Port Dundas 1.33

Port Dundas is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, located 1mi to the north of the city centre. It lies to the north of Cowcaddens, and to the west of Sighthill, with Hamiltonhill and Possilpark to the north-west.HistoryThe Port Dundas terminus was established at One Hundred Acre Hill between 1786 and 1790 and was named after Sir Lawrence Dundas, one of the major backers of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company. Port Dundas formed the terminus of a branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal in the centre of Glasgow, linking to the adjacent Monkland Canal. It became an industrial centre in the 19th century, with textile mills, chemical works, granaries, distilleries, glassworks, iron foundries, power stations and engineering works all operating in the area. In 1859, a brick chimney was built at Port Dundas for F. Townsend. At 454ft it was the tallest chimney in the world at the time, with an outside diameter of 32ft at ground level.Pinkston Power StationIn 1900, the coal fired Pinkston Power Station was built at Port Dundas to generate electricity for the Glasgow Corporation Tramways network. Equipped with Belliss and Morcom generator sets, Glasgow Corporation had decided to electrify the network by 1901 for the opening of the International Exhibition at Kelvingrove Park. A large cooling tower was added in 1954 and was the largest in Europe at the time. After passing to the South of Scotland Electricity Board in 1958, it was decommissioned in the 1960s and eventually demolished in the early 1980s.