As the old maxim goes, Glasgow made the Clyde and the Clyde made Glasgow. The city was born on the great river's banks, and it continues to flourish because of it.
But in order for Glasgow to expand and cover both sides of the Clyde, local engineers needed to figure out how to bridge the gap.
Glasgow's first bridge over the Clyde was a wooden structure completed in the late 13th century and it linked the Barony of the Gorbals with the city. The Old Glasgow Bridge would remain the city's only Clyde crossing until 1771 with the completion of a second bridge at Jamaica Street.
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In the intervening 250 years, well over a dozen new bridges have been constructed in central Glasgow between the mouth of the River Kelvin in the west and Dalmarnock in the east.
From St Andrew's Suspension Bridge and Central Station's Caledonian railway bridge to newer constructions such as the Kingston Bridge motorway crossing and the 'Squinty' bridge, each of these feats of engineering has its own fascinating story to tell.
Rutherglen Bridge
Given there is a sign on its northern extent informing drivers they are leaving Glasgow, Rutherglen Bridge, or Shawfield Bridge as it's sometimes known, feels like a perfect place to start our journey.
Crossing the Clyde immediately east of Glasgow Green, Rutherglen Glen was completed in 1896 to connect Shawfield and Oatlands with Glasgow's East End. An earlier bridge on the site, completed in 1776 and designed by James Watt, gave the nearby area of Bridgeton its name.
Rutherglen Bridge is comprised of three arches and is made from grey granite.
Polmadie Bridge
Many of Glasgow's bridges have gone through several iterations, and Polmadie Bridge is a perfect example of this. Completed in 1901 the earliest bridge here was wooden but succumbed to fire in the 1920s. It was replaced with a concrete structure in the 1950s.
The concrete version of the bridge was found to be unsafe and demolished in 2015, and has since been replaced by a new Polmadie Bridge catering for cyclists and pedestrians which opened in August 2018.
King's Bridge
Linking Hutchesontown with Glasgow Green, the original King's Bridge was finished in 1901 to a wooden design that opened on the same day as the Polmadie Bridge immediately east of here. Now carrying the A74, today's incarnation dates from the 1930s and is far wider and more robust than its predecessor.
St Andrew's Suspension Bridge
Now on to a bridge that is arguably the city's most handsome. A Glasgow Green icon, the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge dates from 1856 and was built to replace an earlier ferry carrying workers between Calton and Bridgeton. It is painted in dominant blue to reflect the link with Scotland's patron saint.
Albert Bridge
Named after the beloved husband of Queen Victoria, Albert Bridge was finished in 1871 and, rather incredibly, is the fifth bridge to have spanned this section of the Clyde. The first, known as the Hutcheson Bridge, was built in 1794, but was destroyed by flooding.
Robert Stevenson, the famous lighthouse builder and grandfather of author Robert Louis Stevenson, was responsible for the Albert Bridge's stone-built predecessor, which had only stood for 34 years when it was demolished in 1868.
The piers of this highly-decorative bridge are topped with ornate street lanterns, making this one of the most beautiful bridges on our list.
City Union Bridge
Opened in 1899, this one's a real feat of engineering. The current incarnation replaced an earlier bridge built by the City of Glasgow Union Railway which opened in 1870 and was Glasgow's first railway crossing over the River Clyde.
Now a freight crossing, the rebuilt City Union Bridge carried passenger traffic until 1966 when St Enoch Station closed. Should the Glasgow Crossrail project go ahead, the bridge will once again carry passenger services.
Victoria Bridge
Glasgow's bridges don't come much more historic than the Victoria Bridge.
Connecting Clyde Street and Gorbals Street, the bridge is the oldest-surviving in the city and was built on the site of Glasgow's very first Clyde crossing. Built in the late 13th century out of timber, that first bridge was replaced in 1345 by the Bishop's Bridge, which managed to last for an astonishing 500 years.
Named in tribute to Queen Victoria, the Victoria Bridge was opened in 1854 and was the second widest bridge in Britain at the time of its construction.
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South Portland Street Suspension Bridge
Similar in style to the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge located further upstream, the South Portland Street crossing provides a helpful link between the city centre and the Gorbals and Laurieston districts.
It was built in 1853, replacing a temporary wooden structure designed by the aforementioned lighthouse engineer Robert Stevenson.
Glasgow Bridge
Commonly referred to by locals as the Jamaica Street Bridge, Glasgow Bridge was completed in 1899 and, to complicate matters further, was formerly known as Broomielaw Bridge.
The current incarnation was constructed on the site of the original bridge completed in 1772 to the designs of William Mylne and civil engineer John Smeaton. This in turn was replaced in 1836 by a seven-arch stone bridge designed by the esteemed engineer Thomas Telford. Much of Telford's stonework has been incorporated into the present-day design.
Caledonian Railway Bridge
The Caledonian Railway Company built their first bridge over this section of the Clyde in 1878 but decided to rebuild the crossing just 20 years later during the expansion of Central Station. The current bridge dates from 1905, and is believed to have been the widest railway bridge in the world at the time of its construction. The piers of the original Caledonian Bridge are still standing on the eastern edge of the 1905 crossing.
King George V Bridge
Linking the city centre and Tradeston, the King George V Bridge was originally intended to be built in 1914 but had its construction delayed due to the First World War. It was eventually completed in 1928 and named for King George V.
Tradeston Bridge
Affectionately known by locals as the 'squiggly bridge' on account of its distinctive bend, the Tradeston Bridge is one of the newest of Glasgow's Clyde crossings having been completed in 2009. The bridge is designated for pedestrians and cyclists only.
Kingston Bridge
A marvel of 20th century engineering, the Kingston Bridge is where the M8 Motorway meets the River Clyde and is famous as being one of the busiest bridges in Europe, carrying an estimated 150,000 vehicles every day.
Taking its name from the old Kingston Dock, the Kingston Bridge was first planned in 1945 as part of Glasgow's inner ring road scheme. It was eventually opened in June 1970 at a cost of £2.4 million.
Clyde Arc
Continuing the theme of Glasgow bridges being given a more descriptive unofficial name by locals, the Clyde Arc, colloquially known as the 'squinty bridge', connects the Scottish Exhibition campus at Finnieston with Pacific Quay on the other side of the Clyde.
Now a veritable city icon that is often lit up to mark major events and special occasions, the bridge opened in 2006 and was Glasgow's first city centre road bridge over the Clyde since the Kingston Bridge 36 years earlier.
Bell's Bridge
Completed in 1988, Bell's Bridge is a swing bridge catering for pedestrians and is one of the few architectural vestiges of the Glasgow Garden Festival. It remains the most direct pedestrian crossing between the SEC Armadillo and Pacific Quay.
The bridge was made possible by the mass closure of shipyards in the years leading up to its construction. The absence of tall ships venturing this far up the Clyde no longer prevented bridges being built west of Anderston.
Millennium Bridge
As the last of Glasgow's Clyde crossings, the Millennium Bridge may not be much of a looker, but it does look rather brilliant when it opens up to allow shipping to pass. The pedestrian link was completed in 2002, with the next nearest Clyde bridge west of here being the Erskine Bridge situated nine miles away.
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