River Clyde

“ There are few places in our country where human enterprise has effected such vast and marvellous changes within the century as the country traversed by the river Clyde. Where Glasgow now stretches far and wide, with its miles of swarming streets, its countless mills, and warehouses, and foundries, its busy ship-building yards, its harbour thronged with vessels of every size and clime, and its large and wealthy population, there was to be seen, a hundred years ago, only an insignificant little burgh, as dull and quiet as any rural market-town of our own day. ”

“ Stone Biers Force is a very grand fall of the river Clyde, within three miles of Lanerk. The new bridge at the foot of the hill; the town of Lanerk high on the top of it; with the winding river, and noble woods of Boniton to the right; and those about Cartland Crags, and Lee Place, to the left; form a charming view, as the traveller advances towards the bridge. ”

“ The banks of the Clyde have not grown more Arcadian since Campbell’s day, so the traveller does well to hurry by rail over the windings of the smoky river, embarking at Greenock or Helensburgh, where it broadens out into a firth deep enough to drown the offences of man. ”

“ The general face of the country near Hamilton is much in the ordinary English style; not very hilly, with hedgerows, corn fields, and stone houses. The Clyde is here an open river with low banks, and the country spreads out so wide that there is no appearance of a regular vale. Baroncleugh is in a beautiful deep glen through which runs the river Avon, a stream that falls into the Clyde. The house stands very sweetly in complete retirement ”

“ The Clyde Plateau.—The chief plateau rises into one of the most conspicuous features in the scenery of Central Scotland. Beginning at Stirling, it forms the tableland of the Fintry, Kilsyth, Campsie and Kilpatrick Hills, stretching westwards to the Clyde near Dumbarton. It rises again on the south side of that river, sweeping southwards into the hilly moorlands which range from Greenock to Ardrossan, and spreading eastwards along the high watershed between Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, and Lanarkshire to Galston and Strathavon. ”

“ All the dwellings are of wood, and the fields are everywhere intersected by wooden fences. The dense beech forests constantly reminded us of the scenery of Germany.
In the afternoon we came to the rising town of Clyde, which lies on Clyde River, and towards evening to the Montezuma Marshes, which are about three miles in extent. [197] They are formed by the overflowing of the lakes of Cayuga and Seneca, [198] and the water in them is said to be from four to eight feet deep. The farmers have cultivated the dry spots in these marshes. ”

“ It is upwards of 300 years since the Magistrates and Town Council of Glasgow made the first attempts to improve the Clyde, then a shallow, brawling stream, which could easily be crossed on foot even opposite Glasgow, and was only suitable for the navigation of herring boats, and similarly small craft. In 1768 an engineer, named Golborne, contracted the river by the construction of rubble jetties, and the removal of sand and gravel shoal by dredging, &c. ”

“ From this point downward the stream of Clyde, as it winds towards Glasgow through the centre of the great coal and iron field that has fed the wealth of the city and the commerce of the river, becomes more and more closely beset by the great armies of industry. ”

“ The total length of the Clyde from the head of the Daer to Dumbarton is 106 m., and it drains an area estimated at 1481 sq. m. It is thus the third longest river in Scotland (being exceeded by the Spey and Tay) , but in respect of the industries on its lower banks, and its sea-borne commerce, it is one of the most important rivers in the world. Near Lanark it is broken by the celebrated Falls, four in number, which are all found within a distance of 33⁄4 m. ”

“ Within this space of 33/4 m. the river effects a total fall of 230 ft., or 611/3 ft. in the mile. From Stonebyres Linn to the sea the fall is practically 4 ft. in every mile. The chief villages and towns on or close to the river between its source and Glasgow are Crawford, Lamington, New Lanark, Lanark, Hamilton, Bothwell, Blantyre and Uddingston. At Bowling (pop. 1018) —the point of transhipment for the Forth and Clyde Canal—the river widens decidedly, the fairway being indicated by a stone wall continued seawards as far as Dumbarton. ”

“ Clutterbuck, the imaginary author of the "Fortunes of Nigel," and the patron to whom the "Abbot" is dedicated.
Clyde, a river in the W. of Scotland which falls into a large inlet or firth, as it is called, the commerce on which extends over the world, and on the banks of which are shipbuilding yards second to none in any other country; it is deepened as far as Glasgow for ships of a heavy tonnage.
Clyde, Lord. See Campbell, Colin.
Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, and the mother of Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes; killed her husband, and was killed by her son, Orestes, seven years after. ”

