🍂 Clearing Athole Lane: A Little Piece of Glasgow History
Every so often, a job takes you somewhere with real character — the kind of hidden corner of Glasgow you’d walk past a hundred times without knowing its story.
Athole Lane, just above Saltoun Street in Dowanhill, is one of those places.
Last November, I was called out for a full leaf-clear and seasonal tidy, and it turned into one of my favourite autumn jobs of the year.
🖼️ “Windows in the West” — A Lane with a Famous View
Athole Lane sits directly behind the tenement featured in Avril Paton’s iconic painting, Windows in the West.
If you’re local, you’ve almost certainly seen it — the warm glow of the flats on a snowy evening, each window a tiny world.
Working in the lane beneath that building felt like stepping right into a bit of Glasgow art history.
🍁 The Job: Clearing Thick Autumn Leaf-Fall
By late November, the cobbles were covered in a deep layer of wet leaves — the kind that creates slippery surfaces, blocks drains, and quickly turns to mulch.
Perfect conditions for:
Leaf blowing
Bagging, removal and/or composting
Clearing gutters & lane channels
Tidying vegetation along the walls
With the Stihl backpack leaf blower fired up (a proper workhorse in lanes like this), we cleared the full stretch, revealing the old cobbled surface and opening the walkway back up for residents.
🧹 Why Lane Clearing Matters
Back lanes in the West End are beautiful — but they’re also highly prone to:
✅ Flooding from blocked drains
✅ Moss build-up
✅ Slips and falls on wet leaves
✅ Overgrown vegetation narrowing paths
A seasonal clear-out keeps them accessible and preserves the history hidden underfoot.
🌇 A Glasgow West End Hidden Gem
What I love most about lanes like Athole Lane is how much life they hold:
Old stone walls covered in ivy
Pots and plants outside garden flats
Mature trees arching overhead
A quiet calm just moments away from the buzz of Byres Road
Working here always feels like glimpsing the behind-the-scenes version of the West End.
📩 Need Your Lane Cleared?
If your back lane, courtyard or shared garden needs a leaf clear, tidy, or seasonal refresh, get in touch — we cover all of Glasgow City and always enjoy working in Glasgow’s historic cobbled lanes.
