A partnership to care for the Clyde: its environment, its people and its visitors 

Winter 2013/14 Issue 16

This Issue: Historical Aspects of the Clyde

• Wreck of the Iona I • The Fife Regatta • SCH@RP reveal archaeological clues to the past • Denny Tank • The changing shape of commerce on the Clyde of Clyde Forum Forum Focus  Contents News  Welcome to the winter 2013/14 edition of Clyde Breakers! Forum Projects The Clyde Forum is responsible for implementing actions from the Firth of Clyde Marine Spatial Plan which was This edition focuses on historical published in 2010. We are also keen to provide research for a sound evidence base and reference documents for any aspects of the Firth of Clyde, looking at future regional marine plan and to support coastal planning within Local Authorities. As such various projects have Forum Focus been agreed by the Core Group and supported by funding partners. how people are involved in protecting, restoring, remembering and celebrating • 3 Marine Biosecurity Planning our heritage and historical relationship UPDATE: Marine biosecurity planning - best practice guide with the Clyde. As part of our ongoing commitment departments, developers, site managers • 3 Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges to tackling the issue of marine and other small scale interests. In terms of Forum work over the last Invasive Non-Native Species, So far the team has completed a 9 months, as for everyone with an the Firth of Clyde Forum has thorough survey of available data and commissioned SAMS Research interest in marine affairs, the Forum has reports on the subject and have compiled Services Ltd (SRSL) and Robin a literature review which will feed directly been involved in responding to Scottish Payne to create a best practice into the final guide. guide to writing marine biosecurity The guide will include relevant case Government consultations. We have plans in response to the publication studies, separate boxes containing of the revised Wildlife and Natural Historical Issues Focus responded to ‘Planning ’s Seas’ explanations of technical issues and a Environment (Scotland) Act. and the ‘National Marine Plan’ – please glossary to help the non-expert user The finished product will give practical work through the guidance step by step. see our website for details. advice about developing site based The work is funded by The Firth of Clyde biosecurity plans and provide a step Forum, Scottish Natural Heritage and • 4 The Scottish Maritime Museums – Various projects have also moved along by step guide which will demystify the Natural Resources Wales and the steering The Denny Tank non-native species terminology and walk apace and an update on these is provided group includes the project funders as people through the process of doing risk well as the , SEPA, on the opposite page. Leathery sea squirt, a non-native species assessment, helping to set priorities for Natural England, Cefas, Defra and Marine • 6 The Wreck of the Blockade Runner already present in the Firth of Clyde action. The aim is to create a user friendly, Welcome back to Fiona Mills who has Scotland. Iona I © Chris Woods/MCS non-specialist guide for use by planning returned from maternity leave and thanks • 8 SCH@RP – Archaeological clues to go to Sarah for covering by working full- the Clyde’s busy past time over the past year. Sarah and Fiona are once again sharing the project work Sea level rise and • 10 The Fife Regatta 2013 of the Forum. storm surges Many people were shocked by the amount of havoc caused along the • 12 Peel Ports Clydeport – commerce on coast when high tide coincided with Best wishes, the Clyde storm surges around the UK this Isabel winter. Firth of Clyde Forum Chair Future climate change is anticipated to • 14 Source to Sea cause sea level rise which could make this Fiona Mills and Sarah Brown type of event even more problematic. This Project Managers study will provide an evidence base of the known extent and associated risks of sea level rise and storm surges in the Firth of Clyde for habitats and communities. • 16 Seascape Assessment It will be used to inform development planning and strategies along the coastal strip of the Clyde. As well as a written Stormy seas © Lorne Gill/SNH report there will be maps to show where vulnerable areas are situated around the sea level in order to protect natural and SEASCAPE/LANDSCAPE coastline. The case study section of the structural assets. ASSESSMENT report will also analyse a section of the This project is funded by Scottish Natural This project has already been completed inner Clyde from Heritage, Peelports-Clydeport, Glasgow in 2013 and is available on the website at to Bridge on both the north & the Clyde Valley Strategic Development http://www.clydeforum.com/index.php/ Front cover photograph: Schooner Wreck at Newshot Creek, © Steve Liscoe and south side of the river. It will look Planning Authority, Lomond & The projects/seascape-landscape-assessment. at potential defence and managed Trossachs National Park and the Firth of See back page for full article. Printed on recycled paper realignment options to adapt to a rising Clyde Forum. Historical Issues Focus  

