# Meadowside Shipyard Offices, Glasgow - Dec. 2009



## BenCooper (Dec 14, 2009)

Tod and McGregor claimed to be the "fathers of iron shipbuilding on the Clyde" - in 1835, they launched the _Vale of Leven_, the first iron vessel actually built on the banks of the Clyde. Tod and McGregor had started out as foremen at Camlachie Foundry, and set out on thier own as marine engineers in 1834. Their first yard was further upriver, then they moved south of the river, before moving to a new, large site at Meadowfield where the River Kelvin joins the Clyde.





Here they built one of the first drydocks in Scotland, and also a slip dock for repairs. They built vessels for various companies including P&O - one notable ship was the _City of Glasgow_, the first screw-driven steamer to cross the Atlantic.

David and William Henderson, who owned an engineering works in Finnieston, bought the yard from Mr Tod Jr. in 1873 after the deaths of the original founders. The Henderson brothers were also partners in the Anchor Line, for whom they built 32 ships between 1876 and 1911, and they also built 19 ships for Lamport & Holt of Liverpool among others. Repair work also kept the yard busy, and they built prestigious racing yachts including _Britannia_ in 1893 for the Prince of Wales.





The yard was bought by Harland & Wolff in 1917, but the depression between the wars did it for the yard, which closed in 1935. The drydock was filled in in the '60s, and everything has been demolished apart from the offices, which have been occupied by several other companies but now lie empty. The above picture shows the Meadowside offices on the right, the Glasgow Harbour development which has recently replaced the enormous Meadowside granaries, and the (operational) Fairfields BAE Systems yard at Govan on the opposite bank. Inside, the office building would have been beautiful in it's prime:







 



Most of the offices have been remodelled in the usual style of suspended ceilings and chipboard panels, but a few still keep their original features:













Since the yard closed over 70 years ago, I wasn't holding out much hope for interesting paperwork, and first prospects weren't good:





But then, crawling about in the attic, the shelves held out some hope:









And then, poking in pigeon shit under the eaves, some older paperwork - the first plans got my hopes up but they turned out to be building plans from the '60s:





But then, bingo :thumb

























More, as usual, in my Flickr set...


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## night crawler (Dec 14, 2009)

Great stuff but I do wonder if the paper work you found wil survive a clear out it coul dget dumped when it could be of great value to a museum. Gear photos.


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## Pugstar (Dec 14, 2009)

Great pics and place. I agree that paperwork should be kept.


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## Goldie87 (Dec 14, 2009)

Thats a great looking place, and some nice finds there too!


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## Sabtr (Dec 15, 2009)

Fascinating. I agree with the others that paperwork like this is priceless and should be kept somewhere like a museum.

The architecture of the building is a mad mix of different decades and styles. It's strange seeing the building stood there all alone and unloved. Someone really should save the place.

Another great report Ben. Keep 'em coming.


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## BenCooper (Dec 15, 2009)

Cheers, yes, I was surprised there was anything, since shipbuilding ceased over 70 years ago...


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## Skin ubx (Jan 14, 2010)

Very nice - mind you its a pity a lot of that D&W Henderson paperwork and plans has somehow left the building


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## thekatt (Jan 14, 2010)

Looks a great place, love that open staircase, and most of it seems intact.


Andy


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## BenCooper (Jan 14, 2010)

Skin ubx said:


> Very nice - mind you its a pity a lot of that D&W Henderson paperwork and plans has somehow left the building



Well, it weren't me.

Feck it - no, it was me. I contacted the Glasgow Uni Archives Service, who collect loads of this important paperwork, and told them about this stuff. It was probably retrieved by Clydeport, and is now in safe hands the way it should be.


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 14, 2010)

BenCooper said:


> Well, it weren't me.
> 
> Feck it - no, it was me. I contacted the Glasgow Uni Archives Service, who collect loads of this important paperwork, and told them about this stuff. It was probably retrieved by Clydeport, and is now in safe hands the way it should be.



Job well done, I'd say 

Great pics by the way -canny beat ol' paperwork!


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## bOGrAT (Jan 14, 2010)

Quality report and pic's, nice one.


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## BenCooper (Jan 14, 2010)

Thanks - I do love the feeling of finding something that's been untouched for 70 years, but finding pigeon feathers stuck in your hair afterwards is not fun...


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## skittles (Jan 14, 2010)

Looks like a fab place


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## Lusker (Jan 15, 2010)

Very cool spot and love the detail shots


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## wolfism (Jan 15, 2010)

Good stuff, nice to see another shipyard office surviving in Glasgow. I managed to have a poke around in Fairfields' old offices before they were subdivided into work spaces – very ornate and a surprising amount of drawings left there, too.



BenCooper said:


> Feck it - no, it was me. I contacted the Glasgow Uni Archives Service, who collect loads of this important paperwork, and told them about this stuff. It was probably retrieved by Clydeport, and is now in safe hands the way it should be.



Who was it you dealt with in the archives? Wouldn't mind having a look at the blueprints once (presumably) the conservators are finished with them.


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## BenCooper (Jan 16, 2010)

It was David Powell. There weren't many blueprints - my pictures show pretty much all of them - but I think the archives have more from Meadowside.

Is Fairfields worth a look, or is it all stripped now?


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## wolfism (Jan 16, 2010)

Thanks, might have a look anyway as I've been working my way through yards mentioned in "Song of the Clyde".

Not sure about Fairfields now, we saw it in summer '08, and the last mention I spotted was Govan Workspace opening it on Doors Open Day last year for folk to have a look at the conversion?


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## Digitographer (Jan 24, 2010)

Well done on the documents, Ben - and great pics, too


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## double-six (Jan 30, 2010)

That's a place with a story to tell. Looks so much more interesting than just exploring a shell of a boring derelict building!


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