Although it’s not really something I know, I do have a bit of memory of the British Steel plant that used to cover the land south of Fullarton Road (and a lot more).
Looking at the area today, it’s hard to picture it as a massive steel plant, so big, a road once ran through it – this was (I hope) the Clyde Iron Works.
It was eventually closed, leaving little to show where it was, as much of the land was completely cleared, then laid out to become Clydesmill Industrial Estate in later years.
Although there archive pics of these works to be found online, such is their size, and the extent of the clearance and rectification of the land (together with the various road and housing developments that have taken place over the years) that I can barely even identify the location of these places when trying to compare today’s aerial views with those taken (I’m guessing) in the 1970s and before.
The view has changed almost completely.
There was also a tube works to the north, and the offices at the entrance still exist on Tollcross Road, at the junction with Amulree Street, where they have become various types over the years.
Another survivor (from the iron works site) is shown below, although I don’t know the actual purpose of this building (or any of the others nearby) when it was part of the steel plant. After the plant was gone it, and those around it, were converted into small business units known as the Clyde Workshops – I know that because I ended up working there.
I wandered down there a few years ago, and was almost surprised to see the building was still there – I knew a number of the old building had been demolished, not only because the site was being ‘tidied’, but because it bordered on the M74 extension, completed there some years ago, once the objectors were finally given their marching orders.
I took a pic which showed it hadn’t really changed much, and have to say it was a fairly desolate structure, probably typical of the period it was built, which was probably just after 1900.
Clyde Workshops 2016
I would have liked to have taken a second pic to show how it had changed in recent years, as it had 21st century makeover, presumably gaining things like insulation and double glazing, but it seems I can’t, without having a reason to get in there.
While I once wandered in and out of this place 24 hours a day, and later had the use of offices there, it seems that a casual stroll around the place to take pics is no longer allowed, with a security barrier across the entrance, protecting the new business which have moved into the space. I could walk around it, but given the sort of stories appearing in the media about low wage low IQ security guards who seem to ‘shoot first, ask questions later’, I don’t think I’ll be doing that any time soon.
Instead, I turned to Google Street View, and got lucky as they seem to have driven through the place, just once, back in 2019, and their catch of the day did manage to show the differences.
Clyde Workshops 2019
Look at the aerial!
Secret Scotland 