“ The Clyde, if it is not the longest of course or the largest of volume of Scottish streams, is beyond all comparison the most important from the point of view of industry and commerce. Within its basin are contained something like one-third of the population and half of the wealth and traffic of the Northern Kingdom. Between Dumbarton Rock and the sources of the infant Clyde we are carried from the busiest hives of labour and marts of trade to green or heathy solitudes, whose silence is only broken by the bleat of the sheep and the cry of the muirfowl. ”

“ Yet softer Clyde's, where subterranean ire
Ne'er darts the bursts of dark sulphureous fire;
Which deep entomb the swarthy peasant's toil,
And parch to ashes all the burning soil.
Yet summer's heat drives frequent to the pool
The active youth, their glowing limbs to cool. 50
They dive, and distant far emerge again,
Or easy float along the liquid plain;
While curling waves around their bodies twine,
Through which their limbs like polished marble shine.
Now with strong arms they strive against the tide ”

“ For a time they still keep at a respectful distance; their camp fires—pillars of flame by night and of cloud by day—rising from furnace chimney and pit head on the high ground enclosing the “Trough of the Clyde.” Up there, in an intricate network of railway lines, are busy and growing towns and villages sending forth their smoke to overshadow the valley, and pouring down into it, by a score of tributary streams, the lees and pollutions of labour and of crowded urban life. But for a while the sheltered haughs and sloping banks of the Clyde still deserve the name of the “Orchard of Scotland.” ”

“ In trade and riches rise, by swift degrees,
To rival London, empress of the seas:
Still may her ships to distant regions run,
Beyond the rising or the setting sun, 270
Till Clyde's broad bosom can no longer greet
The rolling tide that wafts the passing fleet.
Kelvin, a stream that slept inglorious long,
Shall rise to fame, and shine in future song;
Where sable artists match the ancient fame
Of Lemnos, or of Ætna's mightier name;
Who bend the stubborn steel in smouldering fire,
Rend it to rods, or wring to ductile wire:
Enormous tubes, like roaring tempests, sound ”

“ Of the falls of the Clyde, Miss Wordsworth observes: "We had been told that the Cartland Crags were better worth going to see than the falls of the Clyde. I do not think so; but I have seen rocky dells resembling these before, with clear water instead of that muddy stream, and never saw anything like the falls of the Clyde. It would be a delicious spot to have near one's house; one would linger out many a day in the cool shadow of the caverns, and the stream would soothe one by its murmuring; still, being an old friend, one would not love it the less for its homely face. ”

“ We had suddenly passed from a wilderness of waters into a verdurous, sunlit landscape, where scarcely any water was visible. The Clyde, soon after you leave Greenock, becomes little more than a large, deep canal, inclosed between meadow banks, and from the deck of the great steamer only the most charming rural sights and sounds greet you. You are at sea amid verdant parks and fields of clover and grain. You behold farm occupations—sowing, planting, plowing—as from the middle of the Atlantic. Playful heifers and skipping lambs take the place of the leaping dolphins and the basking swordfish. ”

“ Even Clyde's deep floods can no protection yield.
Man, formed by heaven to bless each living kind,
Their bounteous lord and guardian god designed,
Degenerate now, pursues relentless strife,
And robs for sport his subjects' harmless life.
By purifying frosts, when streams run clear, 820
The amorous salmons to the fords repair;
Unerring instinct moves their longing mind,
By wondrous ways to propagate their kind.
Not the red firebrand blazing o'er their head,
Can force the lovers from their watery bed;
So fierce love rages in their gelid blood,
The unheeded trident gores them in the flood. ”

“ But when in wrath majestic Clyde o'erflows,
Amidst the flood green shake their trembling rows.
Here Avon pours, who his long current leads
Through old Strathaven, famed for generous steeds:
Through pastures, fields, and towns he rolls along; 690
The soil is fruitful, and the swains are strong. ”

