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Glasgow Green, situated in the east end of the city on the north bank of the River Clyde at 55°51′0.95″N, 4°14′21.42″W, is the oldest park in Glasgow dating back to the 15th century. In 1450, King James II granted the land to Bishop William Turnbull and the people of Glasgow. The Green was quite different from what it is today, being an uneven swampy area composed of a number of "greens" (divided by the Camlachie Burn and Molendinar Burn), including the High and Low Greens, the Calton Green and the Gallowgate Green. The park served a number of purposes in its first few centuries; as a grazing area, an area to wash and bleach linen, an area to dry fishing nets and for activities like swimming. The city's first steamie, called The Washhouse, opened on the banks of the Camlachie Burn in 1732. An area of land, known as Fleshers' Haugh was purchased in 1792 by the city from Patrick Bell of Cowcaddens, extending the park to the east. In 1817 and 1826, efforts were made to improve the layout of the park. Culverts were built over the Calmachie and Molendinar Burns and the park was levelled out and drained. In its time a number of projects have been suggested that would have intruded upon the Green. The steamship owner Henry Bell proposed building a canal from the Broomielaw to Glasgow Green with a quay terminal at the Green, this proposal was publicly condemned and never implemented. Large coal deposits were discovered under the Green, after borings performed in 1821-1822 and although the City's Superintendent of Work recommended mining, the town council voted against it. However, later in 1858, when the city was looking to offset the cost of purchasing land for parks in other areas of the city, the council approved a plan to mine the Green. However, before the plan could be implemented, it met with large scale public opposition and was dropped, only for it to be resurrected in 1869 and 1888, each time failing to result in any mining. From 25 December 1745 to 3 January 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie's army camped in the privately owned Flesher's Haugh (which would become a part of Glasgow Green in 1792), while Charlie demanded that the city equip his army with fresh clothing and footwear. In 1765, James Watt, while wandering aimlessly across the Green, conceived the idea of the separate condenser for the steam engine. This invention is credited by some with starting the Industrial Revolution. To alleviate economic depression in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the Town Council of Glasgow employed 324 jobless as workers to remodel Glasgow Green. The Radical movement for parliamentary reform grew, and in 1816 some 40,000 people attended a meeting on the Green to support demands for more representative government and an end to the Corn laws which kept food prices high. In the spring of 1820 the Green was one of the meeting places for conspirators in what became the "Radical War", with strikers carrying out military drill on the Green before their brief rebellion was crushed. Later James Wilson was convicted of treason for allegedly being a leader of the insurrection, and hanged and beheaded on Glasgow Green in front of a crowd of some 20,000 people. When the Reform Act of 1832 passed in Parliament, increasing the electorate from 4,329 (1820) to 65,000 (1832), a large demonstration of over 70,000 people was held on the Green with a procession lead around the park by a Bridgeton band. The Chartism movement that grew in response to the Reform Act, later resulted in what is known as the Chartist Riot of 1848. William Ewart Gladstone's Reform Act of 1867, which increased the electorate to 230,606 (1868), brought further meetings to the Green. The park was used as a meeting place by the women's suffragette movement from the early 1870s to the late 1910s. In April 1872, the women's suffragette society, that had formed only two years before, held a large open-air meeting in the park. In 1872 a group of four friends formed a team to play football against Callander F.C. on Flesher's Haugh, this team became Rangers F.C.. During World War I, the anti-war movement held mass demonstrations on the Green. In September 1914, John Maclean held his first anti-war rally under Nelson's monument. The Military Service Act of 1916, led to a rally on the Green, which resulted in 12 months imprisonment for the three lead speakers under the DORA Act. On 29 June 1916, Lloyd George was invited to receive the freedom of the city, which lead to mass protests on the Green. In May 1917, workers marched through Glasgow to the Green in support of Russia's February Revolution. Another result of World War I, was increased migration to the city of munitions workers. The resulting rent increases lead to protests on the Green in 1920.

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McLennan Arch in Glasgow Green at sunset. Taken by AlistairMcMillan on 13 Januay 2005.