Originally held within the old town walls, it began as a practical livestock fair, then by Victorian times evolved into a working-class holiday “doon the watter,” with factories shutting so families could head to the Firth of Clyde or Ayrshire coast.
Tomorrow (Saturday, July 19) marks the start of Glasgow's Fair Fortnight - a historic event that saw Glaswegians pack up and head off on their holidays for two weeks. Dating as far back as the 12th century, the fair began as a market held in the surrounds of Glasgow Cathedral.
The Glasgow Fair is a holiday usually held during the second half of July in Glasgow, Scotland. 'The Fair' is the oldest of similar holidays and dates to the 12th century.
1977: Glasgow's FAIR FORTNIGHT Holiday | Classic BBC Documentary | BBC Archive
When did Glasgow become a city?
By the 12th century Glasgow had been granted the status of what can now be called a city and the cathedral was the seat of the Bishops and (after 1472) the Archbishops of Glasgow.
Proverb. The name of Swithun is best known today for a British weather lore proverb, which says that if it rains on St Swithun's day, 15 July, it will rain for forty days. Swithun was initially buried outdoors, rather than in his cathedral, apparently at his own request.
World Youth Skills Day was being celebrated on Jul 15 annually to raise awareness on the importance of vocational education & training, technical, and also the development of other skills important in both the national and international economy.
Glasgow City Council has officially launched its Glasgow 850 programme for 2025, a spectacular year-long celebration marking 850 years since the city gained Burgh status, in 1175, a pivotal moment that shaped the vibrant and unique city we know today.
Links Market. The Links Market in Kirkcaldy, Fife is Europe's longest street fair and the oldest in Scotland. Established in 1304, the annual six-day event attracts between 200,000 and 300,000 visitors to the town.
The settlement may have an earlier Brittonic name, Cathures; the modern name appears for the first time in the Gaelic period (1116), as Glasgu. It is also recorded that the King of Strathclyde, Rhydderch Hael, welcomed Saint Kentigern (also known as Saint Mungo), and procured his consecration as bishop about 540.
“It's the legacy of de-industrialisation and depopulation in the 1960s and 70s. You get these border zones, and particularly to the south of the city centre, like the area around Bridge Street, where the urban clearance of the notorious Gorbals moved out around 90,000 people.
No one takes the prediction literally - in fact, few take it seriously! - and there is definitely no statistical evidence to support the claim. Weather experts say that since records began in 1861, there has never been a record of 40 dry or 40 wet days in a row following St Swithin's Day.
The saint had been buried in the Old Minster outside Winchester Cathedral at his request so that the deceased might hear the patter of “the sweet rain of heaven” and the footsteps of passing worshippers, but his bones were dug up by order of Bishop Ethelwold and rehoused in a lavish shrine commissioned in his memory by ...
Jock is a Scottish diminutive form of the forename "John"; It is also a nickname for someone of Scottish origin, as well as being the collective name for Scottish soldiers, collectively known as "the Jocks". It corresponds to Jack in England and Wales.
Why was Christmas banned in Scotland for 400 years?
Before the Reformation in 1560, Christmas in Scotland had been a religious feasting day. Then, with the powerful Kirk frowning upon anything related to Roman Catholicism, the Scottish Parliament passed a law in 1640 that made celebrating 'Yule vacations' illegal.
Glasgow in the late 1940s was a place of slum housing, overcrowding and disease. The post-war city struggled to pick itself up and the Gorbals area soon became one of Europe's worst slums. At the time, about 40,000 people lived in tenement housing, where conditions were appalling.
Built in 1471, Provand's Lordship is the oldest domestic building in Glasgow and is one of just four buildings in the city that have survived from the medieval period. The oldest building in Glasgow being the nearby Cathedral, which would have had a central position in the Medieval burgh.
