Marlin Ford

Översikt

Marlin Ford was an ancient ford of the Clyde, 4 miles downriver from Glasgow Bridge. It connected the lands around Scotstoun with the Burgh of Renfrew. It was in use up to the time when the Clyde was narrowed and deepened in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Mary Queen of Scots may have used the Marlin Ford on route from Stirling to the Battle of Langside. This may or may not be the case but in a book by James Pagan ‘Sketch of the History of Glasgow’ 1847 on page 17 quotes “Intelligence, however, reached Murray that the Queens Army was marching along the south bank of the River Clyde with the view of fording the river at Renfrew”

In 1760, following the engineer John Smeaton's advice & plans the Glasgow authorities attempted to build a tidal lock at the Marlin Ford to help raise the depth of the Clyde to the east. This was to permit shipping to enter the upper regions of the river. The scheme failed due to erosion by the river and was abandoned in 1762,

The later successful narrowing and deepening of the river, initiated by the English engineer, John Golborne, eradicated the Marlin Ford.

Glasgow West Community Map
updated 11/2012 by avitacum