Clydebridge Steelworks

The Clydebridge Steelworks, also known as Clydebridge Works, is a steel works in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

The plant opened in 1877. The works made steel sheared plates to build ships (among other uses) - plates from Clydebridge were used in many famous vessels such as the

• 1887 – Clydebridge Steel Company opens as an independent private firm, managed by Walter and Hugh Neilson who are members of a family of Scottish ironmasters.^[7]
• 1907 - Closes due to an economic downturn.^[8]
• 1915 - Taken over by Colvilles to provide steel for World War I materials.^[9]
• 1917 –
  King George V visits; works double in size.^[10]
• 1920 - Clydebridge has 2000 employees.
• 1923 – A new plate mill is installed, among many other improvements making the works one of the most modern and efficient of the time.
• 1928 – The Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) visits.
• 1932 – The firm survives the Great Depression but output drops by up to half and staff numbers dip to their lowest at 507.
• 1938 –
  King George VI
  visits.
• 1939 – Clydebridge is linked to the Clyde Iron Works, becoming one of the largest integrated steelworks (producing both the hot metal and the finished steel) in the UK; a gas pipeline and railway bridge is constructed over the River Clyde which separated the two plants.^[11]
• 1951 – Works are
  nationalised as part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain
  , this lasts until 1955 then ownership reverts to Colvilles.
• 1959 - Colvilles' new steelworks at Ravenscraig in Motherwell is completed.
• 1962 – Installation of 4-High Plate Mill and Heat Treatment & Quenching Plant sees works reach their maximum size.
• 1967 – Works again nationalised as part of
  British Steel Corporation
  .
• 1974 – Clydebridge has 2410 employees.
• 1977 - Clyde Iron Works and the Clydebridge melting shops (which had produced 20 million tonnes of steel in the preceding 90 years) closes, with hundreds of job losses.
• 1980 - Clydebridge workers (now numbering 800) take part in the steel strike from January to April.^[12]
• 1982 – The Plate Mill and Light Shearline are closed, making more unemployed - just 150 remain in a vastly downscaled operation.
• 1988 – British Steel is privatised; Clydebridge has 100 workers.
• 1999 – British Steel becomes Corus after a merger with
  Koninklijke Hoogovens
  , becoming the largest steel company in Europe. However at Clydebridge only a handful of workers remain going into the 21st century.
• 2006 – Tata Steel acquires Corus and renames it Tata Steel Europe
• 2011 – the M74 motorway extension through the site is completed.
• 2016 – Following a
  wind turbines.^[16][17]
• 2020 – Jahama Estates, part of the GFG Alliance group which also owns Liberty House,^[18] confirms plans to build a hotel on the eastern part of the unused ground at Clydebridge, with further development possibilities being considered for the site in the medium term.^[19][20]
• 2021 – hotel plans cancelled as Liberty Group struggles with substantial debts, a situation compounded by the collapse in productivity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.^[21]
• 2022 – winding-up petition issued for Liberty holding company.^[22]

Geography

The secure site occupies a large parcel of land which is on a meander of the River Clyde, between the towns of Rutherglen and Cambuslang. The southern boundary is the Whifflet Line railway tracks (between Rutherglen and Carmyle). During the peak of activity at the works, several branches linked from the main lines into Clydebridge and to the Clyde Iron Works on the opposite bank of the river.

The works are approached via an access road under the railway at the southern side of the site (Bogleshole Road), near to

The initial Clydebridge plant from 1887 was located in the south east of the territory directly beside the main line railway bridge. This site was chosen as it offered access to the railway, a source of water for cooling processes, a potential link to the river for transportation, had spare ground for waste products and future expansions, and was very close to the

The rubble of the older buildings was added to the

Since 2010 the mound has been separated from the rest of the works by the final section of the M74 motorway which runs through the middle of the site and is connected to the older section of the road by the Auchenshuggle Bridge over the Clyde. A footbridge under the motorway on the north bank of the river allows the Clyde Walkway and National Cycle Route 75 to continue, and a similar footbridge on the south bank connects the Clydebridge works to the mound area – a feasibility study was conducted in 2015 on creating a cycling and walking route which would run from Cambuslang to Farme Cross via this footbridge and past the mound, either adjacent to the river or to the motorway.^[30]

In 1992,

Clydebridge Viaduct

The railway bridge over the river (known initially as Hamilton Farm Viaduct after the original farm nearby, but also referred to as Clydebridge Viaduct once that name became well known)

Bogleshole Road Bridge

A road bridge was constructed to the south of the railway bridge in 1986, connecting Rutherglen directly to the motorway and Carmyle^[36] - previously, road traffic between these areas would need to go via Dalmarnock and London Road, or via the older bridge in Cambuslang (albeit a replacement for this had already been opened in 1976). Bogleshole Bridge was built near the site of an ancient ford of the same name across the river,^[37] and this was named after the Bogle family who owned much of the land on both banks of the river, from Hamilton Farm up to Daldowie estate.

References