Glasgow Merchant City

The commonly cloudy days of the beautiful Scottish countryside mix with an ancient urban landscape that scours a concrete swath through the rolling green hills of this northern paradise. It all seems to rest subtly upon a cool wind that never ceases to blow over and around everything from skyscrapers to sweet little flowers, reminding the world of what is truly in charge. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The Merchant City was formerly the residential district of the wealthy city merchants in the 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly the Tobacco Lords from whom many of the streets take their name. As the Industrial Revolution and the wealth it brought to the city resulted in the expansion of Glasgow's central area westward, the original medieval centre was left behind. Glasgow Cross, situated at the junction of High Street, Gallowgate, Trongate and Saltmarket was the original centre of the city, symbolised by its Mercat cross. Glasgow Cross encompasses the Tolbooth Clock Tower; all that remains of the original City Chambers, which was destroyed by fire in 1926. Moving northward up High Street towards Rottenrow and Townhead lies the 15th century Glasgow Cathedral and the Provand's Lordship. Due to growing industrial pollution levels in the mid-to-late 19th century, the area fell out of favour with residents. This sound uses the following file from Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=125816