﻿QLASQOW. 



QLASaOW. 



•uj pruurieUry svtiaoU. The KatablUUeJ Uburoh aud tha Fro* 

 Chunih luTe each a NomuU achooL 



BmiUmgt.—a\iitgnw eontaios tha uaual munioipal public buildingiL 

 la 1814 tha old Tolbootb, or jail, waa taken down, and the now 

 buUdinga oontaiaing offioea for the variotu departm"nU of niuuioipal 

 budnraa w«ra araot«d at the foot of the Saltmaricet The ateeple or 

 tower of the Tolbootb, with iU oddly-abaped square batUemenU and 

 pyramidal pinnaolea, i« howorer still left on the old site at the comer 

 of Trongmte and High-street, The new buildings hare a facade and 

 portico modelled alter the Parthenon at Athens. With the iuoreaae of 

 the city buaineaa the accommodation here was found to be too limited, 

 •ad lai^er buildings were constructed in Wilaou-street for the municipal 

 buaineaa ; the structure in the Saltmarket being now appropriated aa 

 the Supreme Criminal Court, or, as it is called, Justiciary Court, aud 

 local court-houses. The police buildings are extensire and substantial 

 The city and county bridewell, one of the largest public buildings in 

 Olaagow, is situated between the college and the cathedral, and con- 

 ■ista of a group of buildings in a sort of Norman stylo, comprising a 

 rotunda and four radiating wings. The system adopted here provides 

 for the maintenance of uie prisoners in part from the produce of 

 their own industry white in prison. 



The charitable institutions of Ulasgon are of considerable import- 

 ance. A lunatic asylum at the northern end of the city was erected 

 about 1810. The building coniiists of an octigoual centre, whence 

 spring four wings of three stories each ; and over the octagon is a 

 fine dome. The city having extended itself to the immedintc vicinity 

 of the asylum, the municipal authorities purchased the building for 

 the Town Hospital, or ' Poor's House,' and a new lunatic asylum waa 

 built about three miles west from Ulnagow. The new asylum baa accom- 

 uimUtion for upwards of 500 patients. The Asylum for the Blind, 

 situ.ited near the cathedral, ia admirably managed. Baskets, mats, 

 twine, mattresses, rugs, sacks, netting, and various other articles are 

 made by the inmates, and are sold to nsflist in providing fuuds for the 

 institution. The House of Kefugo, situated in the eastern part of 

 the town, is a receptacle for juvenile offenders. The Royal Infirmary, 

 occupying port of the site of the old Bishop's Palace, is on elegant 

 structure; the institution has been of much benefit to the community. 

 Hutoheaon's Hns]>ital was founded by two brothers, merchants of 

 Glasgow, about a century ago. The revenues are applied to the 

 support of a number of old men and women, aud to the clothing and 

 educating of the sons of decayed citizens. Among many other benevo- 

 lent societies we may name the Sick Hospital, the Deaf and Dumb 

 Anylum, and the Highland Society of Glasgow. 



The Commercial Exchange is a very handsome building. The fine 

 portico in Queen-street has over it a handsome lantern-tower, and in 

 front ia a bronze equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington. The 

 great room of th^ Exchange is 1 30 feet long, 60 feet wide, nud 30 feet 

 high. The whole structure is in the Corinthian style. The portico 

 at the east front is cctoatyle, and three columns in depth, giving it a 

 ytrj noble character. The building is placed in the midst of a fine 

 opui area, lined on the north and south with uniform ranges of etone 

 boildinga, occupied ns ware-rooms, offices, and shops. Two Doric 

 arofacst between which is placed the Royal Bank of Scotland, give 

 acoMs to this area from Buchanan-street, The buildings occupied by 

 ths Tarious banUng companies in Glasgow are in general very hand- 

 some and ornamental structures, situated in the principal streets. The 

 markct-phuses are commodious rather than ornamental. Some of the 

 shops ia Troogate, Argyle, Queen, and Buchanan streets rival the 

 first-olaas London shops. In the north-west part of Glasgow is the 

 ' Cleland Testimonial,' a group of houses erected by subscription, and 

 presented to the family of Dr. Cleland to be possessed by them aa an 

 beir-loom. Dr. Cleland was one of the most active men in Glasgow 

 during the present century in promoting the moral and material 

 wrifare of the city. The Western Club and the Union Club have 

 baadsoDM stone buildings for their club-hoiuies. 



