Glasgow, Lower Harbour, Harbour Tunnel

PLANTATION

In 1783 John Robertson, a sugar and cotton merchant as well as cashier of the Glasgow Arms Bank, bought Craigiehall estate and renamed it Plantation. Twenty years later it was sold to John Mair, a Paisley mason. Then in 1829 the estate was acquired by William Maclean, a Glasgow merchant and Deacon Convenor of the Trades House. James Salmon laid out the estate for feuing c.1860 but development was delayed over arguments about the new dock. By the late 19th century the area around Princes Dock was covered by workers' tenements. Glasgow Harbour Tunnel was opened in 1895, linking Plantation to Finnieston.

Glasgow Harbour Tunnel Shaft & Rotunda, 1 Plantation Place, 1888, Wilson & Simpson, engineer

One of two domed brick rotundas built over 24m- (80ft-) diameter shafts accessing twin horse-drawn vehicular and one pedestrian tunnel under the Clyde. The South Rotunda, with Corinthian cast-iron columns and slate and glass roof, now awaiting a new use.

Taken from "Greater Glasgow: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Sam Small, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

NS56NE 79.00 5718 6516 to 57072 64951

Extends onto map sheet NS56SE.

NS56NE 79.01 NS 57188 65167 North Rotunda

For South Rotunda (NS 57072 64951), see NS56SE 164.

Harbour Tunnel [NAT]

OS 1:1250 map [sheet NS5765SW], 1974.

Harbour Tunnel (disused) [NAT]

OS 1:1250 map [sheet NS5764NW], 1983.

Not to be confused with (vehicular) Clyde Tunnel (NS 5431 6676 to NS 5530 6590), for which see NS56NW 200.00.

(Location cited as NS 571 650). Harbour Tunnel, Tunnel Street to Plantation Place, built 1890-6. Three parallel tunnels, two of which were used by vehicular traffic. At each end is a circular brick terminal, with a domed roof, which housed hydraulic lifts. The pedestrian tunnel is still open.

J R Hume 1976.

Harbour Tunnels. From Tunnel Street, Finnieston, to Mavisbank Quay. 1890-6, for Glasgow Harbour Tunnel Co; engineer Wilson & Simpson; contractor Hugh Kennedy & Sons of Partick. The ends of the tunnels, just W of the line of Finnieston Street, are marked by domed rotundas on both banks of the Clyde, covering the vertical shafts of 24m (80ft) diameter which gave access to three parallel 5m (16ft) diameter tunnels, two for horse-drawn vehicles (one travelling northwards and one south), the third for pedestrians going both ways. Each rotunda and shaft contained stairs for the pedestrians and six hydraulic vehicle lifts by Otis Elevator Co, with supporting steelwork by Findlays of Motherwell.

The tunnels were never financially successful, and in 1943 the lift machinery was removed as scrap metal for the war effort, but the pedestrian tunnel reopened in 1947 and was used in 1980. It contains a 900mm (3ft) diameter water main, installed in 1938, for which access is maintained at the S end. The tunnels were lined with cast iron segments under the river and with brickwork under the quays, theshafts with double-skin cast-iron segments filled with concrete.

In 1986-7 the vehicle tunnels were sealed off at each end, the shafts filled with granular material, and concrete floors laid at ground level to convert the rotundas to new uses. The steel ribs, timber, slates and glass of the roofs were repaired. Of the circular wall of each rotunda, originally built in twelve equal bays, six bays were vehicle entries framed by cast iron Corinthian columns and a continuous steel lintel; the openings are now glazed but the structure is unchanged.

The red and white brick towers adjacent to the rotundas, which housed the hydraulic accumulators, and the company's boilerhouse and power station at the S end, have all been demolished.

E Williamson, A Riches and M Higgs 1990.

This tunnel formerly linked Finnieston Quay (to the N) with Mavisbank Quay (to the S) beneath the River Clyde (Glasgow Lower Harbour). The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Glasgow (to the N) and Govan (to the S). The route of the tunnel is indicated by pecked lines on the appropriate sheets of the OS 1:1250 map.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 January 2006.