Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GLASGOW
two 6-ton cranes ; on the Broomielaw one 6 tons and one
7 tons ; on Finnieston Quay one of 30 and one of 60
tons ; at the E end of Stobcross Quay one of 75 tons ;
and on the North Quay in Queen's Dock four coaling
cranes of 20 tons, which are worked by the same hori-
zontal engines which work the swing gate. On Clyde
Place Quay is one of 10 tons ; on Windmillcroft Quay
one of 40 tons ; on Terminus Quay four coaling cranes,
three of 20 tons and one of 25 ; on Plantation Quay
there are two cranes, one of 25 tons and one of 60 tons.
The average revenue from the cranes is about £6000 per
annum. The heavy cranes on Stobcross and Plantation
Quays are similar in construction, and rest on a founda-
tion such as no other cranes in the world have, viz., a
cluster of concrete cylinders sunk into and resting on a
quicksand. These cylinders reach to more than 50 feet
below the level of the quay. The cylinders are finished
at 3 feet below water-level, and above that the seat of
the crane rises to a height of 38 feet, reaching a height
of 16 feet above the level of the quay. The seat up to
9 feet above the quay level is 44 by 38 feet ; at the top
it is 32 feet square. The weight in the masonry above
the seat is estimated at 3800 tons, and of the crane
without a load at 150 tons. The cranes are of wrought
iron, and are light and elegant in their construction.
They lift a load of 60 tons at the rate of 3 feet 10 inches
per minute, and turn it round at the rate of 129 feet
6 inches per minute, and by a hand- winch the load can
be adjusted to a hairbreadth, a degree of accuracy which
is of the utmost convenience to engineers in adjusting
machinery in new steamers. The river is now crossed
within the limits of the harbour by five ferries at York
Street, Clyde Street, Hyde Park, Stobcross, and Kelvin-
haugh. These have screw steam ferry boats, carrying
from 46 to 108 passengers. Steam was first used in
1865, but now it would be impossible to overtake the
trafEc without it. At Govan, below the mouth of the
Kelvin, are two ferries also worked by steam, and fur-
nished with boats, in which carriages, carts, live stock,
etc. , may cross the river. Of the two steamers in use
at Govan, one carries 3 horses and carts and 50 pas-
sengers, or 200 passengers alone ; while the other carries
8 horses and carts and 140 passengers, or 500 passengers
alone. In 1880 the number of carriages, carts, cabs,
and barrows that crossed at Govan Ferry was 49,309 ;
while the passengers at all the ferries, Govan included,
was 8,270,632. Three of the ferry steamers are also
floating fire-engines, and as such have done excellent
service. The boats at Clyde Street, Stobcross, and
Govan ply both day and night ; the others work from
five A.M. to eleven P.M. There are also a ferry at Oat-
lands, near the S end of Glasgow Green, outside the
harbour limits, and a small ferry across the mouth of
the Kelvin, both carried on by row-boat. The slaughter-
house for foreign animals is at Pointhouse, at the W
end of Yorkhill Wharf ; while the landing wharf and
quarantine station for them is at the W end of
Plantation Quay, on the S side of the river. There
is also a harbour on the Forth and Clyde Canal at
Port Dundas ; but it is noticed in the article on that
canal.
In 1800 the harbour was confined to part of the
Broomielaw ; in 1840 it extended from the upper har-
bour at the old bridge to Lancefield Street, and on the
S side along Clyde Place Quay. In 1880 it extended
along the river on both sides from Victoria Bridge to
the mouth of the Kelvin, a distance of over two miles
on each side, exclusive of Kingston and Queen's Docks,
and yet, notwithstanding this, the accommodation is
still insufficient for the trade, for it has been resolved
in November of the present year (1882), by the trustees
of the Clyde Navigation, that permission is to be asked
in the next session of parliarpent to construct on the
lands of Cessnock at Plantation Quay tidal basins, which
are to cover about 80 acres. These are to comprise, on
the N side of Renfrew Road, two tidal docks with a
connecting basin crossed by swing or draw bridges, and
two graving docks on the E side of Cessnock Road.
