Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Kibble Palace
, was built in 1863 for wealthy landowner John Kibble's estate on the
shores of Loch Long, where it stood for ten years before he decided to transport it into
Glasgow, drawing it up the Clyde on a vast raft pulled by a steamer. For over two
decades it was used not as a greenhouse but as a Victorian pleasure palace, before the
gardens' owners put a stop to the drunken revels that wreaked havoc with the lawns
and plant beds. Today the palace is more sedate, housing lush ferns, exotic blooms and
swaying palms from around the world. Nearby, the
Main Range Glasshouse
is home to
lurid flowers and plants luxuriating in the humidity, including stunning orchids, cacti,
ferns and tropical fruit. Between the two in the old curator's house is a small
visitor
centre
with art exhibitions and computer games aimed at younger visitors.
In addition to the area around the main glasshouses, there are some beautifully
remote paths in the gardens that weave along the closely wooded banks of the deep-set
River Kelvin, linking up with the walkway that runs alongside the river all the way
down to Dumbarton Road, near its confluence with the Clyde.
Clydeside
“he
Clyde
made Glasgow and Glasgow made the Clyde” runs an old saw, full of
sentimentality for the days when the river was the world's premier shipbuilding centre,
and when its industry lent an innovation and confidence which made Glasgow the
second city of the British Empire. Despite the hardships that heavy industry brought,
every Glaswegian would follow the progress of the skeleton ships under construction in
the riverside yards, cheering them on their way down the Clyde as they were launched.
he last of the great liners to be built on
Clydeside
was the
QE2
in 1967, yet such
events are hard to visualize today, with the banks of the river all but devoid of any
industry: shipbuilding is now restricted to a couple of barely viable yards, as derelict
warehouses, crumbling docks and overgrown wastelands crowd the river's flanks.
Glasgow is often accused of failing to capitalize on its river, and it's only in the last
few years, with a flurry of construction, that it's once again becoming a focus of
attention. Striking constructions such as the titanium-clad “
Armadillo
” concert hall,
the creatively lit
Clyde Arc
(known as “the squinty bridge”), the curvaceous
Glasgow
Science Centre
and the box-like new home of
BBC Scotland
have become icons of the
city's forward-thinking image, though its shipbuilding heritage is not forgotten, with
attractions such as the
Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour
striving to recreate the river's
heyday and the
Finnieston Crane
, retained as an icon of shipbuilding days. he
culmination of this activity is the new
Riverside Museum
.
The Riverside Museum
100 Pointhouse Place • Mon-Thurs & Sat 10am-5pm, Fri & Sun 11am-5pm • Free •
T
0141 287 2720,
W
glasgowlife.org.uk •
Partick underground
Just west of the Science Centre, on the other side of the river, the magnificent new
Riverside Museum
- Scotland's Museum of Transport and Travel - houses artefacts
from Glasgow's old transport museum, and a lot more besides. he wave-like
THE WAVERLEY
One of Glasgow's best-loved treasures is the
Waverley
, the last seagoing paddle steamer in
the world, which spends the summer cruising to various ports on the Firth of Clyde and the
Ayrshire coast from its base at the Glasgow Science Centre (see opposite). Built on Clydeside as
recently as 1947, she's an elegant vessel to look at, not least when she's thrashing away at full
steam with the hills of Argyll or Arran in the background. The booking o
ce (
T
0845 130 4647,
W
waverleyexcursions.co.uk) has information on sailing times and her itinerary.
