The History of Helensburgh

Helensburgh is essentially a Victorian seaside town which grew up on the site of an older settlement on the banks of the River Clyde. The area, pre-Helensburgh was known as Millig, but the land was bought for £6,500 in 1752 by Sir James Colquhoun, who named the new town after his wife, Lady Helen. Sir Robert had hoped that, far from being the residential idyll it became, Helensburgh would present him with the opportunity to develop an ambitious industrial area with well-maintained and serviced port facilities.

This, however, did not come to pass and Helensburgh remained a prosperous garden town, with broad avenues lined with cherry trees. It was an instant hit as a popular retreat from the smoke of Glasgow for many rich merchants - evident throughout the town with the stunning houses and beautiful parks, as well as the splendid esplanade. During this century, Helensburgh has expanded even more, residentially, though it remains essentially a satellite town for Glasgow. To the east and west of Sinclair Street at the top of Helensburgh, numerous new housing developments have taken place, though, with the influx of personnel experienced in the late 60s as the Naval base at Faslane grew. In the last 30 years, or so, the base has taken on a wider significance, as business in the area relies more and more on the trade and benefits experienced through personnel alighting in the area on both a permanent and temporary basis.

While Helensburgh does not take its place in the history books as an ancient settlement of note, its youth, in historical terms, in no way alters its value as an architectural anomaly. Simply because of the way the town grew and prospered, Helensburgh is of huge architectural importance in Scotland. There are many older areas in the country, but what Helensburgh has is a great concentration of architecture from a similar time in the Victorian period, showing definite trends in property development at the very highest level in society of the time. Many properties were designed by eminent architects of the period, particularly William Leiper, Alexander 'Greek' Thomson, John Honeyman, Robert Wemyss and A N Paterson. As with many buildings in Scotland, the predominant construction material is sandstone, both blonde and red, and the structures themselves tend to include some opulent additional extras - each rich merchant was not only trying to keep up with the Jones', he was trying to go one better. Public buildings, too, were built to reflect the prosperity of the town and its inhabitants

The Older Helensburgh: Evidence of older settlements in Helensburgh are very limited. Ardencaple, which used to be a village in its own right, has now been absorbed by Helensburgh and neighbouring Rhu, but above the pretty Kidston Park there remains the legacy of the former landowners, the Clan MacAuley. Ardencaple Castle dates back to the 13th century and remained in the hands of the MacAuleys until the mid-I700s, when it was purchased by Sir Robert Colquhoun along with the rest of what is now Helensburgh. In 1957 the bulk of the castle was demolished to make way for naval housing, but an impressive castellated tower and retaining wall remain as a testament to days gone by. The tower is used by the Royal Navy now as a mount for transit lights for navigational purposes. Sadly, the loss in real terms of this castle has only been realised recently, as it became clear that architecturally it was an extremely important building in national terms. Robert Adam, perhaps Scotland's most notable architect ever - the pioneering force behind the New Town in Edinburgh and responsible for Culzean Castle - is known to have done major work on the house in the 1700s and plans for further developments by Adam are now known of. Clearly this major historical legacy has been lost for all time.

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