Cranhill is an inner city district and housing scheme in the north east of Glasgow, Scotland. Cranhill was developed from public funding in the early 1950s and was originally, chiefly composed of four-storey tenement blocks surrounding a patch of grassland, which became Cranhill Park. Later development saw the building of three tower blocks (locally, high-flats), surrounded by rows of terraced maisonettes. In more recent years, a number of semi-detached and detached homes have been built. The area also hosts some shops, two primary schools and nurseries, a community centre and the Cranhill water tower.
Infamous for its illegal drug trade and anti-social youth culture, Cranhill was often dubbed "Smack City" in the media. The community was redeveloped from the late 1990s, although unemployment stood at 50% as of 2009.
History
Cranhill was built in the early 1950s on the eastern outskirts of the city to alleviate the post-war housing shortage, like other similar publicly funded housing estates. Unlike the much larger housing schemes of Castlemilk, Drumchapel, Easterhouse and Pollok, Cranhill was relatively compact, yet still dense, due to the large number of tenements, maisonettes and tower blocks; the maisonettes were demolished in the late 1990s.
Location and surrounding areas
Cranhill is located in the north-east of the city with High Carntyne to the west (separated by Ruchazie Road), Springboig and Carntyne to the south (separated by the A8 Edinburgh Road), Queenslie to the east (separated by Stepps Road) and Ruchazie to the north (separated by the Monkland Canal, now the M8 motorway). Most of the streets are named after Scottish lighthouses and include Crowlin Crescent, Gantock Crescent, Lamlash Crescent, Monach Road, Skerryvore Road, Startpoint Street, Strone Road and Toward Road. Longstone and Langness Roads and Fastnet are geographical exceptions (Longstone being located in the Farne Islands off the coast of England, Langness Lighthouse on the Isle of Man and Fastnet Rock off the southern coast of Ireland). The main street, running east–west through the entire estate, is Bellrock Street.
Housing
The housing stock consisted mostly of four-storey tenement blocks divided into common 'closes', each with eight flats with the end close in each street called a "T" close with 4 flats. The gap between two adjacent "T-closes" was known as a 'gable-end', which in essence was simply a gap between two buildings and normally led to a communal area to the back of the buildings and was the common location for storing rubbish bins. Other types included three tower blocks, locally known as 'the multis' or the 'high flats', a number of terraced maisonettes and a variety of pseudo sandstone (concrete blocks) four-in-a-block cottage flats.
Most of the flats were typical family accommodation of the time, containing a kitchen, bathroom/toilet, two or three bedrooms and a living room. Many of them had balconies or verandas overlooking the street and all were a vast improvement on living conditions in the old Glasgow slum tenements. For many of the families who moved in, this was their first access to green fields and nearby farms, and the playing areas were paradise compared to the rat-infested back-courts which the children had formerly suffered. Nevertheless, a favourite play area was the 'Sugarolly Mountains', substantial hills made from chemical tailings dumped by the side of the canal on the site now occupied by the high flats (and featured in the lyrics of Jim Diamond). No-one knew what they were made of, but the rainwater puddles were green. Even the canal itself was an attraction, given that the next-nearest 'recreational' water was either at Alexandra Park or Hogganfield Loch.
Amenities
As the city became established and the community grew, amenities were put in place. Bus routes were extended through the scheme to make it easier for people to travel for work or pleasure, to the City Centre or the nearby shopping areas of Shettleston and Dennistoun. Other basic needs were served with the establishment of three local shopping parades.
As well as the shops, local people were served by mobile street traders with vans and lorries selling foodstuffs, coal and paraffin oil, sweets and soft drinks, ice cream and even fish and chips. In the evenings one could hear the cry of Dalzeil's Bakeries van man shouting "roells!" (bread rolls). Candy apples and 'whelks' (actually periwinkles) could be obtained while rag-merchants would shout 'any old rags' or 'Delft (crockery) for rags' from horsedrawn or hand carts. Today, the only surviving mobile service is the 'ice cream van'.