railway companies and the independence The Scottish of India and Burma meant the loss Maritime Museums of several loyal customers. Shipping companies were asking for larger cargo – The Denny Tank vessels and William Denny & Brothers could not compete. In the late 1950s the yard was modernised, but the company The Denny Ship Model Experiment went into voluntary liquidation before the Tank was the world’s first costs of this could be recovered. commercial example of a test tank and was the starting point for The liquidation and closure happened many of William Denny & Brothers because the company was receiving great innovations. The idea of a fewer and fewer orders. In fact its last tank was first developed by William ship was built ‘on spec’, which meant that Froude who built a test tank for there was no intended buyer. This ship the Admiralty in Torquay in 1871. was Melbrook and after closure it was William Denny was impressed completed by Alexander Stephen & Sons. with this scientific technique and The next 30 years saw dramatic persuaded the firm’s partners to changes on the Clyde as almost all the construct a tank in which they could shipbuilding firms closed. The impact conduct their own experiments. of William Denny & Brothers’ closure The Tank was completed in 1883 and on Dumbarton was dramatic and local was designed to test scale models to newspapers reported that the town determine the most efficient hull shape looked “blitzed” once the shipyard and power requirement for any particular was cleared. Commerce and leisure Children at claybeds preparing the mould for wax. vessel. These small-scale tests were has stepped in to fill the gap, and a All images courtesy of Scottish Maritime Museum. used to predict the behaviour of full- supermarket and football pitch now sized hulls. Throughout its working life stand on the land once occupied by the the Tank tested models of a variety of heavy seas. It works by using two fins of slow moving, high-pressure air ejected Leven Shipyard. The Denny Tank is the vessels and explored various propulsion which move up and down like the flaps downwards. last remaining part of this and stands methods, including propellers, paddles and of an aircraft wing to counteract the After a series of tests on models in the as a monument to a company which vane wheels. Experiments were carried effect of waves on the hull. The fins are Experiment Tank, a prototype made from made a huge contribution to shipbuilding out on models of the Denny-Brown controlled by a gyroscope and are housed plywood and sheet metal was built at technology. stabilisers and the hovercraft to gauge within the hull when not in use. Dumbarton. This vessel, known as D, Today, with the support of the Scottish their feasibility. The first ship to be fitted with Denny- managed a speed of over 18 knots during Government and West Today the Denny Ship Model experiment Brown stabilisers was the passenger trials on Gareloch on June 22nd 1961. Council the Scottish Maritime Museum Tank, a grade A listed building, is all that ferry Isle of Sark in 1938, and they were The company launched a full-sized continues to maintain and develop The is left of William Denny & Brothers but it soon fitted to naval and merchant ships passenger carrying version, D2-002, and Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank to is now a superb and unique 4 star visitor world-wide. In 1955 stabilisers were in 1963 this sidewall ‘hoverbus’ made the ensure that future generations will be attraction. Retaining all of the original fitted to Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, but 820 mile journey from Dumbarton to the aware of the major role that William features including the tank and carriage, not to Queen Mary because the owners where it was demonstrated. Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton and the the clay beds and Tracers office, as well thought she was too old. The result was This was not a great success as floating Clyde played in the history of shipbuilding as a host of displays that have been that people were reluctant to travel on debris damaged the vessel’s skirts and worldwide. sympathetically incorporated allowing Queen Mary because of her instability, so propellers, although it did show some visitors to enjoy an immersive experience she too was fitted with stabilisers in 1958. promise. Article courtesy of David Mann, Scottish into one of Scotland’s most innovative Stability was very important at this time This was one of the firm’s last major Maritime Museums shipyards. as sea travel was facing competition from projects before it closed its doors in One of the most revolutionary the new and emerging air travel industry, 1963. The closure of William Denny & innovations in the shipbuilding world and passenger shipping companies needed Brothers meant the end of a way of life was pioneered by William Denny & their vessels to be as comfortable as for many. Even in 1945 the company Brothers. The idea of ship stabilisers possible. knew that the times ahead were going to was first patented in 1898. However, it In the 1960s William Denny & Brothers be tough, and remarked in its Centenary was Denny’s which made a real success was at the forefront of the push to Booklet that “it is now clear that the of the product when Sir Maurice Denny develop another innovative idea; price of survival will be wisdom and collaborated with William Wallace from the hovercraft. It was one of four imagination, and the utmost effectiveness Edinburgh-based Brown Brothers to firms collaborating with Hovercraft of brain and hand” and although Denny’s develop the Denny-Brown stabiliser in Development Ltd. on the design of this remained innovators until the end, this the 1930s. exciting new form of sea travel. The was not enough. The stabiliser was designed to reduce hovercraft was designed to travel over a After World War II the company the roll of ships when travelling through smooth surface supported by a cushion struggled as the nationalisation of the Hull being tested by Joe Mulvenna, member of museum staff. Cutty Sark model on display in Tracers Office. Historical Issues Focus  

