Winter Garden at Tollcross Park
Tollcross Park

 

Tollcross Park is internationally famous for its unique Rose Garden and impressive Winter Gardens. The park has many hidden gems including the Glen Nature Walk, Children’s Farm and Courtyard Visitor Centre. The park is full of points of interest and offers a welcome retreat from the busy surrounding streets.
 

Location
Tollcross Park

254B Wellshot Road

Glasgow

G32 7AX

 

The park is located in the heart of Glasgow’s East End some 3 miles east of the City Centre. Wellshot Road, Tollcross Road and Muiryfauld Drive surround the park.

 

Opening Times

The park is open from Dawn until Dusk. However the specific facilities in the park may differ.

 

Quick Links
Facilities, History, Travel, Contact Details


Size

37 Hectares (91 Acres)




Outstanding Features

  • Children’s Farm – an outstanding facility which will appeal to young and old alike. Regulars in the farm are Shire Horses, Shetland Ponies, aviary, rabbits, sheep, Highland Cattle and much more!
  • Visitor Centre – a state of the art environment centre which aims to educate and inform children about the nature and the cycle of life. The centre features many interactive attractions, which are bound to keep children entertained.

  • International Rose Garden – Tollcross boasts a world class Rose Garden that hosts the International Rose Trials each year. The Rose Garden is best visited between July and August to fully appreciate the blooms and fragrances.

  • Secret Garden – Tollcross Park has a new attraction known as the Secret Garden. Visitors will not find any directional signage or fingerboards.  Instead, the challenge is to roam the park in search of this special sensory garden. The garden has been developed to be used as a special place for quiet contemplation, it also has performance spaces for the poetry and drama groups who meet in the Park. Visits are especially welcome from local care agencies; this space has been designed to make it accessible to all and is wheelchair friendly.

  • Winter Gardens - This is a “B” listed 19th century, curvilinear iron structure of exquisite design and form. It has been recently refurbished with the support of Historic Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The hothouses have many colourful and exotic plant species. The building also houses a children’s play area and Café – the perfect place to relax in the middle of the park.

 

Winter Gardens  Trees Under Glass Roof  Ram   

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Facilities
The park has a wide variety of facilities to suit all age groups.

  • Courtyard Meeting Room – a meeting space for community groups involved with the park
  • Glen – a nature walk which follows the line of the Tollcross Burn filled with wildlife including bats, foxes and woodpeckers
  • Picnic Benches – there are various benches situated around the park for the enjoyment of visitors from near and far
  • Centre Gardens – an exotic horticultural display that presents roses and herbaceous plantings in an offbeat manner influenced by the compositions of Gertrude Jekyll Building – for special events, workshops etc.
  • Children’s Play Area – for under 12s
  • Orienteering Course
  • Visitor Centre
  • The city wide Countryside Ranger Service has one of its 2 bases at Tollcross Park and compliments the visitor facilities with many seasonal events and activities being run in the park
  • The park has extensive CCTV cameras in operation and benefits from lighting on each of the main pathways and buildings making it a safe and pleasant park to visit
Also within the parks grounds you can find
  • Tollcross Park Leisure Centre – includes a state of the art swimming pool, gym and Café

Local Facilities

  • Public toilets
    • Winter Gardens
    • Courtyard
    • Leisure Centre
  • Public telephone
    • Leisure Centre

 

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Events in the Park
There is an extensive range of events throughout the year. A small sample of these events includes:

  • Tollcross Park Writers  – an opportunity to take part in a writing group. For further information contact the Park Development Officer on 778 4395.
  • Art Club – this group meet every Monday morning at the Courtyard meeting room. New faces are welcome to share the peace in a relaxing and tranquil setting.
  • Tollcross Park Writers/Poets – this group meet every Thursday afternoon in the Courtyard meeting room. Visitors are welcome to join or just sit back and listen to the banter
  • Bards in the Park – a group of locals keen to spread their am-dram wings. This group always welcomes new faces to join in the fun and the frolics. For more information come along to the Courtyard on a Saturday afternoon between 1.00 and 3.00pm.  
  • Baseball and American Football – Tollcross Park is a base for the Scottish Athletic Union who host coaching and championship matches each week. The club regularly hosts ‘come and try’ sessions for adults and children and is keen to welcome new recruits.