C o mm ent. — Scarcely anything is known of the couimei-ce or industry 

 of Olssgow till tha middle of the 16th century, when small vewiels 

 were engaged in the trannport of salmon to England and France. In 

 1021 it ia said that, "With the exception of the colligiuora [collegians], 

 all the inhabitants are trader* ; some to Ireland with small smiddy- 

 ooals in open boats, from 4 to 10 tons, from whence they bring hoo|>8, 

 mnps barrel staves, meal, oats, and butter; some to France, with 

 plaadiog, ooals, and herrings, from which the return is salt, popper, 

 faisios, sod prunes ; some to Norway fur timber." 



The Union waa violently opposed here as well as elsewhere in 

 Scotland ; but an advantage followed which the people had not anti- 

 cipated in the trade with the British colunirs, not previously open to 

 them. A Olaagow vessel of 00 tons first crossed the Atlantic in 1718. 

 Tbs trade in tobacco became gradually so large that the English mei^ 

 cbaots look alarm. So Tast did tbs trade become, that in 1 772 it was 

 fstimatsd that " out of 00,000 bogabeads of tobacco imported into 

 Britain, Olaagow alone imported 4V,000:" About the year 1770, when 

 tbs tobacco trade had enriched Olssgow, the houses, the furniture, aud 

 tbs style of living were improvetl ; wheel-carrisges were net up ; a 

 theatre and an assembly-room were built ; and wooden tenements with 

 <lifilT?tH roofs wore replaced by stone maiiaiona. The American 

 fWllBliuu caTe an irrcpanbls blow to the tobaooo trade; but the 

 ianatiaa «( tha stcaia-CDgiaa abd its application to the manufactun) 



of cotton exuitoi thj CAjiitULitd tj iuar>UieJ vijiur. If the Clyde had 

 been deeper Olaagow might have had a great shipping trade at an 

 early period, bat the slullowness of the river below Olaagow oauaad 

 Greenock to be made an emporium of trade in preferenoe to Olaagow. 

 As early as 1556 there was an agreement by the inhabitants of Olaagow 

 Renfrew, and Dumbarton, to labour on the river for six weeks alter- 

 nately to improT* the communication. OUagow had ita shippisK 

 port in Ayrshire till 1662, when the Glasgow merchants porohased 

 thirteen acres of ground a little above Greenock, and formed a town 

 and harbour to which they gave the name of Port Ohugow. Having 

 received the advice of Smeaton and other engineers, the people of 

 Glasgow constructed in 1775 upwards of 100 jetties at different parts 

 of the river, whereby the effective width was laasened, the rapidity 

 of the stream increased, and the bottom scoured out to a greater 

 depth. ' The quay which had formed the ' Broomiolaw,' or harbour, 

 was lengthened m 1792 by 360 feet, and in Isll by UOO feet Still 

 Ohugow could only receive small vessels of 45 tons up to the begin- 

 ning of the present century. But the trustees of the river kept steadily 

 in view the improvement of the harbour, and the result has been very 

 remarkable. By deepening year after year, the bed of the river bad 

 been so far changed, that by the year 1821 vessels draiviug 13 feet of 

 water could come up to the Broomielaw. By 1811 tbo quay space 

 had reached a length of 3340 feet on the north shore, and 1200 

 feet on the south shore. At present the depth to the bridge 

 has reached 18 feet at high water, and the quay offers a frontage of 

 upwards of 10,000 feet Loaded vessels of lOOU tons and steamers of 

 2000 tons can now occupy the harbour. From Glasgow to Dumbarton 

 the bed and banks of the river are as carefully prepared as in a ship- 

 canal. For the first seven miles of this distance the sloping banks are 

 formed artificially of blocks or slabs of whinstone. There are no 

 docks ; and for the first mile or two below the bridge the shipping 

 are moored so closely as to leave room only for a passage up and 

 down ; and tlicre ore times when the vessels are ranged nine tiers in 

 depth off both south and north quays. 



