It’s some years since I came across Glasgow’s Police Museum in Bell Street and, sad to say, despite coming away with quite a haul of pics and info, these have never materialised as a post.
That’s embarrassing 😦
I’m reasonably sure it was open all week when I made that first visit, and this post came about when I happened to be in Bell Street, looked up at the museum’s window, and found it to be in darkness in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week.
Concerned that it may have been a lockdown victim, and been closed and or lost, I made my way to the door.
Thankfully, it still seems to be in business, and I had just landed next to it on one of its closed days. It has been running on what it refers to as ‘Winter Hours’ since 2021.
It really is worth a look, and has details on a number of high profile cases from Glasgow’s past, including that of Peter Manual, a serial killer from the 1950s, who actions might have meant I never saw the light of day. I’m being perfectly serious, his hunting ground was the area I still live in to this day.
NOT to be confused with Strathclyde Police Black Museum
I’m not sure of its correct name, but prior to demolition of the police headquarters building in Pitt Street, there was a museum, often referred to as a ‘Black Museum’ due to the nature of the material it contained.
Although I collected a number of accounts detailing some of the exhibits on display there, such as old paper notes which had apparently been cut in half through their thickness (to yield TWO apparent notes, so long as nobody looked at the blank side), I never managed to make a visit.
The last I heard/read, was an account in the local paper of the day, reporting that the curator had been given something like three weeks to wind the place up and place all the artefacts in storage. I can’t even date that article now, as the link I had is dead.
Perhaps someone knows better.
I did try a few searches on various combinations of Strathclyde Police Black Museum, but nothing useful was returned, with all result either being for the Police Museum described above, or other police museums through the country, or even around the world when I looked further down the list.
A bit sad if it’s really been mothballed and forgotten/ last, especially as I never got to make the trip.
Help?
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Secret Scotland 