Helensburgh Heritage
Helensburgh Heritage Trust
MANY Helensburgh people were sad to hear in February 2014 of the closure of the town’s oldest hostelry, the Imperial Hotel on West Clyde Street.
Originally the Tontine Hotel, what is now popularly known as ‘The Imps’ has seen and played a big part in the town’s history since the early years of the 19th century, not long after burgh status was gained in 1802.
A LEADING Cardross resident for nearly 40 years was one of the owners of the world’s largest private steamship company . . . which is said to have been the inspiration for the popular 'Onedin Line' TV drama series in the 1970s.
Shipowner Claud Allan was a member of the Allan family of Scotland and Canada, founders of the Allan Steamship Line.
MUCH is known about a popular Helensburgh institution, the Queen’s Hotel in East Clyde Street, but there is a significant gap in the list of owners.
Henry Bell, the town’s first Provost, is believed to have opened the seafront hotel — then named the Baths Inn — with his wife Margaret in 1807, a year after he acquired the land.
A BOY who emigrated from Helensburgh to Australia at the age of just eleven went on to become one of the pioneers of early professional photography.
Despite being orphaned soon after arriving Down Under, burgh-born Thomas Mathewson started a family dynasty in the photographic business. This is his story as told by one of his grandsons, Alan Reeve North, who has written a book about him.
ONE of Glasgow’s most popular newspapers used to be the Evening Citizen . . . and it was founded and edited for many years by a Helensburgh man who started a press dynasty.
FINNART Ocean Terminal is a petrochemical transfer facility on the eastern shore of Loch Long, about two miles north of Garelochhead.
Also known as Finnart Oil Terminal, it is made up of a series of piers which extend into the loch, with a deep berth able to accept tankers of up to 324,000 tonnes.
AN impressive Helensburgh building which began life as a lemonade factory later became an antique business and twice a garage.
It stood at the junction of East King Street and Lomond Street, where Fruin Court now stands.