The Tenement House

We took the train in to Glasgow this morning and then the Clockwork Orange to Kelvinhall to visit the Kelvingrove Museum.  I'm not great on touring museums of things in glass cases but I did enjoy the archaeology section and the Scottish Heritage Art Gallery.  It was interesting to note, quite rightly, that the huge portrait of two of the 18th Century wealthy Campbells had a note describing how their wealth was built on the back of slaves in their plantation.

From Kelvingrove we walked down to the Clyde and called in at the Riverside Museum which has a very impressive collection of transport.  I was reminded of a recent Repair Shop which featured a toy double decker Glasgow bus which Dom expertly repainted in the orange and green livery.  There was the full size version in the Museum.  We didn't tarry long here because it was brimful of schoolchildren on half term, so we headed to the subway station and on to the Clockwork Orange once more to St George's Cross, destination the Tenement House.  This was the highlight of our day.

I'm not going to re-tell Miss Toward's story here, suffice to say she saved all her bits and bobs in her tenement two rooms plus kitchen and they lay undiscovered following her death, until a happy accident brought them to light and a young woman persuaded the owner to sell the flat to her.  She preserved Miss Toward's letters and bits and bobs for several years, only converting the house to electricity, and then sold it to NTS who set about recreating the tenement as was.

It's a fascinating slice of life over fifty years, made more real and personal in that most of the artefacts are Miss Toward's and we glimpse her life through her many letters and books and recipes and newspaper clippings and more.  I particularly liked that her homemade plum jam from 1927 was still in her kitchen cupboard.  I reckon some of Tony's strawberry jam will some day be found in ours!  I also liked this shelf which has an array of some of her bottles of lotions and potions, some of which are recognisable from my parents' time, including the IZAL toilet roll.