River Cart | |
---|---|
![]() River Cart, looking south | |
Location | |
Country | Scotland |
Physical characteristics | |
Mouth | River Clyde |
• location | Glasgow, Scotland |
• coordinates | 55°53′30″N4°24′18″W / 55.8917°N 4.4049°W |
The River Cart is a tributary of the River Clyde, Scotland, which it joins from the west roughly midway between the towns of Erskine and Renfrew and opposite the town of Clydebank.
The River Cart itself is very short, being formed from the confluence of the Black Cart Water (from the west) and the White Cart Water (from the south east) and is only 3⁄4 mile (1.2 kilometres) long. The River Cart and its tributary the White Cart Water were navigable as far as the Seedhill Craigs at Paisley; and, as with the River Clyde, various improvements were made to this river navigation.
In 1840 the 1⁄2-mile (800-metre) Forth and Cart Canal was opened, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal, at Whitecrook near Clydebank, to the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Cart. The aim was to provide a direct link between Paisley, Port Dundas, Edinburgh, and the Firth of Forth. [1]
The Black Cart Water originates at Castle Semple Loch in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire. From there, it flows northeast though Johnstone, passes Linwood and then under the M8 motorway at Blackstoun, where it is joined by the River Gryfe. The river then flows parallel with the main runway of Glasgow Airport; passing under the A8 at Renfrew by means of a stone bridge, where it joins the White Cart Water.
The White Cart Water originates on the edge of East Renfrewshire, in the middle of Eaglesham Moor. It then flows northwards to the south of East Kilbride to Waterfoot, where the Earn Water joins the river, forming the boundary between East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire here before running through the centre of the village of Busby. It passes under a large railway viaduct before being joined by the Thorntonhall Burn and Kittoch Water, an important tributary and the main river from East Kilbride. After this the river again becomes a border as it runs around the eastern side of Clarkston and Netherlee. The river is surrounded by ancient woodland through Busby and there is a large SSSI for the even larger ancient woodland on the east bank past Clarkston and Netherlee. This ends roughly where it crosses the Glasgow city boundary into Linn Park, heading downstream to Cathcart. [2] Here the river turns west, flowing through Battlefield, Langside, Shawlands, Pollokshaws and then Auldhouse where there is a confluence with the Auldhouse Burn, (made from the confluence of Capelrig Burn and Broom Burn in Newton Mearns and travelling in two streams through Rouken Glen Park in Giffnock and the town of Thornliebank).
The river then starts cutting through Pollok Country Park, passing under the M77 motorway at Pollok towards Crookston and Cardonald, [3] where it is joined by the Levern Water from Neilston and Barrhead. From Crookston, the river passes the grounds of Leverndale Hospital and then crosses into Renfrewshire and flows through the farmlands of Hawkhead, parallel with the Paisley Canal railway line. On entering the town of Paisley, the river falls over rapids called the Hammils and flows under two roads to emerge in the town centre at Paisley Abbey. It then passes under Gauze Street, the Piazza Shopping Centre and Paisley Gilmour Street railway station where it emerges from the Abercorn Bridge, a wide, high arched red sandstone bridge at Old Sneddon Street. From there it runs, mostly hidden from view, towards Glasgow International Airport and Renfrew.
In the town of Paisley the White Cart is joined by a number of tributary streams including the Lady Burn, the St Mirin Burn, the Sneddon Burn and the Espedair Burn. Just outside the burgh boundary, close to Glasgow Airport, the river meets with the Abbot's Burn. The Greenock Road (A8), between Inchinnan and Renfrew, passes over the White Cart Water by means of the swing bridge. The White Cart Water then joins with the Black Cart Water, just downstream of the bridge, to become the River Cart.
Robert Burns' poem The Gallant Weaver mentions the White Cart Water.
A major flood alleviation scheme has been built by Glasgow City Council to protect vulnerable property on the south side of Glasgow. Designed by Halcrow the scheme was at the time the largest flood alleviation project undertaken in Scotland. [4] The scheme built three dams, all in neighbouring East Renfrewshire. One is on the border with South Lanarkshire.
Paisley Abbey has a medieval drain, belonging to the monastery, which was rediscovered in the 1990s; and excavated by archaeologists. [5] The abbey/monastery drain linked with the White Cart Water both upstream and downstream of the abbey, near to where the Town Hall now stands. The White Cart Water provided both drinking water for the monastery and was used to flush away kitchen waste and the latrines. [5]
The River Cart and the White Cart are navigable to Paisley; being blocked in the 1960s, at Sneddon Street, by the aqueduct under the Piazza Shopping Centre.