The vast increase in the trade of the harbour of Glasgow will be 

 seen by a statement of the registered vessels belonging to the port, 

 the customs duties, and the revenue of the harbour itself at different 

 periods. The registered vessels in 1820 were 86, tonnage 6604 ; in 

 1830, 233, tonnage 40,y78; in 1840, 351, tonnage 71,878; in 1850, 

 612, tonnage 140,741. The number and tonnage of vessels registered 

 OS belonging to the port on December 31st 1853 were: — Sailing- 

 veiisels, under 50 tons, 78, tonnage 2744 ; above 50 tons, 382, tonnage 

 152,528: steam-vessels, under 60 tons, 17, tonnage 610; above 60 

 tons, 91, tonnage 26,963. The number and tonnage of vessels entered 

 and cleared at the )x>rt during the year 1863 were as follows : — Coast- 

 wise, inwardn, 1435 sailing-vessels, tonneige 134,411 ; steamei-s, 1474, 

 tonnage 351,129; outwards, 2940 sailing-vessels, tonnage 191,275; 

 steamers, 1501, tonnage 358,336: colouial, inwards, 124 British 

 vessels, tonnage 32,710 ; foreign veasels, 9, tonnage 3496; outwards, 

 327 British vessels, tonnage 115,388 ; foreign vessels, 5, tonnage 1433. 

 In the foreign trade 275 iJritish vessels of 61,622 tons, and 179 foreign 

 vessels of 44,142 tons, were entered inwards; and 467 British vessels 

 of 96,035 tons, with 244 foreign vessels of 63,269 tons, cleared out- 

 wards. The steam-vessels engaged in the foreign trade were : — Inwards, 

 British of 6912 tuns; outwaixls, 11 Britiuh, tonnage 7577. The 

 customs duties collected in the port were — ll.OOOf. in 1820 ; 59,013/. 

 174. Zd. in 1830; 468,974/. \2t. id. in 1840; 645,669/. \U. Ud. in 

 1850; and 675,044/. 15». lOd. in 1851. The revenue received by the 

 river trustees was— in 1820, 6328/. 18». lOrf. ; iu 1830, 20,296/. 18«. 6</.; 

 in 1840, 46,481/. Is. 9(/.; in 1850, 64,243/. 14s. lit/. Three bridges 

 croas the Clyde at Glasgow — the Glasgow, Victoria, and Hutoheson 

 bridges. The Broomielaw, orGla.<gow Bridge, constructed by Telford 

 in 1 833, is to be regarded as the principal one on accouut of its fine 

 proportions and construction, and of its contiguity to the harbour, it 

 being the lowest bridge on the Clyde. Victoria Bridge is a handsome 

 new granite bridge erected to repI.->co the .StockwcU Bridge, which 

 dated from the 14th ceutury. Ilutchesou Bridge is a plaiu structure 

 in a lino w^ith the Saltmorket 



Of the industrial occupations which give life and wealth to Glasgow, 

 shifM and steam-engines, iron and cool, are the chief elements. It was 

 not until iron vesaels came into use that any considerable number of 

 ships were built at Olaagow. Steain-ve8.4elH of the largest and most 

 costly description are now made in (ila^gow iu largo numbers. Marine 

 stettui-cugiues are also very extensively made. The district which 

 borders on Glasgow on the cast aud south-east is rich in iron-ore, 

 which is so nearly associated with tlie coal, and lime, and clay, nee s- 

 sary for its smelting, as to be more than usiuilly profitable. In 1809 

 there were only 7000 tons of iron produced in the whole county of 

 Lanark; tlie quantity of pig-iron now sold annually in Glasgow 

 exoeeds 600,000 tons. With the exception of immense works in the 

 southern suburbs, nearly all the great iron-works are at some distance 

 from OUsgow ; but almost the entire proiluco of the county is sent to 

 Glasgow for sale or shipment Coal is an importiut elemeut iu the 

 commercial activity of Glasgow. The same districts which are so rich 

 in iron are for the most part well supplied also with coal. 



Glasgow ia tha commercial centre lor the cotton manufactures of 

 Scotland. Down to the period of the Union, linens and woollens 

 were mode for domestic use by the spinning-whi cl or hand-loom 



