Glasgow, Hutchesontown, Former Bridges
Road Bridge (18th Century), Road Bridge(S) (19th Century)
Site Name Glasgow, Hutchesontown, Former Bridges
Classification Road Bridge (18th Century), Road Bridge(S) (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Hutchesontown Bridge; Hutcheson Bridge; Hutcheson's Bridge; Hutchesontown, Former Wooden Bridge; River Clyde
Canmore ID 168136
Site Number NS56SE 885
NGR NS 594 644
NGR Description NS c. 594 644
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/168136
- Council Glasgow, City Of
- Parish Glasgow (City Of Glasgow)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District City Of Glasgow
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS56SE 885 c. 594 644
Location formerly cited as NS c. 5943 6443.
For (present and successor) Albert Bridge (NS 59412 64444), see NS56SE 154.
Albert Bridge [NS56SE 154] is the fifth to be built at or near the end of the Saltmarket. The first, partly funded by the patrons of Hutcheson's Hospital and called Hutchesontown Bridge, was begun in 1794-5 by John Roberton or Robertson, a mason of Pollockshaws, but was destroyed by a flood in November 1795, and found impossible to rebuild.
In 1803 a fine timber footbridge designed by Peter Nicholson was erected on a site just upstream. It stood until another stone bridge, called Hutcheson Bridge, was built (in 1829-34), the engineer being Robert Stevenson (grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson). By 1868 it had become unsafe owing to the deepening of the river, and had to be destroyed.
A temporary timber bridge carried the traffic until the Albert Bridge opened (1871).
E Williamson, A Riches and M Higgs 1990.
These bridges are not noted by J R Hume (1974). They apparently carried a public road (the Saltmarket) across the River Clyde at the W corner of Glasgow Green. The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Glasgow (to the N) and Govan (to the S).
The location assigned to this record is essentially tentative. The successive bridges need not all necessarily have occupied the same location.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 15 December 2005.
EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
Glasgow, Hutchesontown Bridge.
The Mitchell Library, Glasgow: T.Fairburn's Relic of Anc. Arch. No.18 - With Nelsons Monument and Ann's Well.
Glasgow, Hutchesons Bridge and Jail.
Demolished 1868.
The Mitchell Library, Glasgow: Glasgow in Former Times I - Lithograph of drawing by James Anderson.