place on the Highland route has been as part of the harbour authority’s engineering that propelled the Clyde filled by the saloon steamer Fairy.’ monitoring surveys of the Clyde channel. to world-wide steamship building pre- Hours after finishing her speed trials At the time, these survey images, showing eminence in the mid-19th century. for her new owner and Confederate the vessel lying partly intact on the It appears that important features of sympathiser - David McNutt of St Enoch seabed, helped the divers to orientate the Iona I are relatively well preserved, Square Glasgow - she set out on her themselves in low visibility. Graham Scott, but that, in common with metal wrecks outward passage. Off Fort Matilda, near the team’s project leader said: worldwide, much of the metal structure , she was in collision with the ‘The central 25 metres of the wreck is is deteriorating. The survey report also Chanticleer, another new steamer also on the best preserved part. Here the vessel brings together historical accounts of her speed test. The captain of the Iona survives up to upper deck height, with the loss of the ship and the memories of refused the services of a salvage tug, while boilers, crankshafts, partial remains of local divers and others who have taken both captains haggled over who was to one of the paddlewheels and the engines an interest in the wreck since she was blame – the other captain was reportedly surviving in situ. Elsewhere the vessel is discovered. drunk. While the squabble ensued, the less well preserved and does not survive This is valuable work in itself, but the ship slowly settled and sank, together to deck height or is partially buried in the results of the survey will also help us with a great load of coal piled on her sand. Surrounding the structure, there are to decide whether the wreck may be of decks for the first leg of her outward piles of coal.’ national importance and thereby merit passage to Madeira. statutory protection as an Historic Philip Robertson, Historic Scotland’s Marine Protected Area under the Marine In 2009, Historic Scotland commissioned marine archaeology expert, explained Multibeam bathymetry of the Iona I in 2008. Clydeport data reprocessed by Wessex Archaeology © Wessex Archaeology. (Scotland) Act 2010. Before taking a survey of the wreck by Wessex what he has learned from the survey: Archaeology, the results of which have forward any proposal for statutory “The wrecks of many hundreds of ships been recently published online (see protection of Iona I, we would consult from the 19th and 20th centuries lie The Wreck of the Blockade Runner Iona I, Firth of Clyde. http://orapweb.rcahms.gov.uk/wp/00/ with all parties who might be affected by on the seabed around Scotland’s coasts, the proposal.’ WP000733.pdf). These investigations but examples such as Iona I provide a Lying almost 30 metres underwater, benefited significantly from high- particularly significant reminder of the Article courtesy of Philip Robertson, Historic at the edge of the busy shipping resolution ‘multibeam’ sonar surveys type of advanced ship design and lane off Gourock, is the wreck of the carried out previously by Clydeport, Clyde-built paddle steamer, Iona I – whose remarkable story has just been published online by Historic Scotland. Originally Iona I was an early and famous example of the Clyde passenger steamers that, along with the railways, first facilitated mass leisure activities in the 19th century. But her historical significance is greatly enhanced by her conversion to serve as a Confederate blockade runner during the American Civil War. Of the 300 or so vessels known to have been clandestinely acquired by the Southern agents, she is one of very few that lie in British waters. Most were sunk or captured on the other side of the Atlantic. One other blockade- running paddle steamer (ironically her replacement - Iona II) lies off Lundy Whiteforeland Buoy in the Firth of Clyde near the position of Iona I. © Wessex Archaeology. Island, North Devon, and is protected by designation under the Protection of for vessels to run ‘armaments in - cotton Co.’s fleet of West Highland steamers, Wrecks Act 1973. out’ to Charleston and Wilmington from which has been generally acknowledged Launched in 1855 by James & George Bermuda and the Bahamas. ‘Queen of the Clyde’, made her last trip Thomson of , Iona I achieved Despite Britain’s declared neutrality in on her route from Glasgow to Ardrishaig considerable fame as a fast and well- this war, the purchase of Iona I for this on Saturday last, having been purchased. appointed passenger steamer operating new role was something of an ‘open It is said that Mr. Mason, the Southern in the Firth of Clyde from Glasgow secret’. As the Advertiser Commissioner who visited Glasgow for David Hutcheson & Company. Her noted in October 1862 ‘The Iona recently, had something to do with the turn of speed, together with a shallow Steamer’: purchase. As it is she will likely leave the draught, made her an obvious target for ‘We understand that the fine steamer Clyde, after receiving some strengthening Confederate agents scouring the Clyde Iona, one of Messrs D. Hutcheson & outfit, in a short time hence… The Iona’s Builders model of the Iona I. © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Collection Historical Issues Focus  

