Open space – A social Subject?(Article)
Drying poles Glasgow Green 
Everybody knows about the famous drying green in Glasgow Green. (common good) There is still a collection of poles (36) where folk not so long ago hung out there washing to dry. This common drying green was used and shared by local people as the housing conditions which were very cramp and there was very little space to hang out washing. The land that forms Glasgow Green was gifted by James the II. Before that it was probably common grazing ground as was nearly the whole of Scotland at one point.
The questions we need to ask is who owned the land before the land owners? Who gave them permission to own it? And. Who should own it now?
Our common good is not something we should put a wee plaque on for the tourists and forget about. It is something that should be alive and interactive in our daily lives – along with our right to use it
One of the old customs of the Green remains almost as vigorous as of old… From time immemorial it has been the custom for all classes of preachers and debaters to air their eloquence upon the masses who frequent the Green; and on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons numerous knots of people are to be found listening to discussions on all varieties of topics.1
Glasgow Green came into being with the gifting of the land to Bishop William Turnbull and the people of Glasgow by James II in 1450. The land then, was completely different to that of now. It was an uneven swamp which consisted of High and Low Greens, Calton Green and Gallowgate Green. These in themselves were crisscrossed by 2 Burns, namely the Molendinar and the Camlachie Burns. For the first few hundred years the main purpose was to graze animals, the bleaching, washing and drying of linen, the drying of fishing nets and activities such as swimming.
1732 saw the opening of the city’s first Wash-house affectionately known as the “Steamie” on the banks of the Camlachie Burn. 275 years later the clothes poles where washing was hung out to dry are still in evidence and there are 36 of them which have been restored and in some cases replaced completely. More
