On Sunday 29 April I attended an event called “Enoch was a Woman: a river walk”, led by artist Lucy Livingstone, as part of the Glasgow International Festival, designed to reinstate the reputation of a Glasgow figure now only represented in a temple of shopping.

It was a truly magical, atmospheric walk, that saw us trace the path of the Molendinar, Glasgow’s hidden river, which gradually seemed to merge with St Thenew herself. We began at the Bridge of Sighs, closing our eyes to imagine the river below, then slowly wound our way down over the course of two hours to the Clyde, through backroads and building sites, across new builds, carparks and railway tracks, along the approximate path of the hidden river, as Lucy gradually revealed the story of St Thenew, Scotland’s first rape victim and the mother of Glasgow.

The river emerged above ground only once during the walk, behind bars and choked with waste, and we tied some clooties (clothes) to its railings. Down at the Clyde, it was strangely absent – an empty drain opened onto the river, and three puzzled seagulls perched on the sidings stared back. Lucy told us that perhaps the river was finding other ways out, through the foundations of buildings.

We ended at the site of the vanished St Thenew’s well, a small overgrown and unacknowledged garden by the Clyde, just down from St Enoch’s Square. Lucy told us the gate was magically unlocked the day before when she trialled the walk. By this time the sun was starting to dip. We tied some more clooties to railings and a small stunted tree.

The walk was very moving: lots of space to think, not too much information , and a very creative approach to telling Thenew’s tale – as a girl behind me said, it’s so lovely just being led round the city like this – it did indeed feel like we were giving ourselves up to something as we walked, and I like to think it was the river, drawing us along beneath the concrete.

Come along to our first meeting to find out just who is buried at the Necropolis and how we can dig up the truth about women’s lives in Victorian Glasgow:

Tuesday 2nd March at 7pm at Glasgow Women’s Library

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never done anything like this before. All you need is an interest in women’s history and a sense of adventure! Experienced women’s history detectives are also very welcome to take on a new case!

The group will be informal and we will all be learning together. We’ll meet once a month to share information and problem solve, with additional support available in between. There will also be a group tour of the Necropolis and visit to the Mitchell Library.

If you’d like to know more, or if you’d like to get involved but can’t make the first meeting, click here to contact us or you can email Liza Greig directly.

Let’s start digging!

You might also be interested in the forthcoming Researching Your Local History course starting in April 2010.