at the
Firth of Clyde, seen from
Port Glasgow looking over the redeveloped
Lithgows shipyard site and
Greenock's Great Harbour. The
Gare Loch is ahead, Ardmore Point to the right.
Prehistory Humans have settled along the Clyde since the
Paleolithic era. Artifacts dating from 12,000 BC have been found near
Biggar, a rural town close to the river. Biggar is home to an archeological site at which Britain's most ancient artifacts have been unearthed. Prehistoric
canoes, used by ancient peoples for transport or trade, have been found in the river. There are a number of
Mesolithic sites along the Clyde, especially in the Upper Clyde Valley. Permanent settlements and structures, including what is believed to be a temple to
moon gods in
Govan, were constructed in the area during the
Neolithic and
Bronze Ages.
Celtic art, language, and other aspects of culture began spreading to the area from the south during this period, and prehistoric artifacts suggest that, by around 1000 BCE, they had become the dominant cultural influences there.
Ancient history Before the
legions of the
Roman Empire arrived in southern Scotland, the river and surrounding area had been settled by the Brythonic-speaking
Damnonii tribe. It has been suggested that a Damnonii town called
Cathures was located there and was the precursor to modern Glasgow. The Damnonii tribe originally likely distributed power among individual chiefdoms, but at some point before 500 AD the political framework was a British culture of Welsh speakers that was politically unified and formed a centralised
kingdom known as Alt Clut, representing the power centre at Dunbarton Rock. None of the documentary or archaeological evidence from the period when the Roman legions arrived suggests that battles took place in the area. Therefore the Roman legions and Damnonii tribespeople are assumed to have been on good terms and to have co-operated by means of trade and the exchange of military information. The Romans did, however, construct several
forts () in the area, notably on the banks of the Clyde. These include Castledykes,
Bothwellhaugh, and
Old Kilpatrick and
Bishopton. The Romans also constructed several roads along the river, both small ones and larger ones designed to be used as trade routes and to carry entire legions. The
Antonine Wall, which lies only a few miles from the river, was constructed later by the Romans as a means of defending the area against invasion by the
Picts. Despite the strategic location and flat terrain of Glasgow and the surrounding Clyde basin, no Roman civilian settlement was ever constructed. Instead, the region may have functioned as a frontier zone between the Roman province known as
Britannia Inferior and the
Caledonians, an indigenous group that was hostile to the Romans.
Kingdom of Strathclyde Strathclyde was founded as an independent unified British kingdom, quite some centuries after the
Roman occupation of Britain. The kingdom's core territory and much of its arable land was located around the Clyde basin in the area traditionally associated with Alt Clut. The kingdom was ruled from its original capital, the near impenetrable
Alt Clut fortress (Dumbarton Rock), which was situated on the river and overlooked much of the estuary. This fortress was noteworthy enough to have been referred to at the time in several letters and poems about
Sub-Roman Britain, written by
Gildas and others. Strathclyde remained a powerful kingdom during the early medieval period in Britain. It was also a reservoir of native
Welsh culture: Its territory expanded along the Clyde Vae Southern Uplands and Ayrshire, and eventually southwards into Cumbria.
Govan Old Parish Church originated in the 5th or 6th century. In the
7th century,
Saint Mungo established a new Christian community on the banks of the
Molendinar Burn, a tributary of the Clyde, potentially replacing Cathures if this is assumed to have occupied the same locus. This community was the beginnings of what would become the city of Glasgow. Several villages along the Clyde that were founded in or before this period have endured to this day, and have grown to become towns, including
Llanerc (
Lanark),
Cadzow (
Hamilton), and
Rhynfrwd (
Renfrew). The fortress of Altclut fell in the
Siege of Dumbarton of 870 AD, when a force of
Norse-Irish raiders from the
Kingdom of Dublin sacked it. After that, the kingdom, now politically weakened, possibly moved its capital to
Govan. However, it never fully recovered, and in the
11th century it was annexed by the
Kingdom of Alba. It did however retain some autonomy under the Church of Glasgow, which became the secular successors of much of the territory when it was treated as a Principality of the Scottish Crown.
Medieval and early modern history In the 13th century, Glasgow, then still a small town, built its first bridge over the river Clyde. This was an important step in its ability to eventually grow into a city. The establishment, in the 15th century, of both the
University of Glasgow and the
Archdiocese of Glasgow, vastly increased the importance of the town within Scotland. From the
early modern period onwards, the Clyde began to be used commercially as a trade route; trade between Glasgow and the rest of Europe became commonplace. In the centuries that followed, the Clyde became increasingly vital to both Scotland and Britain as a major trade route for exporting and importing resources.
Port authority The was initially formed in 1840 by the '
(3 & 4 Vict. c. cxviii), and then reconstituted under the (21 & 22 Vict. c. cxlix). The ' (c. xlv) replaced the Clyde Navigation Trust with the
Clyde Port Authority from 1 January 1966, which has since been renamed to 'Clydeport', and was privatisated in 1992. In 2003 it was acquired by
Peel Holdings. == Course ==