A new chapter in a burgh's history

of Glasgow was proud to proclaim itself a burgh. It had once been able to boast its own castle and a bishop's palace, and its shipyards would later play their part in empire.

But to many of its modern residents, in their upwardly mobile tenements, Partick is simply another west end suburb of Glasgow whose only claims to fame are being the birthplaces of a well-loved football team, and an even better known comedian.

It is a notion that would be quickly dismissed by flicking through the pages of a new book, claimed to be the first to draw on the surprisingly rich folklore of the area.

Partick Anecdotes is what it says it is - a collection of stories from and about an area which stretches along the northern bank of the Clyde from Gilmorehill in the east, to Whiteinch in the west.

But, while the football legend that is Partick Thistle has a chapter all to itself, author Robert Paul gives no place in his section on Partick notables to Billy Connolly.

This is not the omission it might seem, however. There are plenty of other characters, such as ''Big Rachel'' Hamilton, whose nineteenth-century fame was built on a lifetime of strenuous work and serving as a special constable during the Partick Riots of the 1870s.

Or there was youngster Geordie Crome, who managed to outstrip on his bike the commercial vehicles which used the steep Gardner Street to show off their prowess when the Motor Show came to Partick in the 1920s.

It was not the only major event to grace the burgh. The first three football internationals between Scotland and England were played at the West of Scotland Cricket Club in Hamilton Crescent at the end of the nineteenth century.

The book also contains many tales of individual success and community spirit and there are also tragedies, like the sinking of a ferry in the 1860s which cost many lives. For my family, at least, this section solved a mystery - how it was that my paternal great-great-grandfather had, according to family legend, come to be drowned on a boat in Whiteinch.

Partick Anecdotes is unusual in a number of ways. Not least because its publication is the end of a quest, and comes eight years after the author's death.

He was a familiar figure among churches and organisations in the west end of Glasgow, for whom he often provided illustrated talks on his favourite subject: Partick.

The anecdotes he related over the years had been garnered during a lifetime in the area and have now been collected and published in one anthology by his wife, Jessie, and daughter, Liz Greer.

Although he had no formal training as a historian - Robert Paul studied geography at Glasgow University (on the eastern edge of Partick) before becoming a teacher in the city - it is obvious from his book that he more than made up for that with enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, his subject.

Partick Anecdotes is a collection of tales about the once village, now suburb, which brings its past alive. For those who grew up in the area, it provides many talking points and opportunities to reminisce, while, for those who have recently moved in, it offers a wealth of historical knowledge about their new community.

For Liz Greer it is a double source of pride. She is proud both of the achievement in having it published and in her father's continued popularity as a local historian.

''I am absolutely delighted,'' she says. ''I wondered if the book was different enough to catch people's attention. There are other books about Partick, but they are not anecdotal like this one. And I think it's important that much of it my father lived through. It's not just someone who has researched the area. My father was always being asked to put his notes into book form for posterity, and he did plan to do it, but he died in 1990.''

Now that his book has been published, Liz feels that there is one thing about Partick which has helped to make it so popular, judging by early sales. ''When I think about Partick, I think about the community feeling,'' she says.

n Partick Anecdotes is available from bookshops in Partick or by contacting Elizabeth Greer at 19 Suffolk Street, Helensburgh.