SCOTLAND 5 - Along the River Clyde.

 

The River Clyde which is the third longest river in Scotland rises in the Lowther Hills in South Lanarkshire.

 

 NEW LANARK is a village on the river close to the town of Lanark and the Clyde Falls where in 1786 the river was harnessed to provide power for cotton mills built by David Dale in collaboration with Richard Arkwright and his recently developed water-powered spinning machinery. In partnership with his son in law, Robert Owen, the enterprise became hugely successful and under Owen's supervision it became the epitome of utopian socialism and an early example of a planned settlement surrounding the mills. In Owen's time some 2500 people lived and worked at New Lanark and Owen resolved to improve working conditions whilst providing vastly improved tenement blocks in a pleasant environment. He also paid particular attention to the needs of the 500 or so children, many of them being employed in the mills, by opening the first infants school in Britain in 1817.  Owen also introduced a savings scheme for his workers as well as providing a retail shop where prices were kept to a minimum.

The mills closed in 1968 and the whole village is now in the care of the New Lanark Conservation Trust where most of the buildings have been restored to become a major tourist attraction with some 400,000 visitors each year.

It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

Some of the tenement blocks have been restored and modernised providing private accommodation for about 200 people under strict conditions.

 

 

 



The mills

The mill race

The Clyde

Residential accommodation

The church

Tenement block

The shop

The school




The city of GLASGOW is Scotland's largest city and with an urban population of 1,750,000 is the UK's third largest city. Glasgow is synonymous with the River Clyde but the mighty docks and shipbuilding yards have now given way to
the leisure industry.

 





The Victorian City Hall, with its 240ft tower, dominates George Square in the centre of the city. The interior is on a rich and lavish scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tolbooth Steeple at Glasgow Cross, a survivor of the 17th century Tolbooth,

has the 'crown' on top of the 113ft steeple being similar to the ones on St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and King's College Chapel in Aberdeen.

 

 

Across the road is the old lock-up

 

 

The tiny Cathedral dates back to the late 12th century and contains the tomb of St Mungo, Glasgow's patron saint who was buried on the site in 603.

Close to the Cathedral, The Necropolis is one of Britain's great Victorian cemeteries with its Doric temple and neo-Gothic tower tombs, many of which were designed by two of Glasgow's greatest architects, 'Greek' Thomson and Charles Rennie Macintosh. Towering above them all, John Knox stands atop a Doric column.

Glasgow is synonymous with the River Clyde but the mighty docks and shipbuilding yards have now given way to the leisure industry.

The new Exhibition and Conference Centre.

 

 

The T.S Waverley, the world's last ocean-going paddle steamer, is berthed at Lancefield Quay. The ship still takes tourists 'doon the watter' to the likes of Gourock, Largs and Dunoon and indeed to the isles of Bute and Arran.
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On the opposite bank the derelict quay-side has been put to good use with the erection of the new Riverside Transport Museum.

Glasgow Green became a public park in 1662, having been common land since the middle ages and those receiving the Freedom of the City are still entitled to graze a flock of sheep and to hang out their washing there.

At the north-east of the Green a 19th century building of red sandstone in the renaissance style is known as The People's Palace. This museum is devoted entirely to  Glasgow.
Amongst the interesting exhibits is a large snuff box on the lid of which is depicted women tramping their washing on the Green. Billy Connelly's 'Banana Wellies' are there and there is also a large tin glazed earthenware punch bowl capable of holding five gallons,symbolic of the time when excessive drinking was both a virtue and an accomplishment. Inside is painted the Glasgow coat of arms and the bowl was formerly used at The Saracen's Head, once a leading coaching inn in Glasgow.

At the rear, an integral part of the building is a large glass conservatory known as the Winter Gardens, a 'treasure house of shrubs and flowers'.

Nearby, Queen Victoria sits atop the Doulton Fountain, a terracotta extravaganza from the 1888 Empire Exhibition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1889, a man called Templeton was looking to build a Carpet Factory on Glasgow Green. Whilst discussing the matter with his architect, William Leiper, Templeton  asked him what his favourite building was and the architect replied, ‘ The Doges palace in Venice.’ There upon Leiper was instructed to build the carpet factory in similar style. The building of orange and yellow glazed bricks and blue mosaic with battlements, arches and pointed and circular windows is still in use as the Templeton Business Centre

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, situated in Kelvingrove Park in the West End of Glasgow, opened in 1902 and has one of the richest collections in Britain.

The museum's most renowned painting is Salvador Dali's 'Christ upon the Cross'.

 Christ Upon the Cross



A curious exhibit in the museum is that of the skeleton of a horse.

The Baron of Buchlyvie was a stallion which sired many Clydesdale horses and was highly prized in America.

He was born at Buchlyvie in Stirlingshire in 1900 and was sold to William Dunlop and James Kilpatrick but because of some confusion regarding the ownership a lawsuit was heard in the House of Lords. The result was that in 1911 the men were forced to sell the horse at auction. Dunlop paid £9,000, a record for any horse at that time, and became sold owner. Sadly in 1914 an irate mare kicked The Baron and broke his leg. He had to be destroyed and Dunlop buried him in his garden. The skeleton of the horse was later recovered and put on display at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow. The broken leg is clearly seen.

Glasgow University was founded in 1451. The present Gothic structure by Sir George Gilbert Scott, is to the north of Kelvingrove Park and dates to the late 19th century