The River Kelvin

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Postby My Word » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:05 pm

cataclyzm wrote: Another small river joins the Kelvin at a small industrial estate in Kirkie and it widens from there.
robert.


That 'small river' would be the Luggie which originates somewhere in the wilds of north Lanarkshire near Fannyside loch. In fact the Luggie is by far the major river of the two - by width, depth and volume of water so the Kelvin is actually a tributary of the Luggie.
Why 'Kelvin' became the name after the cojoin of the two I couldn't fathom a guess but its an anomaly.
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Postby james73 » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:09 pm

aliferste wrote:
cataclyzm wrote: there are rumours of a 32lb' brownie.

.


We wish :)


Out of interest has anyone got any photos of when the Kelvin last flooded and burst its banks a good few years ago ?

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He's over there...
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Postby cataclyzm » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:09 pm

:) - the "luggie"? What a class name.

For some reason the "luggie" seemed smaller to me when i fished there. But i''m sure you're spot on.

Do you know what the celtic name for the "Kelvin" would have been? I have a wonderful old book about early Glasgow - and I think it mentions the original name in there. I'll have a look.

all the best
robert.
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Postby scallopboy » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:12 pm

Thank goodness it was called the Kelvin and not the Luggie, otherwise the king of thermodynamics (Lord Kelvin, aka William Thomson) would have called the temperature scale the Luggie scale. ::):
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Postby cataclyzm » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:20 pm

It's no wonder that the Salmon is synonymous with Glasgow - the Clyde tributaries and the Clyde itself, must have been full of them.

I read an article recently on the net that some guy caught a 52lb salmon in the clyde - not too far outside Glasgow. It's a shame they narrowed the Clyde but Glasgow wouldn't have become the New York of West Scotland without it.

The water quality is pretty good from what I hear - apart from that awful discharge from the old chemical works that used to be in Oatlands. That sterile canal that oozes into the Clyde and goes through Richmond Park is the stuff of nightmares.

robert.
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Postby cataclyzm » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:23 pm

::): ::): Scallopboy

"luggie" is the kind of word I could fall in love with. I'm sure a fair few good folk have had their dinner oot the luggie.

robert.
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Postby Mark N » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:57 pm

Has anyone got any photos (or links thereto) of the Kelvinbridge area when the Glasgow Central Railway used to run through the area ? I'd be particularly interested to see a south-facing view showing how the tracks went underground, beneath Kelvingrove Park.
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Postby vinny » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:13 pm

Mark N wrote:Has anyone got any photos (or links thereto) of the Kelvinbridge area when the Glasgow Central Railway used to run through the area ? I'd be particularly interested to see a south-facing view showing how the tracks went underground, beneath Kelvingrove Park.


See timchilli's link to his site under develoment - there is an aeriel view but not of the entrance to the tunnel at Gibson St.
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Postby Mark N » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:51 pm

Thanks - I presume this is the aerial view you meant: http://www.kilmeny.vispa.com/1958_aerial.gif

It looks to me that you can see the tunnel entrance I was referring to at the bottom right of the photo - so it would actually be some way from the park.
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Postby MacotheIsles » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:13 pm

Mark N!

The railway tunnel is actually right at the park boundary which is off beyond the bottom right edge of that picture. The line goes under Gibson Street and then into the tunnel. There is a barred gate across the tunnel mouth, which has also been narrowed slightly with stone work. From memory of some old maps I think the line runs pretty well dead straight under the park and very close to the fountain.
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Postby vinny » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:59 pm

If you follow the car park south from the subway, you'll reach a set of stairs up to Gibson St. There is a blocked off passage next to it.
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Postby Socceroo » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:57 pm

The following is taken from the book “From Glasgow’s Treasure Chest” by James Cowan and gives an account of his visit to the Old Flint Mill on the River Kelvin in March 1934.

THE OLD FLINT MILL

On the northern bank of the Kelvin, between Belmont Street Bridge and the old Queen Margaret Bridge, stands the old flint mill, in which is still carried one of Glasgow’s longest established industries, the grinding of flints for pottery glaze.

Many a time had I passed the old mill, and wondered what it was that caused the steam I could see rising inside the windows of the down – river part of it; but these windows were, rather tantalisingly, just too high for me to see down inside over their sills.

However, one day I was lucky finding the mill gate open. I walked in, an almost immediately encountered the miller, who very obligingly satisfied my curiosity regarding the work of the mill.

All round the yard were heaps of flint, in nodules varying in size from that of a large orange down to that of a boy’s marble. These, I was told come from France, and a shipment of some 400 tones had just been taken in. Other more massive flints of curiously contorted shapes were brought from England. These are the raw materials of the business.

The flints are first burned in the kiln which stands in one corner of the yard. Thus calcined, they become white and friable, though still quite hard. Those which are not properly calcined the first time are picked out and subjected to a second burning.

The calcined flints are then put into the grinding tubs, with a certain quantity of water. Here they undergo about eight hours of grinding under the weight of large blocks of quartz-like rock, which is brought from Ballachulish ; and at the end of this time they have become reduced to a thick creamy consistency. This white fluid is run into a tank, from which it is pumped up and through a conduit across the yard, into two long shallow vats in the shed, through the windows of which I had so often vainly attempted to see what was inside.

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Photo of the mill remains taken January 2007 (Not as nice and sunny a pic as Sharon's)

The flues from four furnaces run below these vats, and after the surplus water has been run off, the pasty mass is further dried by the heat of the flues, thus causing the steam which has puzzled me. After about 24 hours this paste is of a suitable consistency for cutting into blocks, and it is then removed in bags to the Paisley potteries for use in glazing tiles, crockery etc.

Before leaving, I had a stroll along the pathways of the old garden above the mill. This is of an island – like character, having the mill-race on one side and the Kelvin on the other. The garden extends up as far as the old Queen Margaret Bridge, and, being well clothed with trees and shrubs, must form a welcome sanctuary for many birds. Indeed, early as it was in the season, I noticed some of them in the preliminaries of nest-building.
Flowers do not grow well in the rather sodden earth of this old garden ; but this is no drawback to water-loving rhubarb, of which I noticed the miller had a thriving patch.

The site of the old mill has been the scene of industry since well back in the 18th century ; how far back it is difficult to ascertain. But there is a record of it being advertised in the Glasgow Journal as a barley mill for sale in 1758. This would probably be the mill of which the remains are shown in a picture in Simpson’s “Glasgow in the Forties,” done in 1845 ; and this ruin must have been cleared away to make room for the present building which was erected in 1846.
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Re: The River Kelvin

Postby oneiros » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:07 pm

Since searching the forums before posting is paramount around here, I will not start a new thread regarding my lovely walk in Kelvingrove Park today (with a wee visit in Kelvingrove Art Gallery), but rather post my pics from that here. If someone has a suggestion on a better location here on HiddenGlasgow I could post them, then please let me know =)

The Kelvingrove Bandstand Has Seen Better Days...
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Kelvingrove Art Gallery Silhouette
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Glasgow Uni Tower Sillhouette
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Kelvinbridge
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River Coat of Arms
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Faces of Kelvingrove
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge."-A. Einstein
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Re: The River Kelvin

Postby youngmckellar » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:17 am

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Re: The River Kelvin

Postby Peetabix » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:42 pm

A wee shot I found from a while back.

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