Notionally, Cowcaddens Road demarcates the northern boundary of the city centre. It has appeared on maps since at least 1560, as one continuous road that connected the small village of Cowcaddens to the burgeoning town of Glasgow. This was, until 1766, the Cow Lone, an
unpaved road where herders would take their cattle up the hill to Cowcaddens where the animals would graze and be milked in the evening. This path would follow the alignment of current-day Queen Street, veering northwest off of
George Square where
Queen Street railway station is today. From there, it would join up with Buchanan Street, following toward Port Dundas before turning west into Cowcaddens Street. The alignment of Cowcaddens Street was altered slightly during a redevelopment beginning in 1968 and continuing into the late 1970's. Several
tenement blocks were demolished, and the road was brought slightly up the slope of Garnethill, and elevated. This facilitated new connections with Cambridge and Rose Streets, which both previously veered northwest into New City Road instead, as well as a new route into Great Western Road via West Graham Street, another new connection created by this new alignment. Other connections were severed however – New City Road chiefly among them. Itself vastly transformed by the construction of the
M8 motorway, New City Road now leads into an underpass below Cowcaddens Road to the Subway – all that remains of Cowcaddens Cross. The road was also straightened and lengthened eastward to meet North Hanover Street, through where
Buchanan Street railway station once stood. However, the original alignment of Cowcaddens Street is still preserved somewhat in Dundasvale Road, between the National Piping Centre and Garscube Road. ==People==