Helensburgh ( ; ) is a town and former burgh on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. The town had a population of 14,127 in 2022.
Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996.
History History context (Prehistoric–1858) Although it has long been known that there are some prehistoric remains in the Helensburgh area, recent fieldwork by the North Clyde Archaeological Society has uncovered more. However, the oldest building in the town itself is Ardencaple Castle, which was the ancestral home of Clan MacAulay, and the history of which may date back to the twelfth century.Edward Randolph Welles: Ardincaple and Its Lairds (Jackson, Wylie & Co 1930) Today only one tower of this building remains, the rest having been demolished in 1957–59.
In 1752, Sir James Colquhoun (died 1786), chief of the Clan Colquhoun of Luss, bought the land which was to become Helensburgh; at that time it was known by such names as Malig, Millig or Milligs.Joan Blaeu (or Joannis Blaeu): Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus c1654
In 1776, he placed an advertisement in a Glasgow newspaper seeking to feu the land, and in particular he stated that "bonnet makers, stocking, linen and woolen weavers will meet with encouragement". However, his efforts were unsuccessful, partly because roads were rudimentary and also because the shore at Helensburgh made it unattractive to shipping – it was shallow, dotted with large rocks and subject to a prevailing onshore wind.
No precise date is known for the change of name to Helensburgh. However, it was probably around 1785 when Sir James decided to name the town after his wife, Lady Helen Sutherland (1717–1791); she was the granddaughter of the 16th Earl of Sutherland. However, for a few years, both the old and new names for the town were in use and it was also known for a time simply as the New Town. The town's coat of arms is based on those of the Colquhouns and the Sutherlands.
Helensburgh received its burgh charter from King George III in 1802. This was somewhat surprising, as the 1799 Statistical Account of Scotland indicates that Helensburgh only had a population of about 100 at that time. To commemorate the bicentenary of the burgh charter in 2002 many members of Helensburgh Heritage Trust combined to produce a special history book of the town. Henry Bell (1767–1830) had arrived in Helensburgh by 1806. By training, he was a millwright, but he had also worked for a period in a shipyard at Bo'ness. He probably designed and built the Baths Inn, which he and his wife then ran as a hotel; he designed and built other buildings, such as Dalmonach Works at Bonhill in West Dunbartonshire (now demolished) and St Andrew's Parish Church in Carluke in South Lanarkshire. The Baths Inn later became the Queen's Hotel, and it is now private accommodation as part of Queen's Court at 114 East Clyde Street.
Comet
At that time, the taking of baths (hot and cold, fresh water and salt water) was considered to be advantageous to the health. As a result of his initiative, Helensburgh began to develop as a holiday resort, and Bell also served as the town's first recorded Provost from 1807–09.
When Henry Bell came to Helensburgh, roads to Glasgow were in poor condition and the journey by boat could take several days, depending on the strength and direction of the wind and on tidal conditions. Consequently, in 1812, Henry Bell introduced the paddle steamer Comet to bring guests from Glasgow in comfort and more speedily to his hotel. The Comet was the first commercial steamship in Europe.
That this vessel and subsequent steamships could travel straight into the wind meant that Helensburgh's shallow shore line was a much smaller problem for sailors. As a result, the town began to grow from a population of about 500 in 1810 to 2,229 by the 1841 Census. It is difficult to overstate the importance of Bell in Scottish and British economic history; not only was he a pioneer of tourism, but it can also be argued that the later pre-eminence of the River Clyde in shipbuilding was in no small measure due to him.
Railway revolution
Following the arrival of the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway in 1858 the population of Helensburgh grew even more rapidly, reaching 5,964 in the 1871 Census. The Municipal Buildings, designed by John Honeyman, were completed in 1879.
Glasgow at this time was developing very rapidly as an industrial city, but this rapid growth caused it to become dirty, smoky and unpleasant. The railway meant that the wealthier business people of Glasgow could now set up home in the fresh air of Helensburgh and commute daily between the two places. This led to the expansion of the town northwards up the hill and the building of many substantial Victorian villas. The best known of these is The Hill House, which was designed in 1902–03 by Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and which now belongs to the National Trust for Scotland. These parts of the town are laid out in the gridiron pattern, Helensburgh being an early example of a planned town in Scotland.
In 1960, the line from Helensburgh Central to Glasgow Queen Street Low Level and on to Airdrie was electrified with the then revolutionary new Blue Trains providing faster, regular interval services. Unfortunately, equipment problems led to the temporary withdrawal of the Blue Trains, which did not return to traffic until late 1961. Since then, traffic on this route has risen steadily, helped from October 2010 when two trains each hour commenced running right through to Edinburgh via the newly re-opened (and electrified) Airdrie-Bathgate line.