The Newshot Creek group of punts includes one of the steel across the river on the north bank this is mirrored by a slipway dredgers that worked with them. Each punt could carry about and a line of wooden posts. Maybe you remember queuing to 10 tons, and originally around 350 worked the Clyde from 1870 catch the ferry here? onwards. Although numbers decreased with new developments, These are just a taste of the great variety of historical and some were still in use in the early 1960’s. These two groups archaeological sites recorded along the Clyde that open of remains are the only known surviving examples of the fleet windows into the distant past and the past of living memory. which once toiled to dredge the river channel, keeping it clear Many of these sites are in poor condition, and there may be for the ships which plied the Clyde linking it to the world beyond more to discover. If you would like to get involved as a citizen the firth. archaeologist of the coast to help visit and record the condition Smaller scale connections within the Firth of Clyde are evidenced of heritage sites around the Firth of Clyde, we’d love to hear by the remains of the , connecting communities from you. You can explore what’s already been recorded in your directly across the water. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey map local area on the Sites at Risk Map on our website at www. shows the line of the ferry route between two piers jutting out scharp.co.uk. If you’d like to arrange a training day in your area, into the river, and the ferry infrastructure can still be seen on the or have a good idea for a project on a threatened coastal site, ground on both banks. On the south side, we can see the stone email us at [email protected]. jetty, sea wall and the mole enclosing the waters of the harbour; Article supplied by Elinor Graham, SCH@RP

Volunteers survey the remains of Erskine Crannog during a SCHARP training day. © SCAPE Archaeological clues to the Clyde’s busy past