The Paisley Beer Duties Act 1753 provided for "laying a duty of two pennies Scots, or one sixth part of a penny Sterling, on every Scots Pint of Ale and Beer which shall be brewed for sale, brought into, tapped or sold within the Town of Paisley and Liberties thereof, in the County of Renfrew, for improving the Navigation of the River Cart, and for other Purposes". [6]
River Cart Navigation Act 1787 | |
---|---|
Act of Parliament | |
![]() | |
Long title | An Act for enabling the Magistrates and Town Council of Paisley, to improve the Navigation of the River Cart, and to make a Navigable Cut or Canal, across the Turnpike Road leading from Glasgow to Greenock. |
Citation | 27 Geo. 3. c. 56 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 21 May 1787 |
A further act of Parliament (27 Geo. 3. c. 56) [7] was obtained by the Cart Trust for the river's improvement in 1787, in response to pressure from Paisley's shipbuilders. [1] [8] This led to some improvements around Inchinnan. The first steamer serviceto Paisley, provided by the Prince of Orange, started in July 1815. [9]
The original Swing Bridge, at Inchinnan, on the Turn Pike road, now the A8, was opened in 1838; the mechanism for swing bridge was made by Barr and McNab of the Abercorn Foundry, Paisley. [8] A year earlier the, Scotch gauge, Paisley and Renfrew Railway had opened between Paisley Hamilton Street and Renfrew Wharf. [10] The railway was intended to both enhance the capabilities of the River Cart navigation as well as competing against it for goods and passenger traffic. The Cart Trust later went bankrupt.
The Forth and Cart Canal, opened in 1840, together with the Forth and Clyde Canal, was intended to provide a direct link between Paisley, Port Dundas, Edinburgh, and the Firth of Forth, without the need to go down the River Clyde to Bowling and return along the Forth and Clyde Canal to almost the starting point. [1] Its aim was to bring coal to Paisley. [1]
In January 1866 the Paisley and Renfrew Railway was temporarily closed. When it reopened as a standard gauge railway it was linked to the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway at Arkleston Junction. As a result, Hamilton Street station closed. [10]
Paisley's harbour was extended and the re-opening in April 1891 was celebrated by a fleet of steamers sailing from Paisley to Rothesay. [9]
Further, unsuccessful, attempts were made to improve the River Cart at the start of the 20th century. [8] In 1920, after the end of World War I, attempts were made to buy out the bankrupt Cart Trust; but they resisted these attempts. [8]
Two Scherzer type Bascule bridges were built across the river, one at Renfrew and one at Paisley. These are the only Scherzer type bridges in the West of Scotland. [11]
The original swing bridge at Renfrew [12] was replaced in 1923 by a bascule bridge, which was made by Sir William Arrol & Company. [8] It is still capable of opening, as the Doosan Babcock factory at Renfrew requires the capability to move large loads by river. The first American troops to disembark onto UK soil in the Second World War did so by ship at Carlile Quay in Paisley.
Sir William Arrol and Co also made the pedestrian lifting bridge across the White Cart Water at Carlile Quay (off New Sneddon Street) in 1911. The lifting apparatus was removed when navigation above this point ceased in 1942. The bridge was closed to traffic in 1997, the structure being deemed unsafe. It reopened in November 2021 following a major refurbishment, although the lifting mechanism was not restored. [13]
An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1938 by the Ministry of Transport, the Admiralty and the Ministry of Shipping. A harbour was built at Laigh Park (Laighpark harbour) at which large cargo boats / ships could load and unload; it was linked to the Paisley and Renfrew Railway. This was used extensively during World War II. Carlile Quay being used for smaller boats. The navigation lights were also upgraded.
The harbour fell into disuse in the 1960s and has been used as a scrapyard for many decades. Carlile Quay has been landscaped, refurbished and made more attractive to pedestrians. Apartment buildings and houses have been built on the vacant site adjacent to the quay.
As referenced above, the Carlile footbridge was reopened in November 2021. Around the same time, a new road bridge was being constructed further downstream between Wright Street in Renfrew and Arran Avenue at the Glasgow Airport long stay car park. Known as Barnwell Street bridge, it was officially opened in August 2022. [14]
Due to its low clearance, this static bridge limits upstream navigation to smaller craft only.
All of Paisley's sewage and industrial effluent had been discharged untreated into the River Cart via its tributaries: the St Mirin Burn, the Lady Burn, the Sneddon Burn, the Espedair Burn, etc. [8] By 1870 this had led to many complaints about smells and epidemics. [8]
"Intercepting sewers" were therefore built on either side of the St Mirin burn to intercept the sewage and discharge it directly into the White Cart Water. [8] Whilst this helped clean up Paisley it did not clean up the River Cart. It led to complaints from Johnstone, Renfrew and Glasgow and calls by them for Paisley to provide a sewage treatment farm. Johnstone, Bridge of Weir, Lochwinnoch and Glasgow already had sewage treatment farms. Glasgow's works had begun operations in 1894.
Land at Laigh Park was bought for this purpose between the first and second World Wars although construction work did not start until 1949 with the works opening in 1952. The sewage works were linked to the intercepting sewers and took all of Paisley's sewage and industrial effluent for treatment.
Both the Black Cart Water and the White Cart Water provided power to drive mills. The best preserved on the White Cart is Dripps Mill in Waterfoot, which still has two functioning 19th century waterwheels.
Renfrewshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Ralston is a small, middle-class, suburban settlement in Renfrewshire, Scotland, being part of the greater town of Paisley. The district straddles the A761, the main dual-carriageway between Renfrewshire and the City of Glasgow.
Erskine is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire, and historic county of the same name, situated in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde, providing the lowest crossing to the north bank of the river at the Erskine Bridge, connecting the town to Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Erskine is a commuter town at the western extent of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, bordering Bishopton to the west and Renfrew, Inchinnan, Paisley and Glasgow Airport to the south. Originally a small village settlement, the town has expanded since the 1960s as the site of development as an overspill town, boosting the population to over 15,000. In 2014, it was rated one of the most attractive postcode areas to live in Scotland.
Inchinnan is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just south east of the town of Erskine.
Crookston is a residential suburb on the southwestern edge of the city of Glasgow, Scotland.
Paisley and Renfrewshire North is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election, replacing most of Paisley North and Renfrewshire West.
Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The lieutenancy area covers the three modern council areas of Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, and this area is occasionally termed Greater Renfrewshire to distinguish it from the modern council area called Renfrewshire. The historic county additionally included territory on the south-western edge of Glasgow which was gradually transferred to the administrative area of the city as it grew.
The A726 road in Scotland is a major route with several distinct sections with different characteristics and names; owing to its stages of construction, since 2005 it has two separate parts, the first running between Strathaven in South Lanarkshire and Junction 5 of the M77 motorway south of Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire via East Kilbride, and the other running between Junction 3 of the M77 and the M898 motorway near the Erskine Bridge, via Paisley and Junction 29 of the M8 motorway near Glasgow International Airport.
The Forth and Cart Canal was a short 1⁄2-mile (800-metre) link canal which provided a short cut between the Forth and Clyde Canal, at Whitecrook, and the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Cart. It was intended to provide a transport link between the town of Paisley, the Firth of Forth and Port Dundas, Glasgow, without having to go via Bowling, some 7 miles downstream on the Clyde. The Forth and Cart Canal was closed in 1893. Railway works destroyed most of it soon afterwards.
The Levern Water, is a small river in East Renfrewshire and Glasgow, Scotland. It rises in the Long Loch, and flows generally north and east, past the towns of Neilston and Barrhead, for a total distance of 9 miles (14 km). It empties into the White Cart River.
Renfrew is a town 6 miles (10 km) west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gained royal burgh status in 1397.
White Cart Bridge is a Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge situated on the A8 road in Renfrew, Scotland. The bridge crosses White Cart Water at the confluence with the Black Cart River. It is one of only two remaining Scherzer type rolling lift bridges in the country, the other being 'the Queenie' at Peterhead Harbour, and became category A listed on 13 December 1994. The bridge is still capable of opening, as the Doosan Babcock factory in Renfrew requires the capability to move large loads by river.
The disused Park Quay or Fulton's Quay is located on the old Lands of Park, situated on the south bank of the River Clyde in the Parish of Inchinnan, close to Newshot Island and the old Rashielee Quay. A slipway is also part of the infrastructure, giving access to the dock at low tide, both once served by roads running through the Park Estate from the south. It was recorded as Fulton's Quay in 1830, the name of a previous owner of the Park Estate who may have built it prior to 1801. A fixed light was installed at Park Quay in 1869.
The old Rashielee Quay or Rashielie Quay (NS471709) was located on the old Lands of North Barr, situated on the south bank of the River Clyde in the Parish of Inchinnan, between Bodinbo Island and Park Quay. It was built to facilitate the loading of boats and barges with whinstone excavated from the nearby Rashielee Quarries that was brought to the quay by a horse drawn wagonway.
Newshot Island or Newshot Isle was an island about 50 acres (20 ha) in extent lying in the estuarine waters of the River Clyde close to Park Quay in the Parish of Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Due to silting, etc. it has become part of the southern, Renfrewshire side, of the river bank and is used for grazing cattle and as a nature reserve.
Rosshall is an area in the south-west of Glasgow, Scotland, within the Cardonald ward of Glasgow City Council. It has a fairly isolated location, with the White Cart Water forming a border to the south and east, the Paisley Canal Line railway to the north, and open fields to the west that form a short green belt between Glasgow and the large town of Paisley – the nearest building 500 yards (460 m) to the west, Rosshall Mains Farm, falls under Paisley administration rather than Glasgow.
King's Inch and the much smaller Sand Inch were islands lying in the estuarine waters of the River Clyde close to Renfrew in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Due to dredging and a change of the course of the main current of the River Clyde, silting, etc. it has become part of the southern, Renfrewshire side, of the river bank and is now built over.
White Inch was an island lying in the estuarine waters of the River Clyde close to Glasgow in the Parish of Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Due to the deliberate disposal of dredged material from the Clyde, it became physically part of the northern, Lanarkshire side, of the river bank from the 1830s and is now entirely built over. The name lives on in the Whiteinch district of Glasgow, street names, etc., and probably relates to white colored sand deposits.
Renfrewshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, formally established in 1996 to succeed the Renfrew district within the Strathclyde region, both of which were abolished; the headquarters are at Paisley.