By the late 1870s, the North British Railway Company (which had become owner of the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway) felt that its steamer services were at a competitive disadvantage, because passengers had to walk from Helensburgh Station, through the town centre and down the pier, thus causing longer journey times. By contrast, their competitors on the other side of the Clyde, the Caledonian Railway and the Glasgow & South Western Railway had stations right beside their piers. The North British therefore proposed to extend the railway line through the town centre from the station on to the pier.
This proposal split opinion in the town down the middle, with Parliament ultimately deciding against it. Consequently, the North British Railway Company decided to build its "station in the sea" at Craigendoran just outside the eastern boundary of the town, and this opened in 1882. Shipping services stopped in 1972 but Craigendoran railway station remains in use. In 1894, the West Highland Railway (a subsidiary of the North British Railway by then) was opened from Craigendoran junction to Fort William, with a new station at Helensburgh Upper. This new railway had no significant effect on the population of the town, but it did alter its appearance, with the construction of a substantial embankment up the hill from Craigendoran and of a deep cutting on the approaches to Helensburgh Upper.
World War I and II There are 205 men and 1 woman named on Helensburgh's war memorial in Hermitage Park. In 2020, the Helensburgh War Memorial Project published its researches and added a further 59 "missing names" to the list; all were men. It also gave a variety of explanations as to why these names were not on the war memorial. If the 1911 census is used, which recorded a population of 8,529, then it can be calculated that Helensburgh lost three percent of its population to the war. This is a particularly significant portion when it is considered that women, children, and elders, amongst other demographics, were not conscripted for the front line. It is thought that a similar number suffered serious physical and mental injuries.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939 the British Government was concerned that London and other ports in the south of England would become the targets for German bombing. Consequently, they decided to build two military ports in Scotland which would be more difficult for German bombers to reach. In 1941, Military Port Number 1 opened at Faslane on the Gareloch, 5 miles (8 km) from Helensburgh. A railway was built linking Faslane to the West Highland Line. A vast tonnage of wartime supplies was moved through Faslane, and it was also used as a port for troop movements. Much of the area around Helensburgh was taken over by both British and American Armed Forces for a variety of wartime activities.
After the end of the War, Faslane was split in two. The southern half was used by the Royal Navy and the northern half for shipbreaking until 1980. In 1957 the Royal Navy closed its submarine base in Rothesay Bay and transferred it to Faslane. Six years later the British Government decided to buy seaborne nuclear weapons from the United States and to base them in submarines at Faslane which became known as the Clyde Submarine Base. This decision had a substantial impact on Helensburgh and the surrounding area particularly with the provision of housing for naval personnel. A further increase in the town's population resulted, it rising to 15,852 in the 1991 Census. From 1996, surface vessels have also been based there, and this caused a change of the official name to Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde.
The Annual Report of the Fishery Board for 1913 provides an insight into fishing from Helensburgh in the Firth of Clyde at that time. They caught codlings, haddocks, whitings, flounders, mussels and winkles.
Recent history and regeneration
In 1971, Helensburgh was given its first conservation area, covering The Hill House and Helensburgh Upper Station. This was joined in 1994 by The Upper Helensburgh Conservation Area, which includes architectural works by William Leiper and Baillie Scott, and, in 2019, by the Town Centre Conservation Area.
In a 2006 survey, Helensburgh was shown to be the second most expensive town in which to buy property in Scotland.
The town contains many tree-lined streets, and the cherry blossom in the Spring is a particular feature; a consequence is that the town has been referred to as "the Garden City of the Clyde". In 2016, the Helensburgh Tree Conservation Trust was invited to become a member of The National Tree Collections of Scotland because the range and quality of its street trees; at the time no other Scottish town had received this accolade.
In 2015, Colquhoun Square underwent a major redesign (as part of a wider redevelopment project that included the west esplanade) where parts of the square were pedestrianised. An integral part of this redesign was the creation of the award-winning Outdoor Museum, which consisted of the erection of 120 plinths, which over time would be gradually filled with items or replicas connected with Helensburgh's history and character, including a puppet's head used by John Logie Baird in his first television experiments and the ship's bell from Henry Bell's paddle steamer Comet. In addition, a number of brass plaques have been set into the pavements and these give a description of the condition of the streets of the town in 1845.
That same year, the previously derelict Clyde Street School reopened as the Helensburgh and Lomond Civic Centre of Argyll and Bute Council after significant renovations and the addition of both a new wing and public cafe. Displays from the collections of Helensburgh Heritage Trust can also be seen there.
The Tower Digital Arts Centre, housed in the former St Columba Church on Sinclair Street, was converted in 2016 into a first release double screen cinema and arts centre for the town. The West King Street Hall next door was converted and took on a new role two years later as the Scottish Submarine Centre. The Centre now houses the last (1955) Stickleback-class submarine built for the Royal Navy.