Much of the heritage that lines the banks of the Clyde (http://scharp.co.uk/sites-at-risk/8335/) for more information is about connections; from the small ferry terminals at about it. either side of the river at Erskine, to the harbours and A pile of stones and timber posts at the water’s edge on the shipyards which connected Glasgow to the world. south side of the bridge has also been recorded as a crannog, Standing beneath the soaring, elegant lines of the with a stone causeway accessing it from the bank. But closer in September with a group of new volunteers on a Scotland’s investigation reveals that this is actually evidence of the Clyde’s Coastal Heritage at Risk (SCHARP) training day, we were importance in a much later period. The pile of stones is all that surrounded by evidence of the role the Firth of Clyde played in remains of the base of a navigation beacon. Its twin sits on the Remains of a schooner at Newshot Creek. © Steve Liscoe linking communities across the water and connecting the area to north side of the bridge, in much better condition, with its the outside world throughout its history. beacon intact. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey (1863) map The 19th century navigation beacon on St Patrick’s Stone beneath the shows both beacons with their causeways, demarcating the soaring lines of the Erskine Bridge. © SCAPE Erskine Crannog, just one of a number of these remarkable edge of the navigable channel for the shipping that plied the sites located in the Clyde estuary, may form some of the earliest river. evidence of the importance of the river for trade. It lies at the edge of the low water, revealed for only a short time between From where we’re standing, we’ve got a clear view across the tides. We’d timed our visit to coincide with the low tide which river to the northwest, where Bowling Harbour forms the allowed us to see the remains of the site. The spread of stone is west end of the . Completed in 1790, the punctuated by large structural timbers, some of which formed canal linked the two on the east and west coasts, allowing the vertical supports on which the wooden platform and coal, timber, clay and sand to be transported easily by water buildings were constructed. Many of the timbers have tool marks across the country without the need for a hazardous journey The Scotland’s Coastal Heritage at Risk Project (SCHARP) and signs of working, evidence of prehistoric tools and building around the north coast. supports a network of volunteer citizen archaeologists in Scotland to monitor record and submit information about techniques. Radiocarbon dating of samples taken from this site Just a short distance upriver, around the muddy their local coastal heritage. SCHARP also helps guide, during investigations in the 1980s showed that after it was built foreshore has become a ships graveyard. At the mouth of develop and fund community projects at threatened coastal around 350BC, it was maintained and then occupied for over Newshot Creek is a group of four schooners, destroyed in a heritage sites. SCHARP is aimed at everyone who lives by, 500 years, until around 200AD. It’s thought that this site, along fire caused when workmen used a red-hot bar to bore holes visits and enjoys Scotland’s long and beautiful coast. No with other marine crannogs in the Firth of Clyde, might have during the construction of a timber wharf at Kingston Dock, specialist knowledge is required and the project provides all been positioned to take advantage of trade networks around the central Glasgow, in June 1914. The four schooners (Dashwood, the training and support people need to join in. river and acted as a staging post for trade and transport up the Navigator, Volant, and Warsash) were burnt out in the fire and The 3 year project which runs until 2015 was developed by river, where goods were transferred from smaller river boats later towed here and dumped. Just upstream is another group the SCAPE Trust with funding and support from the Heritage to larger coastal vessels. If you go down to the Clyde below the of boats, and yet more lie to the west at . These Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland, The Crown Estate and the Erskine Bridge at low tide, you too can see the remains of this two areas of timbers are the remains of punts that worked University of St Andrews. two millennia year old crannog – check our Sites at Risk Map with dredgers to clear mud from the channel of the Clyde. Historical Issues Focus 10 11

Above: Latifa and Astor sailing. Opposite page: Lass sailing, stern of Kentra. Photos courtesy of Marc Turner.

The Fife Regatta June 2013

In June of this year the Clyde yachts are just as special. Ayrshire Lass land and by following the fleet. welcomed back the fourth Fife (built 1887) is one such example, a 24ft The yard at Fairlie may be long gone and Regatta, a week long celebration of gaff cutter which was sailed regularly on all that remains is a memorial to the Fife yachts of all sizes designed by the the Clyde in the Gareloch. She has been family’s accomplishments, however for legendary William Fife family from beautifully restored complete with a as long as these yachts continue to be Fairlie, Ayrshire. Three generations charcoal stove for heating water. owned and loved by passionate owners, of the family were involved in Competitors for the 2013 event came determined to retain their original designing and building yachts on from Italy, France, USA and Sweden, such features, we shall be able to share in the the beach at Fairlie, however it is the appeal to sail these fine yachts but quality and craftsmanship of the Clyde was William Fife III who created also to meet up and learn more of the yard, famous around the world. The arguably the finest yachts in the Fairlie yard’s history and its creations. distinguishing trademark of a Fife yacht is world at the beginning of the 20th Kentra, the 102 ft gaff rigged ketch was the gold dragon emblem on the yacht’s century, commissioned by famous launched and commissioned especially for bow, a brand of both an artist and boat millionaires from around the world. the event after being laid up undercover builder. Who can fail to be moved by the One of the competitors at this year’s for 7 years. She shared her 90th birthday power and artistry of their hull shapes, event was the 100ft schooner Astor, built with the American owned Astor. Both their exquisitely curved stems or their in 1923 for Sir Alexander McCormick, yachts have circumnavigated the globe. voluminous sails? a Scottish surgeon living in Sydney. She The regatta took the fleet from their For further details on this year’s event had taken line honours in three Sydney- home in Fairlie to , , and with images of all the yachts please Hobart races and by returning to the and Portavadie providing check www.fiferegatta.com. Clyde in 2013 marked her first time in spectacular scenery, Scottish weather Scottish waters in over 90 years. The Fife and legendary hospitality in all ports. dynasty not only designed large elegant Spectators were able to witness the close Article courtesy of Carolyn Elder, Largs Yacht yachts, equally their designs for smaller racing from many vantage points both on Haven Historical Issues Focus 12 13