“ If ever they come to abandon stone implements, while retaining their magic or religion, they will keep on using their stone churinga nanja.
While I was studying these novel Australian facts, in the autumn of 1898, a friend, a distinguished member of Clan Diarmaid, passing by my window, in London, saw me, and came in. He at once began to tell me that, in the estuary of the Clyde, and at Dunbuie, some one had found small stones, marked with the same archaic kinds of patterns, “cup-and-ring,” half circles, and so forth, as exist on our inscribed rocks, cists, and other large objects. ”

“ I venture, then, merely for the sake of argument, to date the origin of the Clyde sites in the dark years of unrecorded turmoil which preceded and followed the Roman withdrawal. The least unpractical way of getting nearer to their purpose is the careful excavation of a structure of wood and stone near Eriska, where Prince Charles landed in 1745. Dr. Munro has seen and described this site, but is unable to explain it. Certainly it cannot be a Corporation cairn. ”

“ S. of Elvanfoot to form the Clyde, of which they are the principal headstreams, though many mountain burns in these upland regions are also contributory. The old rhyme that “Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise a’ out o’ ae hillside” is not true, for Little Clyde Burn here referred to, rising in Clyde Law (2190 ft.) , is only an affluent and not a parent stream. ”

“ That charming isle! the distant sight deceives,
Which floats, like Delos, on the ambient waves:
There Delos' god, deceived, first pours his beams,
The dome so like his ancient temple seems.
Clyde, now a sea, affects a wide command,
And far his mighty arms invade the land;
Far pour his lakes, and pierce the solid ground!
Scarce their wide sway the heathy mountains bound;
Where Campbells, sprung of old O'Dubin's race,
Old as their hills, still rule their native place. ”

“ For all that I know, a dweller in Dunbuie might have compasses, like the Lough Crew cairn artist.
If I have established the parallelism between Arunta churinga nanja and the disputed Clyde “pendants,” which Dr. Munro denies, we are reduced to one of two theories. Either the Picts of Clyde, or whoever they were, repeated on stones, usually small, some of the patterns on the neighbouring rocks; or the modern faker, for unknown reasons, repeated these and other archaic patterns on smaller stones. ”

“ On Clyde's delightful banks their mansions rise,
And o'er the stream behold the southern skies.
Where the fair Maidens glide with silent force,
And, close embracing, end their gentle course; 210
Unbounded plenty overflows the plain,
Each bending stalk presents a load of grain;
And every kind a different lustre yields,
With varied beauty to adorn the fields.
See that broad plain which deepest verdure wears ”

“ I shall never forget my first view of the Clyde from the heights above Greenock. It is true I had seen the Clyde before, but it was at Glasgow years ago, and it had left on my mind but a poor impression of its extent, or utility, or grandeur. What a sight you have of dockyards, where thousands of men are ship-building! ”

“ The querns and canoe and stone-polishers, and bones, and horns are commonly found, we say, p. 3in dwellings of about 400-700 a.d. The peculiar and enigmatic things are not elsewhere known to Scottish antiquaries. How did the two sets of objects come to be all mixed up together, in an old hill fort, at Dunbuie on Clyde; and among the wooden foundations of two mysterious structures, excavated in the mud of the Clyde estuary at Dumbuck and Langbank, near Dumbarton? ”

“ I have now established the coincidence between the markings of rocks in Australia, in tropical America, and in Scotland. I have shown that p. 76such markings occur, in Scotland, associated with remains, in a crannog, of the Age of Iron. They also occur on stones, large (cupped) and small, in Dumbuck. My next business is, if I can, to establish, what Dr. Munro denies, a parallelism between these disputed Clyde stones, and the larger or smaller inscribed stones of the Arunta and Kaitish, in Australia, and other small stones, decorated or plain, found in many ancient European sites. ”

“ While circles in their veins their sovereign's blood.
Hence bold Bargenny and Belhaven rose;
Hence, Haddington, thy noble lineage flows;
Hence sprung rich Abercorn, a mighty peer,
And Selkirk, ever to the muses dear.
Yet most the name adorns their native Clyde,
Where frequent shine their domes on every side;
Whence, moving graceful, all the active race 760
Rush with their sprightly chief to urge the chase;
Where slily lurking mid his caverned rocks,
By Clyde's fair banks, slow creeps the crafty fox:
Sagacious hounds his tainted track pursue,
He doubles, winds, and shuns the open view. ”