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Helensburgh, Clyde Street West, Esplanade, Monument To Henry Bell

Commemorative Monument (19th Century)

Site Name Helensburgh, Clyde Street West, Esplanade, Monument To Henry Bell

Classification Commemorative Monument (19th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Henry Bell Monument; West Clyde Street

Canmore ID 197521

Site Number NS28SE 109

NGR NS 29381 82323

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/197521

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Bluesky International Limited 2025. Public Sector Viewing Terms

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Rhu
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Dumbarton
  • Former County Dunbartonshire

Archaeology Notes

NS28SE 109 29381 82323

Monument [NAT]

OS (GIS) MasterMap, November 2009.

For monument to Henry Bell at Dunglass Castle (NS 4377 7353), see NS47SW 7.01.

For flywheel and anvil in Hermitage Park, Helensburgh (at NS 29855 82784), see NS28SE 236.

Activities

Field Visit (26 October 2017)

This commemorative monument, which is situated at the foot of James Street, on the esplanade between West Clyde Street and the Clyde estuary, has a fine outlook SSW to Greenock. Fashioned from a polished pink granite, it is a square-sectioned, tapering obelisk with a pyramidical top, set upon a pedestal above three broad sandstone plinths. The inscription on the lower tier of the pedestal reads as follows: ‘Erected In 1872 / To The Memory Of / Henry Bell / The First In Great Britain Who Was / Successful In Practically Applying Steam / Power For The Purposes Of Navigation / / Born In The County Of Linlithgow in 1768 / Died At Helensburgh In 1830’.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW, AMcC) 26 October 2017.

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