Very top Millennium Bridge Top the new Clyde Arc
The River Clyde is Scotland`s third longest river and it flows about 160km (100 miles) from the Lanarkshire hills to the town of Greenock, it drains an area of about 4000 square kilometres (1600 square miles) with its main tributaries in Glasgow being the River Kelvin and the White Cart Water.
The Cunard shipping line was founded in Glasgow and the liners Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, QE2 and the Royal Yacht Britannia were all built on the River Clyde at Clydebank.
Geenock-born James Watt invented the separate condenser after a walk along the river on Glasgow Green in 1765, an invention which made the steam engine economically viable.
The Waverley, the world's last ocean-going paddle steamer was built in 1947 by A & J Inglis on the River Clyde in Glasgow. It remains on the Clyde today, where countless passengers continue to enjoy a trip ‘doon the watter’.
The Clyde tunnel took seven years to build. Work began in July 1957 and the first tunnel opened in July 1963. It is 21 feet below the river surface and approximately seven football pitches long.
It is not known when the River Clyde was first navigated, but steamboat traffic began with the launch in 1812, of the Comet, which ran between Glasgow and Greenock.
Construction of the Kingston Bridge over the Clyde started in 1967. It was opened in 1970 and today more than 150,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily.
South Portland St Suspension Bridge
There is 20 bridges over the River Clyde in Glasgow . Can you name them ? Answer below
The oldest surviving Clyde Bridges were built in the 1850's. By then Britain had become the workshop of the world. In 1851 Britain smelted 2.5 million tons of iron which was five times as much as the USA and ten times as much as Germany.
In 1850 the great world powers were at peace, although soon to go to war in the Crimea, the California gold rush was in full flood, the Napoleon dynasty ruled France and Sir Robert Peel was British Prime Minister, Japan was still closed to the West (the first foreign squadron would not sail into Japanese waters until 1853) and the USA was within 10 years of its civil war.
In 1851 British steam engines could produce 1.2 million horsepower which was more than the rest of Europe put together. Britain owned half of the World's ocean-going ships and contained half of the world's railway mileage. This huge economic supremacy was celebrated in the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London's Crystal Palace.
Around 1900 Glasgow reached the height of its prosperity and influence, living up to its claim to be 'the second city of the Empire'. In 1900 there were 23 cities in the world with populations greater than half a million, six of them were in Britain and London, Paris and Berlin were the largest cities in Europe, the fourth largest was Glasgow.
The story of Glasgow's Clyde Bridges in many ways reflects the development of Glasgow. Glasgow may not have grown beyond a quiet monastery town had it not also been the lowest fordable point on the Clyde.
As the city flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries, the demands for better communications resulted in bridges being built which, in turn, encouraged further trade and prosperity. So bridges both nurtured and reflected the growth of the city.
The story of Glasgow's bridges also reflects the story of transportation, from the pedestrian and horse traffic of the middle ages, through railway mania in the 19th century to the 20th century age of the motor car. It also reflects the story of civil engineering.
Developments in engineering materials and knowledge can be traced in the techniques used to construct the Clyde bridges. Timber and stone, cast iron, wrought iron and steel, reinforced and pre-stressed concrete, were all used in Glasgow's Clyde bridges.
20 bridges over the clyde in Glasgow
1Dalmarnock Bridge 1891
2 1st Dalmarnock Railway Bridge 1861
3 2nd Dalmarnock Railway Bridge 1897
4 Rutherglen Bridge 1896
5 Polmadie Bridge 1955
6 King's Bridge 1933
7 St Andrew's Suspension Bridge 1856
8 Pipe Bridge and Weir 1901
9 Albert Bridge 1871
10 The City Union Railway Bridge 1899
11 Victoria Bridge 1854
12 South Portland St Suspension Bridge 1853
13 Glasgow (or Jamaica St) Bridge 1899
14 1st Caledonian Railway Bridge 1878
15 2nd Caledonian Railway Bridge 1905
16 George the Fifth Bridge 1928
17 Kingston Bridge1970
18 Clyde Arc 2006
19 Bell's Bridge 1988
20 Millennium Bridge 2002