13 January, Feast of St Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow who first named the settlement Glas Chu, ‘the dear Green place’.
17 January, birthday of Matt McGinn of the Calton (1928-1977) whose ashes rest in the Winter Gardens
19 January 1736 Birthday of James Watt
22 January (1898) opening of the People’s Palace ‘for ever and ever’.
17 March, Feast of St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. People went to Flesher’s Haugh to gather shamrock.
4 April 1817 Birthday of Hugh Macdonald (1817 – 1860), author of Rambles Round Glasgow; monument on the Green
30 April The day that women went to Flesher’s Haugh to collect Yarrow, a love charm in preparation for Beltane.
May 1765. James Watt, taking a Sabbath stroll on Glasgow Green, worked out the principle of the separate condenser and the Industrial Revolution followed.
1 May / Beltane. Women traditionally went to the Green to wash their faces in the early morning dew.
The traditional May Day march was celebrated on Glasgow Green for most of the 20th century
29 June Feast day of Sts Peter and Paul, and the start of the Glasgow Fair, inaugurated 1190 and traditionally the wettest fortnight of the year.
18 July Feast day of St Thenew, mother of St Mungo
1 August (1806); anniversary of the Battle of Aboukir. Foundation stone laid for Nelson’s Monument on the Green.
5 August (1810) Nelson’s Monument struck by lightning. See John Knox painting, Kelvingrove.
25 August 1819 Death day of James Watt
30 August 1820. Execution of radical weaver, James ‘Purley’ Wilson (1760-1820) on Glasgow Green for High Treason.
3 September 1787. Six striking weavers from Calton, killed, many others injured, on Glasgow Green. Ken Currie murals commissioned to commemorate bicentenary, 1987.
7 October 1876 Samian ware bowl, Roman, 3rd or 4th century found on Flesher’s Haugh
1 November All Saints Day. Templeton Carpet Factory Disaster, (1899) 29 women and girls killed.
5 November Guy Fawkes night. Traditional fireworks on Glasgow Green. Also the birthday of Guy Alfred Aldred (1886 – 1963) of the Bakunin Press and Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation who did much of his teaching work on Glasgow Green. Portrait in the People’s Palace collections.
30 November Feast day of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland and death date of Red Clydesider John Maclean (1879-1923) who had many support meetings on Glasgow Green.
6 December Feast day of St Nicholas, Patron of Provand’s Lordship, Aberdeen, Greece, Bari and elsewhere, whose symbols, the three balls of the pawnbroker’s sign, were all too well known in Glasgow. The People’s Palace has a pawnbrokers sign amongst its collection of shop signs.
25 December-3 January 1745-6. Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s army camped on Glasgow Green
