Post by Waverley on Aug 5, 2007 18:13:53 GMT 1
The Links of Clyde (On the South Bank) (July 1933)
Cambuslang was my starting point for the exploration of the Links of Clyde by the south bank, and, as I found on the north bank, the walk between this and Boglesford is as pleasant as one could wish. Maps still show the ford crossing the river, but it is now disused.
Beyond the Boglesford railway bridge-which is badly cracked at the northern end, and under repair-I found it a particularly interesting walk alongside the Clydebridge Steelworks, with its hills of pig-iron and mountains of scrap awaiting the smelting-furnace. Though the river here runs between two great ironworks, yet I saw water hens paddling about near the grassy banks; and farther round I came on a sight which almost gave me the thrill I used to experience when, as a boy, I read about herds of wild mustangs galloping over the American prairies.
In a wide, flat valley there were more than 40 horses grazing. True, they were not galloping, and the "prairie" was almost ringed round by slag-heaps; but it was easy to imagine that these were the distant Rockies. I learned that these horses were on holiday from the city, and was glad to know that the lives of the patient beasts were not all drudgery.
From this point the view was very pleasing. Across the river were the nunnery at Dalbeth, and the Reformatory, with the woods of West-thorn behind, and the end of Harvie's Dyke at the river bank in the foreground. Soon I found myself ascending on to an extensive plateau composed of the refuse of years from the Clyde Paperworks, upon the huge, cement-covered chimney of which a gang of workmen on a scaffolding were making a merry clatter with their tools.
The path skirts the wall of this large mill, and about 40 paces from the western end of it there is a metal plate fixed on the wall, showing the flood water-level on February 9, 1903. This, I judged, must have been at least 20 feet above the normal level of the river, and as the flood we had early in January this year overtopped this mark by nearly three feet it must have been an exceptionally heavy spate, but its height does not appear to have been recorded.
Indeed, just round the next bend further evidences of the severity of this spate were shown by the stumps of the footbridge which used to cross the river at the farm there. The people in this farm were standing by at the time the river was at its highest, ready to flee if it overtopped the wall in front. Just at the point of coming over, however, it began to subside and the situation was saved. Though the footbridge is still shown on maps, it had been ruinous and unsafe for a long time, but the heavy spates of the last two years have carried away all that remained of it, except the few piles still sticking up in the water.
I was now on the biggest loop of the river, and found it a very pleasant walk, with fields of corn, cabbages, and potatoes, filling up most of the land enclosed by the river; so that when I came round to the other side and still saw fields of corn, cabbages, and potatoes beside me, although I was now walking in exactly the opposite direction, I was impressed by the extent of this cultivated area, until I realised I was merely on the other side of the same fie1ds.
Part of this ground is being filled up by refuse from Rutherglen, and the smart dust-carts of that town passed and re-passed me as I approached Dalmarnock bridge. The meritorious maxims emblazoned upon their sides struck me as something new in the decorating of dust-carts, and an idea quite worthy of imitation by Rutherglen's big neighbour, Glasgow.
I finished my journey by crossing Dalmarnock Bridge to the western end, and going up the bank of the river a short distance. I had in my hand the sketch of the old wooden bridge. By means of the tower of the church at Rutherglen shown in it, I soon found the exact viewpoint from which the sketch must have been made by Sir George Reid. Some of the chimneys have disappeared, and others have been erected; but the chief change is, of course, the substitution of the new bridge for the old one. The present bridge was built at a cost of £30,500, this sum being sbared by the County of Lanark, and the City, in equal proportions. It was opened for traffic in May, 1891.
Cambuslang was my starting point for the exploration of the Links of Clyde by the south bank, and, as I found on the north bank, the walk between this and Boglesford is as pleasant as one could wish. Maps still show the ford crossing the river, but it is now disused.
Beyond the Boglesford railway bridge-which is badly cracked at the northern end, and under repair-I found it a particularly interesting walk alongside the Clydebridge Steelworks, with its hills of pig-iron and mountains of scrap awaiting the smelting-furnace. Though the river here runs between two great ironworks, yet I saw water hens paddling about near the grassy banks; and farther round I came on a sight which almost gave me the thrill I used to experience when, as a boy, I read about herds of wild mustangs galloping over the American prairies.
In a wide, flat valley there were more than 40 horses grazing. True, they were not galloping, and the "prairie" was almost ringed round by slag-heaps; but it was easy to imagine that these were the distant Rockies. I learned that these horses were on holiday from the city, and was glad to know that the lives of the patient beasts were not all drudgery.
From this point the view was very pleasing. Across the river were the nunnery at Dalbeth, and the Reformatory, with the woods of West-thorn behind, and the end of Harvie's Dyke at the river bank in the foreground. Soon I found myself ascending on to an extensive plateau composed of the refuse of years from the Clyde Paperworks, upon the huge, cement-covered chimney of which a gang of workmen on a scaffolding were making a merry clatter with their tools.
The path skirts the wall of this large mill, and about 40 paces from the western end of it there is a metal plate fixed on the wall, showing the flood water-level on February 9, 1903. This, I judged, must have been at least 20 feet above the normal level of the river, and as the flood we had early in January this year overtopped this mark by nearly three feet it must have been an exceptionally heavy spate, but its height does not appear to have been recorded.
Indeed, just round the next bend further evidences of the severity of this spate were shown by the stumps of the footbridge which used to cross the river at the farm there. The people in this farm were standing by at the time the river was at its highest, ready to flee if it overtopped the wall in front. Just at the point of coming over, however, it began to subside and the situation was saved. Though the footbridge is still shown on maps, it had been ruinous and unsafe for a long time, but the heavy spates of the last two years have carried away all that remained of it, except the few piles still sticking up in the water.
I was now on the biggest loop of the river, and found it a very pleasant walk, with fields of corn, cabbages, and potatoes, filling up most of the land enclosed by the river; so that when I came round to the other side and still saw fields of corn, cabbages, and potatoes beside me, although I was now walking in exactly the opposite direction, I was impressed by the extent of this cultivated area, until I realised I was merely on the other side of the same fie1ds.
Part of this ground is being filled up by refuse from Rutherglen, and the smart dust-carts of that town passed and re-passed me as I approached Dalmarnock bridge. The meritorious maxims emblazoned upon their sides struck me as something new in the decorating of dust-carts, and an idea quite worthy of imitation by Rutherglen's big neighbour, Glasgow.
I finished my journey by crossing Dalmarnock Bridge to the western end, and going up the bank of the river a short distance. I had in my hand the sketch of the old wooden bridge. By means of the tower of the church at Rutherglen shown in it, I soon found the exact viewpoint from which the sketch must have been made by Sir George Reid. Some of the chimneys have disappeared, and others have been erected; but the chief change is, of course, the substitution of the new bridge for the old one. The present bridge was built at a cost of £30,500, this sum being sbared by the County of Lanark, and the City, in equal proportions. It was opened for traffic in May, 1891.