Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 141

1775 had reached Stockingfield in Maryhill, Glasgow. There were
insufficient funds to push on to the Clyde, but in 1777 a basin was
opened at Hamiltonhill, near what is now Partick Thistle's football
ground. The basin quickly became a busier port than the Broomie-
law on the Clyde itself, and a focus for industrial development in
the area.
In 1786 Robert Whitworth resumed work with a government
loan of £50,000 and took the canal on to the Clyde at Bowling,
building locks and an aqueduct at Maryhill, which became one of
the city sights. At the same time a new terminal was built at Port
Dundas, named after the company chairman, on the south side of
Summerhill. It had an oval basin, a granary, and a link called 'The
Cut of Junction' from its east end to the Monkland Canal, begun in
1770 by James Watt to carry coal into the city but not completed
until 1793 and subsequently deepened in 1807 [ 21 ].
However, there is an oddity. The 1782 map shows the full
length of the cut, identified as 'Forth and Clyde Canal (Glasgow
Branch).' Since it is shown dotted perhaps it is the proposed route,
or work in progress; if so, interestingly enough, the same applies
to Parliamentary Road, then across country but later to become
one of the city's most famous pub-crawls - “A' the pubs in Parly
Road.” (By the late 1970s it had been so carved up by housing
developments, etc., that when John and I left the hilltop at 2.20
p.m. one day, after working through a very hot morning and lunch
hour, we couldn't get a drink anywhere!)
It's still odder that the 1782 map shows the Basin and Tim-
ber Basin between Broomhill and Summerhill just as they survive
today. Yet the Mitchell Library has another map, apparently later
since it shows 'Port Dundas Bason (sic)' and 'Port Dundas Town,'
yet with no sign of the wharves. This 'Plan of the Lands of Hun-
dred Acre Hill, Broomhill & C., Lying in the parish of Barony and
Shire of Lanerk (sic), The Property of Mrs. Rae Crawfurd of Mil-
ton,' was drawn up for the auction of three plots of ground, of
which the third lot was 'Whin Park' in the bend of the canal where
the wharves were later placed. Perhaps it was at that auction that
the canal company or other developers acquired the ground.
At any rate, the plan shows how the canal put an end to the
huge Broomhill Farm so soon after the Lands of Broomhill were
enclosed. For the information of prospective buyers it helpfully