COMMONLY known as the Bar-L, and sometimes as The Big Hoose, Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison has had a fearsome reputation down through the years.

The jail began life in 1880, when it was built on farmland in Riddrie because of the overcrowding in Scotland's prisons. It was designed to hold 1000 male prisoners.

This picture shows the jail in 1958, seen from the old prison quarry to the south at the back of Lethamhill Road.

The external appearance of Barlinnie has changed little since it was built, although there have been massive imoprovements to the conditions inside.

The average numbers in custody for 2013/2014 was 1305 and the jail averages around 8000 prisoner admissions a year.

The prison mainly houses male offenders, remand and convicted ,who are serving less than four years. However, it has housed well-known names such as Lockerbie bomber Abdelbassat al-Megrahi infamous and gangland figure Jimmy Boyle.

At one time the jail had a hanging shed, where prisoners were executed for their crimes.

In all, 10 men were hanged there between 1946 and 1960.

The Scottish Prison Service is replacing and updating prisons around the country and bosses are planning to shut Barlinnie and replace it with an expanded building.

However, no start date or plans have yet been revealed.