They are to have lines of tramway for the accommoda-
126
GLASGOW
tion of their traffic, and the total cost will probably be
over a million and a half.
Tlie Clyde Trust. — All the improvements on the har-
bour and river have been carried out under the care of
the Trustees of the Clyde Navigation, whose jurisdiction
extends from the upper harbour for more than 18 miles
down the river to a line drawn from Newark Castle to
Cardross, beyond this the cares of deepening the chan-
nel rests on the Lighthouse Trust. Under an act of
parliament, passed in 1759, power was given to the
magistrates and town council of Glasgow 'to cleanse,
scour, straighten, and improve ' the river Clyde from
Dumbuck Ford to the Bridge of Glasgow, and further
empowering them to charge certain duties for defray-
ing the expenses, these to be levied as soon as the
locks recommended by Smeaton were finished. For-
tunately for Glasgow no locks were ever built, and in
1770 the town cormcil procured another act, which
declared that the magistrates and council were ' now
advised that by contracting the channel of the said
river Clyde, and building and erecting jetties, banks,
walls, works, and fences in and upon the same river,
and dredging the same in proper places between the
lower end of Dumbuck Ford and the Bridge of Glasgow,
the said river Clyde may be further deepened and the
navigation thereof more effectually improved than by
any lock or dam,' and then went on to provide that the
former duties, which were not to be payable till the
locks were erected, should now be payable as soon as the
Clyde should be 'navigable from the lower end oi Bum-
luck Ford to the Bridge of Glasgow aforesaid, so as
there shall be at least 7 feet water at neap tides in
every part of the said river within the bounds aforesaid.'
By a third act, obtained in 1809, the depth was fixed at
9 feet, and the magistrates and council were appointed
Trustees of the Clyde Navigation. In 1825 power was
given by a fourth act to deepen the river to 13 feet, and
the constitution of the Trust was widened by the addi-
tion as Trustees of 'five other persons interested in
the trade and navigation of the river and firth of Clyde,'
which persons were to be appointed by the magistrates
and council. In 1840 a further act was obtained pro-
viding for the deepening of the river to 17 feet at neaps,
and between 1846 and 1882 various acts were obtained
arranging for the construction of docks, the borrowing
of money, and the provision of harbour tramways, and
for the construction of gi'aving docks. One of these,
obtained in 1858, and known as the Consolidation Act,
materially afi'ected the constitution of the Trust, which,
however, remains as it has always been, one of the most
public-spirited and business-like bodies in Scotland.
By this act the number of Trustees was fixed at twenty-
five, consisting of the Lord Provost and nine members
of the town council, two members chosen by the Cham-
ber of Commerce, two of the matriculated members of
the Merchants' House, two chosen by the members of
the Trades' House of Glasgow, and nine by the ship-
owners and ratepayers, the qualification of the latter
members of the Trust being ownership to the extent of
at least 250 tons, or payment of rates to at least the
extent of £25 per annum ; and the qualification of those
who elect them, ownership to the extent of at least 100
tons or payment of £10 of rates or upwards.
The details of the revenue and expenditure of the
Clyde Trust will be found in the article Clyde.
Bridges. — Within the limits of the city the river is
crossed by nine bridges. The one farthest down the
river, immediately below Glasgow Bridge, is a large and
powerful iron lattice girder bridge, by which the Cale-
donian railway traffic is carried to the Central station.
It was finished in 1879. Proceeding up the river the
next bridge is Glasgow Bridge, one of the busiest places
in Glasgow, as continuing the line of Jamaica Street to
Bridge Street and Eglinton Street. It forms the principal
communication with the S side. It used formerly to be
called the Broomielaw Bridge ; the original structure,
which was founded in 1768, was 500 feet long and 30
wide within the parapets. It had seven arches. About
1830 it was, however, found inadequate for the traffic,