Meadowside Granary was a complex of four interlinked granary buildings situated on the north bank of the River Clyde in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland. Constructed in four phases between 1911 and 1967, the finished construction was the largest brick building in Europe at the time. The granary closed in 1988 and was demolished in 2002; the site is now occupied by part of the Glasgow Harbour re-development.
The first Meadowside Granary was a thirteen-storey, thirteen-bay brick building. Both it and the adjacent Meadowside Quay were built by Glasgow engineer William Alston for the Clyde Navigation Trust between 1911 and 1913. [1] The site, on the north bank of the River Clyde at Castlebank Street, Partick, [nb 1] was formerly Meadowside football ground, which had been the home of Partick Thistle F.C. from 1897 until 1908. During construction, damage was caused by a severe storm on 27 November 1912 that blew down four cranes at the site. [2] After opening, Meadowside became the most important grain store in the United Kingdom during World War I. [3]
The granary was first extended in 1937, when a second building was added. A further extension in 1960 cost £3 million and added 50,000 tons of capacity to double the existing storage. The fourth and final building was completed in 1967 and added a further 80,000 tons at a cost of £1.5 million. High level gantries were added to link the buildings. [3] When completed, the Meadowside complex was reputed to be the largest grain storage facility in the UK and the largest brick building in Europe, with over twenty million bricks used in its construction. [4]
The Upper Clyde was still a thriving port in the 1960s, but shipping declined thereafter. Meadowside was closed in 1988 and finally demolished in 2002. [3] Port operators Clydeport [nb 2] was taken over in 2003 by the Peel Group, [5] who subsequently used the land for the first phase of the Glasgow Harbour regeneration project. The site of the granary is now occupied by residential apartments. [6]
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles. The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula, which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island – the Isle of Bute. Given its strategic location at the entrance to the middle and upper Clyde, Bute played a vital naval military role during World War II.
Partick is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park, and to the north Broomhill, Hyndland, Dowanhill, Hillhead, areas which form part of the West End of Glasgow. Partick was a Police burgh from 1852 until 1912 when it was incorporated into the city. Partick is the area of the city most connected with the Highlands, and several Gaelic agencies, such as the Gaelic Books Council are located in the area. Some ATMs in the area display Gaelic.
Greenock is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is currently the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east.
Port Glasgow is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recent census in 2011 states that the population has declined to 15,414. It is located immediately to the east of Greenock and was previously a burgh in the county of Renfrewshire.
Firhill Stadium, also known as Wyre Stadium at Firhill for sponsorship reasons, is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick Thistle since 1909.
Glasgow Harbour in the following paragraphs is about a private sector urban regeneration scheme at Partick in the West End of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is not the history and development of the wider and internationally famous Glasgow Harbour from Glasgow Green to Clydebank which developed from the early 1800s and witnessed the birth and growth of modern shipbuilding and shipping.
John Macgregor (1802–1858) was a Scottish shipbuilder.
The Glasgow Garden Festival was the third of the five national garden festivals, and the only one to take place in Scotland.
Pacific Quay is an area south of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It is located at the former Plantation Quay and Princes' Dock Basin. The Princes' Dock Basin was the largest on the River Clyde when it was opened by the Clyde Navigation Trust in 1900. It ceased to be used as a commercial dock by the Clyde Port Authority in the 1970s as the volume of Shipping using the Upper Clyde declined with the onset of containerization. The site was later used for the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988. The former electric generating station and pumping house, "Four Winds" which was used to pump water between the rotundas and generate power for the electric cranes still stands and is now home to a consultant engineers and radio station. The name 'Pacific Quay' has no historical significance, as it was created simply as a marketing enterprise following the land being reclaimed for commercial use after the Garden Festival closure. It did not reflect the site as a departure point for ships bound for the Pacific Rim.
Partick West railway station was a station that served the Partick area of the city of Glasgow, particularly the Thornwood section of Partick from 1896 to 1964. It was a four platform station on the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway, with two platforms on an east–west line with services between Dumbarton and Glasgow city centre and a further two platforms on a north–south line with services between Maryhill and the city centre.
King George V Dock is a dock for ocean-going vessels operated by the Clyde Port Authority in the Shieldhall (Govan) area of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is located near Braehead in Renfrewshire and lies on the boundary between the council areas of Renfrewshire and the City of Glasgow.
Hunterston Terminal, in North Ayrshire, Scotland, was an iron ore and coal-handling port located at Fairlie on the Firth of Clyde, operated by Clydeport which was taken over by The Peel Group in 2003. It lies south of Fairlie, adjacent to Hunterston estate, site of Hunterston Castle, and its jetty projects out approximately 1 mile (1.6 km), about midway into the channel between the mainland and the island of Great Cumbrae.
Partick Castle was located in Partick, now a Western suburb of Glasgow. It was built in 1611 for the Glasgow benefactor George Hutcheson and situated on the west bank of the River Kelvin.
The 20 km long Clyde Waterfront Regeneration, launched in 2003, embraced a section of the River Clyde in Scotland that runs from Glasgow Green in the city's center to Dumbarton down river. This scene focussed on earlier initiatives underway from the 1980s, and as a separate marketing tool, with several local authorities involved, came to an end in 2014.
This article deals with the history of the Partick area of Glasgow in Scotland.
Port Dundas is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, located 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of the city centre. It lies to the north of Cowcaddens, and to the west of Sighthill, with Hamiltonhill and Possilpark to the north-west.
The New River Clyde bridge is a proposed construction as part of the ongoing regeneration of the River Clyde waterfront area, in Scotland. If built, it will be the first new vehicle crossing point on the Clyde since the Clyde Arc bridge was built in 2006.
Meadowside was a football ground in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland. It was the home ground of Partick Thistle from 1897 until 1908.
Daniel Miller (1825–1888) was a 19th-century Scottish civil engineer and inventor remembered as a harbour and bridge-builder.
Inchview was a football ground in the Whiteinch area of Glasgow, Scotland. It was the home ground of Partick from the 1870s until 1885, and of Partick Thistle from 1885 until 1897.