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Field Visit
Date 2 October 2017
Event ID 1029946
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1029946
A sandstone wall standing to a height of 2m and running for a distance of about 40m from NE to SW is all that remains of ‘Harvie’s Dyke’, which once defined the NW side of the policies of Westthorn Estate, separating it from the Belvidere Estate, both lying on the N bank of the River Clyde. Westthorn was acquired by Thomas Harvey, the whisky distiller, in 1819, and, soon after, he had constructed a high wall that ran down to the river’s edge, in the process blocking access to a public footpath which ran along the SW side of his property. To further prevent access to this path he also built a guardhouse. Probably the earliest depiction of the dyke is that which appears on the Great Reform Act Plan of Glasgow (1832). This shows the wall (annotated ‘Mr Harvie’s Dyke’) extending downslope as far as the water’s edge and two buildings attached to the ESE side of the wall, one of which was presumably the (by 1832) former guardhouse.
In 1822 a mob attempted to pull down the wall but it was dispersed by militia. A long legal battle ensued, ending at the High Court in London in 1826 with the footpath being declared a public right of way. The legal proceedings are described in a Broadside Report entitled, ‘Downfall of Harvie’s Dyke’, published by John Miller of Princes Street, Glasgow on 10 July 1828 (National Library of Scotland, Shelfmark: APS.4.98.6(2)).
Despite the 1826 court ruling and the wall being pulled back from the edge of the river, the name ‘Harvie’s Dyke’ persisted and it is annotated as such on Rapkin’s 1854 town plan of Glasgow (NLS: EMS.s.69), which also probably depicts (as an open rectangle) the former guardhouse. The dyke is also noted on the 1:500 OS Town Plan of Glasgow (1858, Sheet VI.16.18). Most of the length of the original wall has been replaced by a brick wall that was probably constructed around 1870 to enclose the grounds of the newly-built Belvidere Infectious Diseases Hospital (NS66SW 589) which closed in 1999.
Visited by HES Survey and Recording (AMcC, JRS) 2 October 2017.
