Today Braehead is primarily associated with shopping and leisure, with the Braehead Shopping Centre (map reference 1) and Xscape (map reference 3) as major draws for visitors. However, the ship building history of the area is still apparent and the Scottish Maritime Museum's Clydebuilt is the ideal place to explore further.
The King George V Dock (map reference 4) survives as a working dock at the east end of the site, though it can only be seen from the north bank. It was constructed in 1931, the last major dock to be developed on the Clyde. It had an open entrance for the benefit of increasingly large vessels.
Opposite, on the north bank,was the Scotstoun yard of Charles Connell & Co, founded in 1861 but which closed in 1971. To the west are the massive grey early 20th century engineering sheds, originally set up to manufacture heavy gunmountings for navalwarships. Later this became Harland & Wolff’s Diesel Engine Works (map reference 5). Beyond these, you can see the working Scotstoun shipbuilding yard established by Sir Alfred Yarrow in 1906 and now operated by BVT Surface Fleet (map reference 6).
View Braehead on Google maps (opens in new window).
Visit the Clydebuilt museum for a complete picture of shipbuilding on the Clyde
Map Reference (2)
George V dock was the last dock to be built on the Clyde and is still in use today.
Map Reference (4)
Clyde View Park includes sculptures by the artist Kenny Munro who worked with local school children to create pieces that would commemorate the shipbuilding history of the area.
Map Reference (7)