 

Llama    Bull in Courtyard

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History
In 1897, 83 acres of land, including the Mansion House were purchased for the sum of £29,000 and the Lord Provost, Sir David Richmond, performed the opening ceremony on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. 

  • The lands of Tollcross Park are recorded as far back as 1290 when Roger Corbett, a local baron, lived in the area.  In 1580 a ‘Gabriel Corbart‘ was granted land in Towcorse.
  • Towcorse was originally an area of countryside separating the village of Tollcross from Shettleston.
  • In 1843, James Dunlop commissioned by the Architect, David Bryce, to design a new mansion house in the Jacobean style for the estate. The new 'A' listed Scottish baronial house with crow stepped gables, corbelled turrets and pointed roofs was set on the summit of the estate and approached by a drive off Tollcross Road.
  • James Dunlop was actively involved in landscaping the surroundings to the Mansion House, particularly in the design of the sweeping Lime Tree Avenue leading to the house and the introduction of exotic tree species into the Glen.
  • In 1900 a further acre of land was purchased to save a group of trees on the Western boundary. Later still, waiting rooms were added to the West Lodge for the convenience of the hundreds of daily visitors to the park.
  • Over the years, the Mansion House Kitchen Garden (now known as the Courtyard and Children’s Farm) was adapted to provide replacement plant material for the park.
  • In 1905, a Children’s Museum was opened in the Mansion House as a branch of the Kelvingrove Museum and unfortunately closed due to the dereliction of the building in 1973. 
  • At the beginning of the century the glasshouses were presented to the Corporation.  The timber and steel ‘cruciform’ structure, now known as the Winter Gardens were used to house the local floral displays grown in the associated greenhouses.
  • The Bandstand was erected in 1906 and was originally located just to the West of the Winter Gardens, several years later it was replaced by a new brick building on Shettleston Hill. In 1971 this building was burnt down. It cost sixpence to get in to see the many excellent amateur acts and military bands which performed there.

    Museum Postcard approx. 1924

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Travel

  • Train - There are regular City Centre Services to Shettleston Station that is approximately a ten minute walk away
  • Bus - Various routes operate from the city centre to  Wellshot Road and Shettleston Road
  • Car - You can follow the yellow AA signs for Tollcross Park Leisure Centre.
    • There is a large car park in the park, free to all park users.
    • On street parking is available on all roads surrounding the parkland and adjacent side streets (please adhere to any local parking restrictions)
  • Walking - Access points are available from Tollcross Road, Wellshot Road and several other adjacent side streets

Friends of Tollcross Park

The Friends of Tollcross Park was established 1996 so that local people could influence and contribute to the future development of the park and have since been working closely with Glasgow City Council, the local community and partnership agencies, to protect, conserve the parks history and heritage and assist the Council in developing the future vision for the park. The group’s aims are to promote a greater awareness of the historic parkland by organising and supporting events, applying for project funding, carrying out and supporting park surveys and have established links with the local Housing, Community groups, Colleges, Schools and Local Businesses. The group have succeeded in generally raising the profile and understanding of the site, and securing its future.

The Friends of Tollcross Park are currently made up of local community people with a wide range of backgrounds and interests and are keen to explore the potential for new activities to revitalise the area. Over the coming years, these activities will be delivered to ensure Tollcross Park continues to be the inspirational park that meets the needs of the local people and their vision for the park, safeguarding its potential.

For further information or anyone wishing to join the Friends of Tollcross Park phone 0141 276 0931 or e-mail brian_1937@talktalk.net


 

Mansion House   Cockrell in Childrens Farm

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Contact Details

Land and Environmental Services General Enquiries

Phone: 0141 287 5918

E-mail: les@glasgow.gov.uk

 

Public Transport Journey Information
Traveline Scotland
Phone: 0871 200 22 33