A old story goes that “wee Pechs” (Picts) from Rutherglen built Glasgow Cathedral using tunnel network under the Clyde to get to work. A piper and his dog tried to find the route but never came back. His pipes were last heard under Dalmarnock.
On the 25th and 26th November 1454, the entire town of Govan was put “in ane flote” by “ane richt gret spait”. Every inhabitant had to sit on the roofs of their “houssis, bernis, and millis” as the flood took them sailing down the Clyde.
he Erskine Ferry was an important part of the Glasgow to Greenock trade route and was the oldest ferry on the Clyde, started in 1777. Here are the tolls for the year 1845. Roughly equivalent to 50p per foot passenger and £15 for a four wheeled carriage.
The first iron vessel to “sail” on the Firth of Clyde was a soap boiler ordered by an Ayr man named Bonaparte in 1813. It wouldn’t fit down the vennel off High Street to his shop (where Poundland is now), so took a bet to “sail” it up the R. Ayr from the Clyde.
During a February thaw in 1831, an ice jam formed on the Clyde and wiped out 40 ships at the Broomielaw Bridge, killing several people and caused major floods, After the disaster the town widened the river significantly.
The 1831 flood caused the Clyde to rise 18ft (5.5m) above the normal high tide level. An earlier flood in 1782 peaked at just over 20ft (6.1m) above normal!
Maps from NLS Maps site (from 1807 and 1857).
