This digital outreach project ran from September 2021 and explored the development of Glasgow during the Victorian period, through the eyes of Thomas Sulman, illustrator of the Bird’s Eye View of Glasgow, 1864. Sulman’s map captures Glasgow at a turning point in the industrial revolution. Cargo laden ships pack the Clyde, its banks lined with cranes, warehouses and smoking chimney stacks.

Fast forward to the present day and in Knight’s map high rise flats punctuate the skyline where the chimneys once stood. The Clyde lies dormant, with the motorway and railways cutting through the city as the main forms of transport for people and goods. Looking North from the Southside of the Clyde, the Knight map is an incredibly detailed snapshot of modern day Glasgow. Displayed alongside Sulman’s map, it shows how the city has changed and developed over the last 150 years. The exhibition also uses interactive elements encouraging you to ponder what the city will look like in the future.

Text by University of Glasgow