Maryhill Stained Glass: 130 year old mystery solved at last!

Last year we posted this picture on our website asking Stickees to help identify the trade depicted in this panel at Maryhill Burgh Halls.  Now, the mystery of the unknown worker has been solved.  It is believed to be showing a worker operating a turkey red dye printing machine.

A stunning series of 20 stained glass panels were commissioned for the Maryhill Burgh Halls in 1878, featuring the many varied trades and industries of the area. Most are easily identifiable images such as a gas worker, iron moulder, joiner or boat-builder. But one of the panels has remained a mystery – and with all the original paperwork having been long since lost, there was no easy way to figure out exactly what sort of job the ‘Unknown Worker’ was doing.

Years of research had been unable to positively identify it – and suggestions varied from a metal casting process, a brewing process or even a steam laundry. This long-standing mystery has finally been solved by Glaswegian Michael Meighan, who has been researching for his new book ‘Glaswegians with a Flourish’. Said Michael:

I was aware of the Maryhill stained glass puzzle, and I was as intrigued as anyone. While I was investigating the role of the Mechanics Institute in Glasgow – which was attended by Scotland’s first oil tycoon James ‘Paraffin’ Young - I came across the Institute’s ‘Mechanics Magazine’ published in 1824 and held by the National Library of Scotland.

On the front page of one of the issues was a drawing of a press almost exactly like the equipment being used in the stained glass window.  Imagine my growing interest as I started reading a ‘Description of the Great Bandana Gallery in the Turkey Red factory of Messrs Monteith & Co. at Glasgow’.  This described in detail the process of using a hydrostatic press to impregnate and pattern cotton cloth with Turkey red dye. In this case this factory contained presses which produced bandanas for foreign markets including the iconic scarves worn by the American cowboys!

Turkey red dyeing was originally brought to Scotland from France, and became a massively important industry in the West of Scotland in the 1800’s.  Besides cowboy bandanas, the British Redcoats were dyed with Turkey red, as well as beautifully patterned cloths which were exported throughout the world.  The dyeing process was revolutionary as it allowed whole cloths to be dyed, rather than the threads from which they were made, shortening the process considerably. One factory that had 16 presses of the type shown was able to produce 1600 pieces of 12 yards each in just ten hours.

Heritage Development Officer for the Trust, Gordon Barr, said:

Just when I started to think we’d never know for sure what was going on in this panel, I got a phone call from Michael out of the blue! We’re delighted to have the mystery solved, and fill in the last blank.

But just as one puzzle is solved, it also reveals more questions to be asked – we don’t know which company in the Maryhill area might have been using this process at the time the panels were commissioned – so there’s still more to find out to keep us busy!

Thanks to a partnership with Glasgow Museums, who have had the glass in safe keeping for nearly 50 years, the restoration will also see a significant collection of the original stained glass windows, conserved and returned to the Burgh Halls for display once the building is re-opened later this year. 

In addition, the Trust has recently commissioned 10 new stained glass “Windows of Today” which will depict life in Maryhill as it is now.