Ghost Stations Part 6
Botanic Gardens 🌱
(plus Exploring the lesser known remnants of Kirklee Station) if you’ve ever wondered what that old world infrastructure around Kirklee Place and Ford Street is then this Documentary is for you 🔍
The station was opened on 10 August 1896 by the Glasgow Central Railway. The station building was on ground level, and the platforms were underground, beneath the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. It was closed between 1 January 1917 and 2 March 1919 due to wartime economy, and closed permanently to passengers on 6 February 1939, with the line being closed on 5 October 1964.
The building was converted into shops after the station’s 1939 closure and by the late 1960s was occupied by a popular café called ‘The Silver Slipper’, a nightclub called ‘Sgt. Peppers’ and a plumbers shop, ‘Morton’s’. It was ravaged by fire on the night of 22 March 1970.
In September 2007, it was reported plans were under consideration to redevelop the site as a bar/restaurant/nightclub/exhibition space and miniature railway which would involve completely rebuilding the station building to its original design on its footprint. The plans were met with considerable opposition from local people who organised a campaign group largely objecting to the idea of a nightclub appearing in a tranquil place like the gardens.
It was reported on 17 April 2008 that the campaign against the plans had been successful and Glasgow City Council had abandoned the plans. There are no current plans to redevelop the site.
The site of Botanic Gardens Station remains derelict to this day, over fifty years after the fire. The platforms still remain underground where they can be seen from above through still-open air vents in the Botanic Gardens, and the floor of the building is still visible within the fenced-off section of the gardens marking where it stood. The platforms were accessible via the tunnel portal at the Kirklee end of the gardens, before Warner Bros cancelled Bat Girl production used the site as a film location and locked it off. An abandoned tramway kiosk designed in the same style as the building and built in 1903 is still present at the site. The site is heavily overgrown, vandalised and dilapidated, and is considered dangerous to enter.
Subscribe for More ⭐️
The Expedition is Urban 🥾
#history #abandoned #documentary #urbex
#railway #railwayhistory #abandonedplaces
#underworld #underground #scary #dark
#offlimits #botanicalgardens #victorian
#derelict #abandonedrailway #train #vlog
#exploration #oldworld #tunnel #cave
2 Comments
Excellent video really enjoyed this one have you been inside the tunnel under Gibson Street Bridge👍
I lived not far from the station and I remember as a young teenager walking through the tunnel, circa late 1960's. Plus exploring the old Kirklee station. The tunnel portal entrances were fully acccessible and open. No fencing or locked gates. I've walked not only through that tunnel but then continued across the former Kelvinbridge goods yard (now car park) to the tunnel in opposite corner, under Kelvingrove park. Many other tunnels around the north west and central parts of Glasgow were fully accessible and in relatively good condition.
Not far from Kirklee station was the Maryhill Central station, now site of a Tesco store. It was still standing too. I have happy memories of walking all the derelict tunnels around the area.
I was probably an Urban Explorer before the name stuck. Just wish I had the recording technology then, that we have now.