Last week Glasgow North East MP Paul Sweeney posted the tweet after receiving numerous queries about why some of the city’s buildings are made of red sandstone and some are made of blonde sandstone.
And he revealed that the red sandstone buildings were all constructed after 1890, when Glasgow was first connected to Dumfriesshire quarries by rail.
Mr Sweeney said the blonde sandstone was extracted from quarries in Bishopbriggs and Giffnock, but they were heavily depleted during the city’s expansion in the 19th century.
To keep up with demand, red sandstone was taken by rail from Dumfriesshire quarries like Locharbriggs and Corsehill as they were newer and easier to work, meaning the stone was cheaper.
Dumfriesshire red sandstone was exported all over the world and was used in other iconic buildings such as Liverpool Street Station in London, and the famous Million Dollar Staircase in New York’s Capitol Building.
Posted last Thursday, Mr Sweeney’s post has received more than 1700 retweets and comments and has been liked more than 15,000 times.
