23-04-2025
The story of why this Glasgow area had a different name for decades
In the meantime, a name was used that hinted at the huge significance a certain body of water had on the area.
The first survey to plot a "Great Canal" linking the Forth and Clyde rivers was carried out in 1763 by engineer John Smeaton.
Given the huge increase in trade between the east and west coasts of Scotland, it was hoped that a planned direct route over water would reduce the time and costs associated with transporting goods over land.
Such an ambitious and expensive project naturally attracted debate over essential details such as where to connect the two rivers, how wide and deep to make the canal, and of course, which route the canal should take.
1785 plan of the canal (Image: Glasgow City Archives) After all, fortunes were to be made by those who stood to benefit from the canal's construction.
Landowners were assured that they would reap the benefits of the canal's presence on their land and that the canal would increase populations on both sides of the country. Maryhill would end up being a great example of both promised consequences.
When Mary Hill and Robert Graham married in around 1761, they brought together the estates of Gairbraid, Garrioch and Lambhill – Mary having inherited the two former estates as a child and Robert's father having purchased the latter in 1700.
The Gairbraid estate had debts and an initial idea to mine coal in the area proved to be a non-starter.
This unsuccessful attempt was soon forgotten when it was announced in 1785 that the Forth and Clyde canal would be extended westward beyond the current terminus of Stockingfield through land owned by the Graham-Hills.
Their sale of land for the canal earned them enough money to leave the old Gairbraid House and build a new one in 1789. This new Georgian mansion sat at the end of a tree-lined avenue off the toll road and overlooked the river Kelvin.
While the house was demolished in the 1920s, the street remains and is now called Gairbraid Avenue in reference to the old estate.
Gairbraid House (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
Since the mid-1700s, the village had started to build up with the printworks at Dawsholm established in 1750, the toll road constructed in 1753 and houses to accommodate the printworkers built in the 1770s on Bridge Street (now Bantaskin Street).
The locks 1961 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
The canal's construction had a huge impact on the village's landscape with several major features being added to facilitate the canal's passage through the land.
The main toll road running through was diverted so that a canal aqueduct could be built straight over it rather than at an awkward angle. Just along from this, a series of five locks were built past Bridge Street to carry boats down a slope of 50 feet, one of the steepest parts of the canal.
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Perhaps the most impressive construction at this section, however, was the aqueduct built to cross the river Kelvin. Standing at 68 feet high and running 275 feet long, the aqueduct was praised by contemporaries as a display of great engineering skill and elegance. Thankfully worth the money then, having cost around £850k - £1 million in today's money.
As well as altering the landscape, the canal's construction also threw open the doors for more industries to thrive in the area. Notably, a drydock for the building and repairing of boats was constructed between locks 22 and 23 at Kelvin Street (now Cowal Road).
In an indication of the influence the canal's presence had on the village, people started referring to it as Drydock.
To avoid confusion with other docks at Lancefield and Finnieston, Drydock morphed into Kelvindock.
This name would stick for decades, with the sawmill and timber yard called Kelvindock Saw Mills and the first bus serving the area in 1842 called the Kelvindock Omnibus.
It would be from the 1840s onwards that the name Maryhill started to take precedence. By 1850 the population had massively increased to 3000, just like the Canal company promised.
