is this intimate scale that is the charm of Pollok House. It makes much of its setting beside the river, with views of the park and the pretty stone bridge commissioned by an earlier Sir John in the late 1750s.

There are formal terraces, walled gardens and a rhododendron walk that owe much to the 20th-century Sir John’s keen interest in horticulture.

Sir John devoted much of his life to public service: first as

PLAN YOUR VISIT

THE BURRELL COLLECTION

Admire the Burrell’s world-class collection of tapestries and stained-glass and explore objects spanning six millennia, from prehistoric artefacts, through Chinese ceramics to ground-breaking works by the Impressionists. The glass-walled cafe, with its emphasis on Scottish produce, is the perfect spot to reflect on the art. Open daily, entry to the museum is free, but temporary exhibitions may be charged for. burrellcollection.com

POLLOK HOUSE

Cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, you can explore the Edwardian family’s elegant living rooms and their extraordinary possessions, and see how the servants lived in their vast downstairs quarters. The Edwardian Kitchen cafe serves modern-day favourites to hungry house or park visitors. nts.org.uk/visit/places/pollok-house

GETTING TO POLLOK COUNTRY PARK

The park’s main entrance is near to Pollokshaws West station, 10 minutes from Glasgow Central. The Burrell Collection is a 15-minute walk and Pollok House about one mile from the main entrance. Buses pass the Pollokshaws Road entrance with a journey time to the city centre of about 20 minutes.

a politician and then serving on the committees of many of Scotland’s important public projects.

Although a major landowner – he also owned the Corrour estate on the edge of Rannoch Moor – he used his connections and position to help ordinary people, giving land for Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, a school, and allotments, as well as supporting social housing and open spaces.

Oral histories gathered by the National Trust for Scotland show his generosity was extended to the people who worked on the estate.

Catherine Wilson describes how she and her mother were allowed to stay in their home on the estate for 16 months after her father died, before being re-homed in a cottage in Damshot. She says: “The fact that my mother ended up in that cottage in Damshot for 21 years after my father died said something. He did look after his workers, there’s no doubt about it.”

As well as financial aid, Sir John gave his time and influence where he could, particularly in terms of Scotland’s inter-war development. Sir John became involved in many of Scotland’s cultural institutions, including the National Galleries and Ancient Monuments Board.

He was deeply interested in the countryside and especially timber production, and subsequently became chairman of the Forestry Commission.

Sir John helped establish the Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland in 1926 and then hosted the discussions which led to birth of the National Trust for Scotland in 1931.

Those talks were in the cosy wood-panelled Cedar Room at Pollok House and when the trust was formed, Sir John gifted Crookston Castle, within the estate, as its first property.

He was the trust’s president from 1944 until his death in 1956 and so it’s fitting that the National Trust for Scotland now cares for the house on behalf of the city. Sir John also believed strongly that access to recreational spaces was vital for the well-being of society, and the fact that this beautiful country park is still free to wander is a wonderful and longlasting part of his legacy.

The City of Glasgow Council has invested substantially in the 360 acres of Pollok Country Park, with sustainable transport improvements complementing the Burrell’s rebirth and existing recreational facilities around the park.

It has also been instrumental in the successful bid for £13 million from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund, bringing the park’s stables and sawmill back to life.

Part of the project will focus on the Clydesdale horse and the A-listed stables will be transformed into a heritage centre celebrating one of Scotland’s iconic breeds and its role in Glasgow’s history.

Sir William Stirling-Maxwell was a renowned breeder of Clydesdales, and the horses were a popular attraction for park visitors until the stables closed. Two of Pollok’s Clydesdale horses are the models for the Kelpies beside the Forth and Clyde Canal near Falkirk.

This small rural area of Glasgow is a true melting pot. It melds history and art from across the world with the lives of Glaswegians, and engages and inspires its visitors on many levels. Whether you come to gaze at paintings or for a walk in the park, you are sure to leave enriched. S

Enjoy a great day out in Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park

The park is the city’s largest green space and home to the beautiful 18th century Pollok House and the newly refurbished Burrell Collection. It’s easy to reach by train or bus from Glasgow city centre, and the free electric shuttle bus makes it easy to get around and enjoy all the park has to offer. Or you can take in the beautiful surroundings on a ten minute stroll between the two attractions and you might even see the famous Pollok Highland Cattle fold on the way!

Pollok House is Glasgow’s own stately country house. The Maxwell family lived for six centuries on the site, but the main part of the present house was built in the mid-18th century – an example of Georgian grandeur that would be at home in a Jane Austen novel. Pollok’s crown is its art collection. Sir William Stirling Maxwell amassed an extraordinary number of Spanish paintings, and portraits of the Habsburg monarchy hang alongside powerful religious scenes. Downstairs is an eye-opener to the scale of work it took to run this magnifi cent house. Booking recommended. Gardens and grounds free to enter.

Pollok House The Burrell Collection Following major refurbishment and redisplay, The Burrell now offers a fantastic day out for all ages. The Collection is one of the greatest ever accumulated by one person, consisting 9,000 objects, including works by Rodin, Degas and Cézanne, medieval European art and Chinese and Islamic art. Innovative displays tell the story of collector Sir William Burrell, his family and the objects, including the Wagner garden carpet, one of the earliest surviving Persian garden carpets in the world.

Free entry