The changing shape of commerce on the Clyde 1968), together with the on much greater dredging of the Clyde, terminal, opened by British Steel in 1979, removing millions of cubic feet of silt and taken over by Clydeport in 1993. to deepen and widen the channel. In Clydeport floated on the stock exchange addition to dredging, a massive volcanic in 1994, subsequently becoming part plug in the river near , known of Peel Holdings in January 2003. Peel, as Elderslie Rock, had to be removed, until then primarily a property group, and this was not completed until 1886, had owned the Manchester Ship Canal increasing the depth of the river to since 1987, but its Peel Ports division around 9 metres. became a major ports operator in 2005 The deepening of the channel meant when it also acquired the Mersey Docks that the Clyde finally became navigable and Harbour Company, with interests for the largest vessels of that era all the including Liverpool, Heysham, and the way up to Glasgow. Shipbuilding became Medway Ports. Peel Ports also has port established, and the Clyde gained a facilities in both Dublin and Belfast and reputation for being the best location operates its own shipping line, as well as for shipbuilding in the British Empire, and Dolomite unloading at King George V quay at the end of the last century. marine fabrication and repair facilities. grew to become the world’s pre-eminent The Peel Ports Group is thus more than shipbuilding centre. “Clydebuilt” became a network of strategically situated ports; an industry benchmark of quality, and the rather it is the logistics partner for its river’s shipyards were given contracts for major customers. prestigious ocean-going liners as well as Clydeport, now branded Peel Ports warships, including the Queen Mary and Finnieston’s quays and warehouses of the past played a large part in the trading history of Clydeport, continues to cater for a in later years the Queen Elizabeth 2, built wide range of marine commerce. The Glasgow. If any reader can confirm the date of this photo, please contact the Firth of Clyde in . Forum. All photos © Peel Ports Clydeport King George V dock, close to Glasgow’s The Clyde Port Authority was created Braehead Shopping Centre, handles a as a self-governing public trust port variety of bulk cargoes including cement, Glasgow’s situation on the Clyde collection of fees by the trusts from river by an Act of Parliament on January 1, aggregates, salt and grain; other cargoes led to the city becoming a hub of users. Over the next 200 years, until the 1966, merging the interests of the Clyde include turbines for the wind farms that trade and later shipbuilding. By formation of the Clyde Port Authority Navigation Trust, the Greenock Harbour now provide a significant proportion the seventeenth century there in 1966, the trusts continued to manage Trust and the Clyde Lighthouses Trust. of Scotland’s energy. Greenock Ocean was trade in commodities such the Clyde, and developed to become The new authority had the status of Terminal has the Clyde’s container as tobacco and sugar. However, the Clyde Navigation Trust, the Clyde a Statutory Harbour Authority, with terminal, with regular services to British, the river through Glasgow was Lighthouses Trust and the Greenock responsibility to provide harbour facilities Irish and European ports, and also originally far too shallow for Harbour Trust. and navigable channels, a Competent handles timber, pulp and paper. The Clyde ocean-going vessels, and in 1668 In 1768 John Golborne advised narrowing Harbour Authority, with the responsibility may no longer have a passenger fleet Glasgow merchants established the river and increasing the scour by to define pilotage requirements and to to take Glaswegians in their thousands a port further west at the village the construction of rubble jetties and authorise pilotage, and a Local Lighthouse “doon the watter,” but Greenock now of Newark, later renamed Port the dredging of sandbanks and . A Authority, operating lighthouses and aids welcomes 80,000 cruise passengers each Glasgow, to facilitate their particular problem was the division of to navigation across its 450 square mile year, generating considerable revenue for transatlantic trade. the river into two shallow channels near jurisdiction, extending from the Albert west of Scotland businesses and winning Acts of Parliament established the Dumbarton. After a report by James Bridge in Glasgow to a line between cruise industry awards in the process. Cumbrae Lighthouse Trust in 1756 and Watt in 1769, a jetty was constructed Corrygills Point on the and Hunterston is one of Britain’s top deep a similar trust in Glasgow in 1759, under at Longhaugh Point to block off the Gailes on the Ayrshire Coast. water terminals for bulk cargoes, and which Glasgow town councillors had the southern channel, and a few years later The Clyde Port Authority was specialises in the import of coal for use powers ‘to cleanse, scour, straighten and in 1773 the Lang Dyke was built. It still privatised in 1992, after which, following in power generation across the UK, improve’ the Clyde between Glasgow forms the south side of the navigable a management buyout, it became with facilities for despatch by rail, road Bridge and Dumbuck. The Cumbrae channel today. Clydeport, with facilities at Glasgow, and sea. Observers who bemoan the Lighthouse Trust had similar powers In the mid-19th century engineers took Greenock, and (acquired in apparent lack of activity on the Clyde in and responsibilities from Dumbarton the 21st century may be unaware of the to Cumbrae, and built the original huge quantity of cargo that, with modern lighthouses on Cumbrae, at Point technology, passes through the ports and at Point. Thus began the on the Clyde, with large vessels turned work of establishing harbours and jetties, round within a few hours, and information creating and maintaining a navigable systems enabling customers to track their channel, and providing lighthouses, freight containers throughout the journey beacons and buoys to aid navigation in from source to destination. what was, and remains, a narrow channel Article courtesy of Roger Horne, Peel Ports with a number of bends. The cost of Clydeport these services was met through the Naval vessels berthed at King George V dock. berthed at Ocean Terminal Greenock – modern day. Historical Issues Focus 14 15

