Tollcross, Glasgow
Encyclopedia
Tollcross is an area north of the River Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

 in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 and has a popular park which is famed for its international rose trials. It lies approximately a mile east of the neighbouring suburb of Parkhead
Parkhead
Parkhead is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road and Westmuir Street. Duke Street and Springfield Road also meet there, to form a turreted Edwardian five-way junction at Parkhead Cross...

, and just north of Braidfauld
Braidfauld
Braidfauld is the 45th Ward in the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bounded on the south by the River Clyde and on the north by Tollcross Road. Its western boundary is the west wall of the old Belvidere Hospital carried on roughly northeastwards to Tollcross Road, and its eastern boundary is...

 and south of Shettleston
Shettleston
Shettleston is a district in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Like many of the city's districts, Shettleston was originally a small village on its outer edge. Today Shettleston lies between the neighbouring districts of Parkhead to the west, and Baillieston to the east, and is about 2 and a...

.

The area was once host to mass employment in the industrial age thanks largely to the large Fullarton steel works, but now faces social deprivation issues as does much of the east end of Glasgow. McVitie's
McVitie's
McVitie's is a snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name derives from the original Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. The firm moved to various sites in the city before completing the St...

 biscuit factory is one of the main employers in the area today.

In 1997 the East End Leisure Centre in Tollcross Park became a feature of the area, having an Olympic-sized swimming pool, which is used by the City of Glasgow Swim Team.

Many residents of Lilybank
Lilybank
Lilybank is a district in the east of Glasgow. It was farmland until the 1930s, though small industries such as rope and brickworks had also been established...

 would consider themselves residents of Tollcross, but they, like the biscuit factory, have been officially placed within the Braidfauld
Braidfauld
Braidfauld is the 45th Ward in the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bounded on the south by the River Clyde and on the north by Tollcross Road. Its western boundary is the west wall of the old Belvidere Hospital carried on roughly northeastwards to Tollcross Road, and its eastern boundary is...

 Ward of Glasgow City Council.

Part of the Tollcross area was formerly known as Egypt, and is still marked so on a number of maps. The name is believed to have been derived from a farm that existed at one time in the vicinity, operated by a former soldier who had been stationed in Egypt. The farm, owned by the Gordon family in 1920s before being sold to the Hamilton family is still there today.

The poet William Miller
William Miller (poet)
William Miller was a Scottish poet best known for the nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winkie.Miller, known as "The Laureate of the Nursery", was born in Glasgow and lived in Dennistoun, Scotland. He suffered from ill health and was unable to become a surgeon and instead took up woodturning and cabinet...

, author of "Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie
"Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme, whose titular figure has become popular the world over as a personification of sleep. The poem, written by William Miller and titled "Willie Winkie", was first published in Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fireside in 1841...

", is buried in Tollcross.

In June 2011, pupils from St. Aidan's and St. Joan of Arc School combined into a new school located in Tollcross Avenue. They voted to call the new school Cardinal Winning, after Thomas Winning
Thomas Winning
Thomas Joseph Winning was a Scottish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 and President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland from 1985 until his death...

, the late Archbishop of Glasgow
Archbishop of Glasgow
The Bishop of Glasgow, from 1492 Archbishop of Glasgow, was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Glasgow and then, as Archbishop of Glasgow, the Archdiocese of Glasgow...

who died in 2001. The new school opened on 21 June 2011.
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