Pollok Country Park - Definition and Overview

Pollok Country Park is a large country park located in Pollok, south Glasgow. Prior to the building of the M77 motorway it was the largest urban green space in Europe.

It contains the Burrell Collection, a purpose built building designed to hold the large eclectic antique and art collection of William Burrell who donated the collection to the City of Glasgow on his death. Also within the park is Pollok House. Another feature of interest is the award-winning herd of Highland Cattle. This herd is the most accessible of this species for the majority of Scots. In autumn 2004, three mountain biking routes were opened by Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy. Strathclyde Police's mounted and dog-handling divisions are based in the park.

In the early 1990s the park was the site of a road protest camp, the Pollok Free State, which attempted to prevent the M77 motorway from cutting through the south west side of the park and separating it from the nearby housing schemes. The road cost £53 million and destroyed 5000 trees in a seven mile stretch of the park. Protesters, including local schoolchildren, attempted to prevent this using classic tactics like building and occupying treehouses and tunnels. There was also a “CarHenge” of burnt-out and half-buried cars from as far afield as Brighton placed in the path of the road. Eviction of the camp by Wimpey bailiffs and 32 vanloads of Police began on March 23, 1995 leading to 15 arrests and one injury. Though the camp failed to prevent the road being built, it was a formative experience for many Glasgow activists who had no previous experience of direct action.