Over the last year or so, a series of engagement workshops, consultations and meetings have been undertaken with a very broad spectrum of people. These ranged from academic research seminars and field visits, to archive and data assessments, and included several talks and presentations. This wide- ranging consultation process has brought out a huge range of topics, ideas and suggestions of our many different forms of connections with the Clyde. These ideas have been gathered together and have been used to define what topics people – from a wide variety of places, disciplines, and ways of life – feel are important to be included in a national programme of research. These ideas have been analysed and grouped into three main themes. Within the themes fit a huge range of topics, which can be grouped into research ‘strands’, and within each of them are ideas for specific projects.

Aerial Photograph of Dumbarton and the Firth of Clyde (Crown Copyright RCAHMS) Themes

Aerial Photograph looking over Erskine Bridge (Crown Copyright RCAHMS) These themes and strands are based Your connections future. Do you have a special place on the Theme 1 – Connecting with around three main aims of the Source to In developing our ideas for this research Clyde where you like to go? A place that the past Sea programme: project, we would be delighted to hear you’d like to know more about? A story • To further our knowledge of the about how you are connected with about a place or an activity related to the Strands: Dynamic landscapes, Source to Sea changing relationships between people the Firth of Clyde – from bridges to river? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Settlement, Sustenance, Economy and the boat-building; from fishing to ferries; Connected with the Clyde and Industry, Connect or Article courtesy of Alex Hale, RCAHMS • To engage with a broad spectrum of from harbours to holidays. Your input Disconnect and the Wider World. For more information contact: alex.hale@ Have you ever thought of a river Rock to the origins of the Faslane individuals, groups and communities will help us know better how to work Projects within this theme will rcahms.gov.uk system being like the arteries and Naval base and the accompanying peace through participatory research with people with a wide variety of be able to demonstrate both interests to discover how we have been Twitter: #ClydeConnections life ways of a country? Could our camp; from fishing fleets to harbour • To create future scenarios for human- continuity and change. connected with the Clyde in the past, our firths and rivers provide vital life- constructions and dredging the Clyde river connections, based on past Pinterest board ‘Connected with the relationship with the river in the present, support to the whole country? If to enable bigger ships to travel up to and present evidence, with a view Clyde, Scotland’ and how we might be connected in the looked at in this way, then the Clyde Glasgow. Further back in the past are Theme 2 – Personal to encouraging participation, policy would surely be one of the main the castles that were built to control the connections development and resilience arteries of Scotland. waterways of the Firth, Roman forts and Strands: Emotions, Fun, Inspiration, The Clyde system spreads far and wide, prehistoric tribal centres, and evidence of Spiritual and Perceptual. both geographically and historically. The early forms of river travel. interconnections between the Clyde and So how do we continue to understand, The aim of all projects in this Outputs people have a history which is millennia share and celebrate the many different theme should be to explore the In terms of outputs and outcomes older than ‘Scotland’ itself. Stretching for connections with the Clyde today? individuals and groups of people the programme aims to create a over 170km – from the source in the One way is to create a multi-partnered who have connected with and transformative model that researches a hills, through the Firth research programme that looks at currently connect to the river. major river system that can be applied to and out to the open sea. Over the past our interconnections, investigates other rivers, across Scotland and beyond. 