# The MolendinarBurn, Glasgow - Oct. 2008



## BenCooper (Dec 26, 2008)

The City of Glasgow's name comes from the Gaelic _Glasgu_, meaning _dear green place_ - the dear green place in question was a beautiful wooded valley beside the Molindenar Burn where St. Mungo (also known as Kentigern) founded a church in the 6th Century.

The Molindenar Burn kept it's importance in Glasgow's history for a long time - the later cathedral was built approximately on the site of St. Mungo's church, and a bridge (the Bridge of Sighs) was built over the burn to the Necropolis. The burn also marked the eastern border of the city, and later was used to power the first of the mills that sprung up in the city.

The city outgrew the burn, though, and in the 1870s it was culverted over and almost forgotten - Wishart Street now runs along it's path next to the cathedral. It's exposed at one small section next to the old Great Eastern Hotel, so I went for a look.

The exposed section:





The burn runs under Duke Street, and takes a sharp turn to the right:





It starts off stone-lined:





Turns to oval brick:





Then very low concrete:





Then steel pipe, which takes a sharp turn then carries on straight for a while:





Before turning into a lovely 7' high brick tunnel:





This carries on for quite a while, past a blocked-off side flue:





Looking up at a manhole on Wishart Street (I think) - note the slates used as a platform:





And a more modern access shaft - I'm not sure why there are two ladders:





Then, stalactite city:





In places, it looked like a natural cave:





With only a little brick showing through:





And old pipes slowly filling up:





I met some of the locals:





It turned back into steel pipe:





Then what looks like an open channel that's been concreted over:





A few more stalactites:





And a very low chamber with two inlets - I didn't feel like crawling any further:





Returning to the start, I went downstream a bit:





Into the next tunnel:





And carried on for about 10 minutes before turning back - downstream is a mission for another day.





I'm not sure how far I got - it certainly felt quite far, I think I got all the way along Wishart Street to Alexandra Parade. Looking at some old maps, the burn split in two about there, which would make sense with what I saw.

There are a bunch more pictures in my Flickr set...


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## Foxylady (Dec 26, 2008)

This is really interesting...loads of different building styles to see. The stalactites are amazing. Good stuff!
And welcome to DP, BenC.


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## lost (Dec 26, 2008)

Interesting, I always wondered about the burn as my surname is derived from 'Molendinar'

Looked a bit different in 1769


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## Andymacg (Dec 26, 2008)

cracking pictures there Ben, nice to see a bit of Glasgow my dad is always going on about the lost stream of the Molendinar


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## ashless (Dec 26, 2008)

Agreed, cracking mix of natural and man made there mate


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## Sabtr (Dec 26, 2008)

Crikey there's some mad variation in there! Glasgow is one of the cities I had thought about when it comes to culverts.

I think you did a lot more than I could manage at the mo.

Great stuff there.


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## Lateo (Dec 26, 2008)

words cannot express how mad I think you Drainers are.... 

nicely done.... (but i need a shower just looking at that deluge )


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## BigLoada (Dec 26, 2008)

That is well cool and good tyo see some culverts from over the border! The oval section and the bits where the calcite and flowstone is are particularly interesting.


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## BenCooper (Dec 26, 2008)

Thanks - yes, it's certainly changed a lot. The water is clear - it's not as bad as a sewer by a long way 

I went back again a month or so later, to cover the downstream leg:

The downstream tunnel entrance:





First there's beautiful stone, quite high:





Then stone walls and a brick roof:





Then circular brick, with some neat side drains:





Then lower and oval, with some steeper sections:





It then opens up a bit:





Before getting quite a bit lower:





Going under a large pipe:





A couple more side drains - theses don't drain into the burn, they end up somewhere underneath it:





Then a whole series of beautiful brick arches:





Then it gets very, very low and goes under the underground rail line from Central Station - I was half way through when a train went overhead:





Then a long, long backbreaking stretch:





Then a junction, where the Camlachie Burn joins the Molendinar at Greendyke Street:





Carrying on a bit further, the burn drops into a smaller pipe, and the way is impassable - this must be almost at the Clyde:





Going back upstream to where the Camlachie joins the Molendinar, there's a wall and pillar:





Going up the Camlachie this time, the way is a lot more pleasant than the Molendinar - much higher:





Some nice changes of construction:





A bit of modern concrete and brick:





Back to brick, and some nice reassuring reinforcement:





Some more beautiful side drains:





Then good old steel pipe, the same as upstream on the Molindenar Burn:





A newer, more open section:





And at this point, I stopped to turn back, as it was getting late:





Stopping only to photograph some subterranean mushrooms:


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## Foxylady (Dec 26, 2008)

Those red brick arches are gorgeous. Good stuff!


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## dickyhart (Feb 12, 2009)

terrific stuff sir!! one of the best and bravest explores ive seen in years.

Dicky


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## crickleymal (Feb 12, 2009)

Top stuff. Were you on your own? If so you're madder than I thought you were


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## V70 (Feb 12, 2009)

Nice explore Ben  .. its amazing what gems are hidden away down there, especially those stalactite sections... amazing!

I think I might settle for looking at your photos though, although I have been known to be almost neck deep in sticky mud down old mines


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## apoo.. (Mar 3, 2009)

it amazes me when i read the underground threads. unfortunately at the moment wouldnt know where to start in my area. but i will get there. really nice pics. thanks for sharing


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## spacepunk (Mar 9, 2009)

Well done, excellent report.


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## sheep21 (Apr 28, 2009)

I dont like to necro threads but boy oh boy!

You ir are a brave\mad\fool for doing all this, balls the size of watermellons!

Thankyou for sharing such an amazing site with us.


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## BenCooper (Apr 28, 2009)

Cheers 

For giggles, I tried mapping how far I went - total distance travelled underground: about 5 miles...


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## sheep21 (Apr 28, 2009)

BenCooper said:


> Cheers
> 
> For giggles, I tried mapping how far I went - total distance travelled underground: about 5 miles...



5 miles, good lord. How many of those were spent bent double or on your stomach by the looks of it!


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## LiamCH (Apr 28, 2009)

I really like these pictures. It's a fantastic location, but a lot of people wouldn't be able to show it in the pictures as effortlessly as you have - especially using a flash. Did you use a powerful external flash?


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## BenCooper (Apr 28, 2009)

There was a good long section - about half a mile each way - that had to be done doubled over. That got pretty tiring, especially on the way back which was upstream. There were a few really low bits - not quite crawling, but not far off it.

Liam - I was using an external flash on my camera. It's an old-but-good Minolta one, guide number of 56 if that means anything...


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