A couple of years ago I came across a little package with a collection of photographs of my home town, Clarkston, dating from around 1900-1910. During my daily exercise walk, I have tried to take photographs of the same scenes today.
From the legend supplied with the photographs describing where each was taken, it made it relatively easy to find them, and the lack of traffic due to the Coronavirus lockdown meant that I could try to replicate the scenes, over 100 years after the originals were taken.
Image #1 was described as “Eastwoodmains Road, Clarkston” this one was very easy to find and I’m sure the white building on the left is the O’Haras accounting business at the corner of Golf Road. If you look closely you can see the 3 mullioned windows on that building as a recognisable feature.
Image #2 was the most problematic of the images, it was titled “Golf Course Clarkston”. I assumed that meant the Williamwood Golf Course on Clarkston Road, and due to the club being closed I was able to get onto the greens to try and find the location this image was taken from. I was unable to find the exact location and after further research, it looks likely that the image was taken on The Busby & Clarkston Golf Course which existed near the Eaglesham Road between 1897 and 1951. I have added a similar image from my visit to Williamwood Golf Course, which was a pleasant place to visit during the lockdown.
Image #3 titled “Birds Eye View of Clarkston” took me south towards what is known today as the Sheddens, after much searching I discovered that the image was more than likely to be taken from the steeple of Greenbank Parish Church looking towards Arthur Street. Unable to access the steeple I manage to capture a reasonable representation of the image from the church grounds. The roof of the white house on the left is clearly visible on both images.
Image #4 “Busby Road and Clarkston and Eaglesham Road”, this area displayed the most change over the years. The original photograph, thought to date from around 1900, shows the Buck’s Head wine and spirit vaults” which later became the Buck’s Head Tea Rooms at what is known today as the Sheddens. The name Sheddens comes from the Scots word “shed” meaning a parting or division.
Image #5 “Eastwoodmains Road, Clarkston”, this view looking north east towards Clakston Toll with the Clarkston Bowling & Tennis Club on the left, the view hasn’t changed much over the years, although most of the large trees have been removed.
Image #6 “Clarkston Road“, this view shows the building at the corner of, what is now named, Busby Road and Mearns Road at the Clarkston Toll shopping area. The tenement building on the left remains, however, as can been seen, there has been significant change in the area around the toll, the large building on the right being the only one remaining.
That’s the first six of photographs from the collection, I will post the remaining six later. As I said, I really had great fun with this project, it kept me busy and active during the Coronavirus Lockdown, one benefit of which meant that I was able to stand in the middle of the road for some of the shots.
Jim's travels 
Absolutely amazing to see those old pictures compare to the 2020!
Thank you for the work you have done!
I was looking to find some historical images of clarkston when we moved in a few years ago but I found it difficult, so thanks for sharing!
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