Glasgow is packed with reminders of the city’s long, eventful history. Industrial sites like the Finnieston Crane are among the city’s best-known attractions, while the likes of the Riverside Museum celebrate the many facets of Glasgow’s rich past.
Scotland’s biggest city has never shied away from its roots in industrialisation and maritime trade, but soon part of that history will get special focus. A new project is being launched to specifically address Glasgow’s colonial past and links to slavery.
The new scheme isn’t a museum or a monument but an interactive tour of historic sites related to the city’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. Titled the ‘Slavery and Colonial Legacy Trail’, the path will guide visitors down Glasgow’s streets with QR codes revealing more information about key sites.
Information on the tour will be based on research by the University of Glasgow’s Dr Stephen Mullen, who is author of a work titled Glasgow, Slavery and Atlantic Commerce: An Audit of Historic Connections and Modern Legacies. The trail’s development is being overseen by charity Glasgow Life and the local council.
The new trail is part of collective efforts from Glasgow council to ensure the city’s colonial past is ‘acknowledged, understood and remembered,’ according to a council paper. In 2022 Glasgow’s council issued an apology to the descendants of enslaved people and the nations they had affected.
Glasgow won’t be the first city using walking trails to address links to slavery. Bristol has its Discovering Britain and World Reimagined routes, while Liverpool has Slavery Walking Tours.
A plan of the the Slavery and Colonial Legacy Trail will be presented to Glasgow’s city policy committee this week and launched in spring 2026.
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