Words by Ruth Currie
The Burgh of Maryhill grew up around the industry that developed along the Forth and Clyde Canal and its Glasgow Branch. But another waterway, the River Kelvin, flows through Maryhill.
Today there is a walkway from the Clyde right up the river through parks and woods and beyond the city. Indeed, you can continue linking up to the West Highland Way and walk the next hundred miles to Fort William. However, this was not always the case. The Kelvin was formerly the site for many industrial works making use of the river for about 200 years. Let’s take a walk along just part of the Kelvin and into Maryhill and look at some of the industrial sites and the bridges.
Kelvinbridge, Great Western Road
Kelvin Bridge, c.1825
The present bridge is the third bridge on this site built in the 19th century as Glasgow expanded West into Woodside, then Hillhead (another Burgh like Maryhill). Underneath the bridge, what is now part of the Walkway and the car park, used to be railway lines and coal yards. The line then crossed the river entering tunnels under the grand red stone tenement, the Caledonia Building, which towered above. This building was originally planned as a hotel by the railway company. The railway continued on through tunnels to Kirklee and on to Maryhill. The terminus is currently located under the Maryhill Shopping Centre.
Proceeding up the Kelvin as it enters the gorge, you can see the broken-down weir and some signs of former industries on the opposite bank, below the modern architects building. There are disused steps leading down to the river and a huge hole which carries the old Pinkston burn from the NE of the city - another area in which industry was rapidly expanding in during the 19th century.
North Woodside Mill, 1855
The North Woodside Flint Mill
After crossing the modern footbridge to the north-east side of the river, you will see the ruins of a flint mill on the old Gariochmill Rd. The mill ground flint from 1846 until after WW2 for use in Glasgow’s once extensive pottery industry. The original mill here was a mill to grind barley, in the days when the whole area was agricultural. Then at the beginning of the nineteenth century this switched to making gunpowder for the Napoleonic Wars. The reason these mills were here was due to the water of the Kelvin flowing quickly through the gorge.
A little upstream is the magnificent weir which was built to hold the fast-flowing river back, allowing a controlled amount of water to be sent down the lade to the mill where it was used to drive machinery.
This whole area was eventually landscaped by Glasgow Corporation in the 1970s.So it is changed days with birdsong more noticeable than the sounds of industry.
Bridges
Walker’s Bridge on Queen Margaret Drive.
Just below the weir are the piers to a bridge which was known as Walkers Bridge after the man who had it built in 1870. It enabled the occupants of the new houses of North Kelvinside to have access to Great Western Road. It was demolished in 1971. The very impressive Queen Margaret Bridge nearby was opened in 1929. As you pass under this bridge and continue along the walkway, you are still on the route of the old Garriochmill Rd.
After passing the first of two bridges on the left, the walkway continues uphill on the right to join the now Garrioch Road. The first bridge leads into the Botanic Gardens which was built in 1890. Further on there is another bridge. This is not the original but a replacement for the Ford Road or Ha’penny bridge, built in 1886. It was built by the owner of Kirklee house who charged a ha’penny for people to cross. He didn’t want the people of Maryhill to ‘invade his land’! The toll house is still there where the money was collected.
Kirklee Bridge
If you cross this bridge into Ford Road then turn right and back down the road into what is now the Botanic Gardens Arboretum, you will pass under the magnificent Granite Kirklee Bridge which was built for people from the east side of the river to access the station at Kirklee. It is difficult to imagine that this arboretum was once an industrial site. Nineteenth century maps show it as the Kirklee bleachfields. Bleaching was an important part of the textile process. The cotton industry was one of Glasgow’s most important industries.
Crossing the river once again on the modern footbridge you cannot miss the railway bridge structures. These lines were not only for passengers to Maryhill but also for access to the various factories and works on both sides of the Kelvin. Up to the right is Wyndford and the site of the original army barracks.
Some industries
Kelvindale Paper Mill
One of the biggest and longest lasting of these local industries was the Kelvindale paper mill.
These were located immediately across the Kelvin by Kelvindale bridge at the foot of Kelvindale Road. Originally, the building was founded in the 18th Century as a snuff mill. Snuff was ground tobacco which was sniffed rather than smoked. From 1840 the large complex became a paper mill, belonging to Edward Collins & Son. The site was ideal as a lot of water is used in the manufacturing of paper. Like many other industries, the business finally closed in the 1970s. A few of the workers’ houses remain. The site is now utilised by private housing.
A little further up the river there is a dramatic V- shaped weir. Water from here went through a lade to the works.
Before continuing under the canal, notice the pier in the middle of the river. This is now a roost for cormorants.
Dawsholm Gas Works
Passing under the dramatic aqueduct carrying the canal, there are the remnants of yet another railway bridge that crossed the Kelvin. Soon after, is the modern road bridge at the foot of Cowal Street where modern houses have been built. This was the site of Dawsholm gas works, an enormous complex, bounded by the canal, the Kelvin and railway lines. Gas made from coal in the 19th and 20th century was first used to light both streets and houses. Gradually it took over from coal to be the main means of cooking and heating in the home. Electricity became the main form of lighting. Gas works existed in all towns and cities during that period. The pungent and stifling smell from the works will be remembered by people of older generations. In the 1970s gasworks became redundant as North Sea and other natural gas replaced coal gas. Two gas holders or gasometers still exist by Temple Rd. These were designed to store gas and would go up and down depending on how much was being held before distribution.
This post has only mentioned a few of the works that have come and gone along the Kelvin. Long before there was any industry, the river’s water was used to drive the mills that ground the corn grown on nearby farms. It was the same force of water which could be used to drive machinery before the days of steam power and also to provide the large quantities of water used in the cotton and other industries. But that has changed.
There is no industry left along the river. Instead, it has reverted to what it must have been like hundreds of years ago. The polluted waters of the old industries have gone. The clean waters now have fish in them again. Birds once more populate the banks. You can often see a heron just standing waiting for its next meal from the water. Cormorants too know they will get a meal. Other small birds live on the banks. Occasionally a kingfisher can be seen darting along. People can again just enjoy the river for what it is. But the remaining signs of industry can tell a story of Maryhill’s recent history.
(As I write this in January 2021, the banks of the Kelvin are not so peaceful. Huge works are being undertaken to improve the old Victorian sewage system. But once this is finished the river will be even cleaner.)
All pictures have been taken from Urquhart, G. R., ‘‘Along Great Western Road: An Illustrated History of Glasgow’s West End’’, Stenlake Publishing, 2000.