4000 years this waterway has made its them collaboratively and shares them Theme 3 – Connecting with It aims to deliver a body of legacy outputs mark on the land and we have made our collectively. And that’s what the Source to the future that could take the form of: marks on it – It is these interconnections Sea programme aims to undertake over • a book and digital publication on Clyde that form the heart of an exciting new the next 5 years. Strands: Future, Power and Politics. connections: past and present programme of research we are calling The Source to Sea research programme Projects within this theme aim • policy guidance through human-river ‘Source to Sea’. is being developed by the Royal to anticipate our potential future research papers Examples of interconnections between Commission on the Ancient and connections with the river. • a travelling exhibition which moves from people and the Clyde range from people Historical Monuments of Scotland source to sea down the River Clyde. walking their dogs around Dumbarton (RCAHMS), and will start in 2014. Aerial photograph of Newark Castle, (Crown Copyright RCAHMS) Seascape Assessment 16

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Project Manager Coastal settlement at Bay backing onto farm land and then extensively forested hills, Firth of Clyde Forum © Peter Sandground Caspian House 2 Mariner Court Clydebank Business Park The Seascape of the Firth of Clyde Clydebank, G81 2NR General policy number 14 in the consultation draft of the National Marine Tel: 0141 951 0820 Plan concerns Landscape/Seascape and states that ‘Marine Planning and Email: [email protected] decision making authorities should ensure that development and use of Website: www.clydeforum.com the marine environment take seascape, landscape and visual impacts into account’. But how can this be done? The Firth of Clyde Forum has a broad Seascapes are landscapes with views of the coast or sea and are an important part of membership base with representatives the setting for coastal communities and enjoyment by both local people and visitors from industry, local authorities, to the area. In 2012 the Firth of Clyde Forum commissioned an Assessment of the community groups and charities. The Seascape/Landscape of the Firth of Clyde – the first study of its kind to look at opinions expressed by members within opportunities and restraints for many different types of development in a specific area. this issue are not necessarily the opinions The resulting report identifies those themes that characterise the whole of the Firth of the Forum or its Core Group. of Clyde and then drills down to 13 Seascape Areas to give more detail of specific features and structures along with their sensitivity to various developments. These The Firth of Clyde Forum would like Seascape Areas are selected due to their connectivity from the point of view of the to thank the following organisations sea as opposed to the land. The report also maps those coastal areas in the Firth of for their continued core funding and Clyde that can be considered to be influenced by qualities of remoteness, isolation and support: seclusion as well as those areas influenced by designed landscape and derelict areas. Why not find the section where you work or live and see what the report has to say about the local Seascape? Visit the Firth of Clyde Forum website on www.clydeforum. com and go to the projects section.

The deeply indented Gourock Bay where the settlement is characterised by its lack of commercial coastal development and its fine promenades and esplanades, © Peter Sandground