The park, the oldest in the city, is thought to be the birthplace of Rangers Football Club. The story goes that members of the local rowing club caught sight of the relatively new sport being played on Flesher’s Haugh in 1872, a piece of land that extended the park eastwards. 

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The green has served a variety of purposes since its inception, from grazing animals to washing clothes. The first of Glasgow’s steamies, The Washhouse, was opened on the bank of the Camlachie Burn (burn = a small river). This one of two burns that originally ran through the swampy parkland. The Camlachie Burn now runs under the James Martin Fountain, named after the 19th Century Baillie (senior councillor). He was best known for opposing a rich new housing development at a time when the city’s east end was in shambles. The fountain was cast in the popular Moorish style by Walter McFarlane.

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Upon the grass sits the beautiful People’s Palace Museum and Winter Gardens. It was designed to inspire those living in the East End, an area that was significantly over-populated at the time. Those that were living there were often doing so in squalor. People Palace now serves as a social history museum. The winter gardens greenhouse extension at the back offers the chance to see unusual and exotic plant life. 

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At the front of the palace stands the Doulton Fountain. This five-tier terracotta fountain was designed in French Renaissance style  by architect Arthur E. Pearce. It was built to commemorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, and was the focal point of the International Exhibition held in 1888. It celebrates the reign of Queen Victoria, with four life-size water carriers from four British colonies pointing in the directions of the compass. There are four guards on the tier above, representing the regiments of Scotland, England, Ireland, and the Royal Navy. Queen Victoria visited Glasgow in 1849, and was the first monarch to do so since the 1600s. The statue of her on the peak of the fountain was destroyed by a lightning strike only one year after the fountain was moved to Glasgow Green in 1890.

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To the east of the fountain lies the Templeton Carpet Factory. It was completed in 1889, a decade after the fountain arrived. Disaster seems to haunt this area. Soon after the factory opened, 29 people were killed when the back gable wall collapsed during a storm. A year later, a fire broke out in the factory, claiming yet more lives. It now serves as a business centre and apartment complex. West Bar and Brewery is also a resident here, so you can nip in for a tasty pint brewed on site in their basement.

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Towering high in the centre of Glasgow Green is Nelson’s Monument. It was the first monument to be raised in the Vice-Admiral’s name, erected less than a year after his death in 1806. 

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Beside the monument is an odd-looking stone, etched with writing that tells of a moment of inspiration. In 1765, engineer James Watt (whose statue can be found in George Square) conceived the idea of a separate condenser for the steam engine while out for a stroll in the park. This invention is often cited as having kickstarted the industrial revolution.

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Other sights of the park include the Judiciary Courthouse across from the western entrance, designed by architect William Stark. This is somewhat ironic, as he was best known for designing lunatic asylums. On the other side of the road rests the McLennan Arch, which was originally part of the old Assembly Rooms on Ingram Street built in 1796. Almost 100 years later, the building was demolished, but the central arch was saved, and eventually found a home in Glasgow Green. 

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At the opposite end of the Green is the Time Spiral; a set of stones arranged in a spiral formation. Each stone has a commemorative plaque detailing a significant historical event in the city’s past.