The Clyde Timber Ponds

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Unable to resist the lure of this settled weather and the promise of a full moon rising I nipped out late last night and found myself down by the rotting, wooden piles of the old timber ponds on the Clyde. Two tug-boats plied their way upriver towards the city & somewhere behind me a gang of neds laughed round a bonfire & fed it with wood.

                                                                  The timber ponds extend along the estuary mudflats from Kelburn in Port Glasgow to Langbank, a distance of around three miles and are the remains of wooden enclosures or ‘ponds’ erected in the early 18th century to store and season timber imported from Europe and North America for Greenock's Ship building industry. Timber including pitch pine, yellow pine and oak were in great demand by the local shipbuilders in Port Glasgow.

The ponds fell into disuse in the early 19th century. They were a source of income to the local landowners who rented out the shoreline for this purpose.

The wooden poles date from the 18th century when shipbuilding on the Clyde began in earnest in turn triggering a huge demand for timber. The timber was imported from North America in specially designed vessels fitted with bow doors. The imported wood was discharged into the Clyde and stored in the timber ponds until needed for ship construction. The seawater environment both seasoned and preserved the logs. This timber trade declined due to a combination of (a) dredging of the Clyde which provided a deep water access to Glasgow and (b) switch from wooden to iron ship construction. Last wooden ship was built on the Clyde in 1859.

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In Search Of The Perfect Point Of View

Douglas Collinson. Another from Friday night... here Doug surveys the grand scene around him from a perch on a boulder while his camera records another long exposure.
We waded gingerly but still the cold water dribbled over the tops of our boots and soaked our feet.

 

i was up at loch lomond with doug last night. conditions were sublime. the whole experience was like an advert for "visit scotland". we passed a couple of wedding guests sat on a bench in the sunshine drinking in the tranquillity of the scene before them. later, as we waded out into the loch to take photos (with wellies taking in water unpleasantly), we could hear the strains of the the wedding band going through the old stock favourites- doug wondered how long it would be before they did a 'creedence clearwater' number. answer? 3 tracks! bats flitted about our head and the muffled sound of ducks' wing-beats drifted low across the surface of the loch to where we stood. scotland! yer cannae beat it!

The Renfrew Ferry

The Stillness of Evening At The Renfrew Ferry

I headed down to the Renfrew Ferry on Thursday evening to catch the sunset. I love these types of structures. The one shown here is the northern end of the Renfrew Ferry which is a short passenger ferry crossing the River Clyde from Yoker to Renfrew. A ferry has operated in this area since the early 1600s. It remained a chain ferry until the mid1980s & this structure was for supporting the chain mechanism

Like a lot of the Clyde it is well past it's best- those days when this area was a hive of shipbuilding with several ferries like this crossing the Clyde carrying workers to and from the numerous shipyards either side of the river. Still it's a nice, reflective spot to hang out at the end of the day with the small boat's engines breaking the stillness and carrying dad's with wee kids and young couples from one side of the river to the other. While I was there the lovely soft, muffled wing-beat sound of 2 swans in flight heading down the river added to the moment.

Sundown At The Renfrew Ferry

3 portrait picture stitch
each photo 8second exposure, f16, ISO 100,18mm
using polariser, nd12 & nd0.6 soft grad filters 

A ferry service had begun by 1614 although the  first public ferry boat was reported to be in use by 1710  between King's Inch and Blawarthill on the north bank. In 1782 Alexander Speirs, a Glasgow tobacco merchant, built a mansion on the King's Inch. The path to the ferry  now ran through his property. In 1787 the family asked  if the ferry could be moved half a mile west, offering in return to build two quays, a ferry house and a new road, the now known Ferry road. The ferry Inn was opened in 1789 and by 1791 the ferry was operating from its new site.
 The ferries still used ropes or chains fixed on each bank, at first hauled but hand, but from 1868 by steam-power. Larger boats were built in 1897 ad 1912. The ferry was used for mostly workers traveling to the shipyards and factories on both sides of the river. The ferry proved of great use during the war of 1941 to bring fire-engines to Clydebank from Renfrewshire during the bombing.
 By the year 1953 the ferries were not used as much as the shipyards and factories were closing down. By the early 1970's most motorists used the Clyde tunnel and Erskine bridge to cross the Clyde. Thus the decision to end the vehicle Ferry in 1984 and it became a passenger ferry.
 One of the older Ferries is now docked in Glasgow being used as a music venue.
 Renfrew Ferry has run for centuries, transporting passengers across the River Clyde to Yoker. As recently as 1984 a chain operated service was still in use. This service, which began over 200 years prior in 1782, was then replaced by a modern passenger ferry. This is one
 of the few remaining ferry points for passengers wishing to cross the Clyde.

we meet at last

About 10years ago I read an interesting biography of James Graham the 1st Marquess of Montrose.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Montrose-Covenant-Edward-J-Cowan/dp/086241556X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350646866&sr=1-1



portrait by Willem van Honthorst

portrait by Sir Anthony Van Dyck

The cover photo was a portrait of the Marquess painted by Willem van Honthorst. I enjoyed the book so much I made a special pilgrimmage through to The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Einburgh where the book's sleeve notes informed me the painting was. Alas when I got there an attendant told me the painting was away at another gallery on loan.




