Mosspark

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Mosspark is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde, in the south-west of the city. Mosspark and the lands of East and Mid-Henderston were incorporated into Glasgow in 1909. They covered seventy-two hectares of farmland and their acquisition was prompted by the need to develop peripheral communities to help ease the city's notoriously high levels of congestion. The background of the First World War was also crucially important for determining Mosspark's pioneering place in Glasgow Corporation's housing programme. In 1919 plans for reconstruction had been put in place by central government and ground breaking legislation made it compulsory for local authorities to implement planned housing schemes, underpinned by Treasury subsidies. As a result, Mosspark became the most ambitious of the Corporation's immediate post-war developments.

The housing density and extensive green space were inspired by Raymond Unwin and the Garden city movement. The area is almost unique within the surrounding area with its tree-lined streets and Boulevard stretching the length of the area at its most northern point.

The area has a great deal of amenities in spite of its rather small size, including a church, school, bowling club, several sets of shops and a park directly facing the much grander Bellahouston Park

Entirely residential, the scheme's green and semi-rural setting was intended to provide a healthier alternative to the city's traditional tenement landscape, which had become too much identified with urban corrosion.

Although flats featured in Mosspark's plans, two-thirds of the housing stock was built in the form of cottages, semi-detached and terraced, and surrounded by gardens.

The dwellings were built to such high standards with spacious rooms and modern conveniences including the clean new energy source of electricity. Over time the area became one of the most desirable for Corporation tenants with higher-income families predominating.

To its North is Bellahouston Park and to its South the Paisley Canal railway line - which separates the area from Corkerhill.

Oddly, the nearest train station is Corkerhill while Mosspark railway station more accurately serves South Cardonald and northern Pollok.

The district's exclusive character had arisen because it was generally not cost-effective for the Corporation to build such prestigious, low-density developments, especially in the depressed economic climate of the inter-war years. Mosspark was consequently a showpiece of modern planning in Glasgow, but it could not serve as a realistic blueprint for the Corporation's long-term housing strategy. Simlilar later housing schemes were built like Knightswood although the blueprint was changed to cheaper building materials and fireplaces were removed from the bedrooms and interior walls were no longer brick.

Famous residents include Greenock Morton player Dean Keenan, currently on loan at Ayr Utd.

Some outdoor portions of the sitcom Still Game were filmed in Mosspark.

The TV show Vids used an empty shop in Mosspark as the storefront in the show.

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