Fast forward ten years and I get to visit the gallery and yes this time they do have a painting of the Marquess of Montrose but curiously it is a different painting! This one (which I prefer) is by Sir Anthony Van Dyck



So finally I got to stare into the eyes of the man in the portrait. It didn't seem to matter that it wasn't the same portrait. Since reading that biography of him he's been a bit of a hero of mine. I like it that the house and grounds at Colzium are situated on the site of the Battle of Kilsyth- the Marquess of Montrose's "last & greatest victory".


Ishbel & Alastair with Sophie & Theo on the monument to the Battle of Kilsyth in the grounds of Colzium House








 

 I still have a small hardback edition of Buchan's biography of the man to read some day which Paul King gave me. It's meant to be good as you would expect with Buchan.

Craigendoran Pier by Night

Headed out with the camera again last night on the promise of a clear night from the BBC Weather website. Big rucksack packed - 3 season down bag, bivvy bag, thermarest and all my camera gear-and all set to lie out in the cold on some exposed moorland and record startrail photos for a couple of hours. But immediately out the front door it was apparent that there was considerable cloud cover.
Not to be deterred I devised a plan B: Craigndoran Pier by Helensburgh.


These twin piers used to serve the steamers until 1972 when the service was closed:
"The North British Railway operated the Steam Packet Company steamers from here, from 1882. The station consisted of two through platforms on the line to Helensburgh Central, two through platforms on the West Highland Railway, and a bay platform which extended onto the pier for the steamer connections. The berths consisted of two parallel piers with four berths and a building at the landward end of the piers. The pier station facilities consisted of a single platform with a small canopy. However the sea would break over the sea wall on occasion and soak those waiting.

Following the closure of the service in 1972, the pier was used by small vessels for a number of years. Now, however, the piers are now derelict. Recently the section of pier next to the land was removed leaving the now un-decked piers as forlorn islands."

[from the Ports & Harbours of the Uk website
http://www.ports.org.uk/port.asp?id=833]

When I got there there was a group of guys standing round a fire at the shore end of the southernmost pier. Their silhouettes and cheery banter formed a timeless tableau. I started to set up my tripod and gear at the shore end of the northern pier and did become a bit apprehensive when two of the guys broke off to approach me. I proferred my standard defense in these situations: "I'm just taking pictures!" but needn't have worried. They were just asking me if I wanted to use their fire because they were all about to leave! They thought I was a fisherman.

Inception: St Valentine

I have decided to keep a blog.

The discovery some years ago that St Valentine's relics (well some of them) are kept in Glasgow in The Gorbals was pretty cool I thought.

blessed st john duns scotus, the gorbals

For many people the 'Saint' has dropped off the front of Valentine's Day, but St Valentine is never forgotten in the church of Blessed St John Duns Scotus in Glasgow's Gorbals. If you go there to worship you'll see a gold casket marked "Corpus Valentini Martyris" - the body of St Valentine, Martyr. So what on earth is it doing here?

A helpful leaflet written by the Franciscan Friars who run the church explains it all. In the 19th century, the relics "with all the requisite authentications" were in the possession of a wealthy French Catholic family. As the family started to die out, one member was thoughtful enough to find a home for their unusual heirloom and contacted Fr Stephen Potron, Commissary of the Holy Land in France. At the time, Fr Potron had heard talk on the Franciscan jungle drums of a fine new Friary being built in Glasgow and persuaded Fr Victorin Cartuyvels who was Provincial Minister of the Friars Minor in Belgium to give the casket a permanent home there. In 1868 the relics were sent to the church of St Francis in Cumberland Street, their resting place, until they moved round the corner to their current home in 1999.

The relics are permanently on display in the entrance to the church and as February 14 approaches the Friars decorate the area around the casket with flowers and a statue of St Valentine. On St Valentine's Day special prayers are said for those in love and out of it - those "experiencing difficulties through separation or breakdown are also remembered".

The leaflet also explains that there is really very little connection between St Valentine and the hearts-and-flowers-athon that is the modern Valentine's Day. Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of Foules (Parliament of Birds) is the first recorded link between 14 February and romance when it says 'For this was Seyny (St) Valentine's Day when every foul (fowl) cometh there to choose his mate'. It was also traditional for the gentry to swap love notes around this time of year, when everything was stirring. The tradition now associated with St Valentine may even have pre-dated him.

Although the chances of St Valentine ending up here seem fairly slim, a few cities make similar claims. As well as Glasgow, there are bits of St Valentine in Dublin, Birmingham, Vienna and Roquemaure in France. The story is a little unclear but there seems to be an agreement that either one or two Saint Valentines were martyred on February 14 around 270 AD. The rather unlikely set of circumstances that got his remains to the west of Scotland led Glasgow to call itself “City of Love” in 2005 and create a whole love-themed festival. Apart from that, this unusual finding rarely hits the headlines. For the rest of the year St Valentine is left in peace just as he should be.

Source: http://www.nothingtoseehere.net/2009/02/st_valentine_glasgow.html