The man who built Glasgow's healthiest and wealthiest 'New Town'

They are credited with creating the sought-after ‘New Town’ on the lands of Blythswood in what is now the edge of the city centre.

Blythswood Square in 1962 (Image: Newsquest/Harry Moyes)

However, while they certainly reaped the financial benefits from the increased value of the lands, the credit for building what was once considered the healthiest and wealthiest part of Glasgow should really go to someone else.

The Campbells gradually acquired considerable wealth and influence in the Burgh of Glasgow. In the 17th century several generations occupied significant roles in Glasgow, including a Baillie and three Provosts. Colin Campbell (the Third) was Provost in 1661. It was he who purchased what became Blythswood estate.

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In 1664, before he purchased Blythswood, he bought land in Renfrewshire, west of Braehead, at the junction of the Rivers Clyde and Cart. He built a mansion known as Ranfield, or Renfield, which remained in the family for generations. In 1821 a new mansion - Blythswood House - was built on the site.

Provost Colin Campbell built his Glasgow town house around the 1660s or 1670s. It was the most remarkable old tenement in Bridgegate (at number 109), with an extensive front to the street. It had a large garden at the back extending down to the river Clyde. Originally two buildings, it was later combined to form a single dwelling house.

Blythswood Mansion on Bridgegate (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

The Campbell family ceased to use this mansion as a residence, leaving the Bridgegate around 1720. The house was let to a variety of tenants. The garden or yard was let to David Lillie, a wright, who was Deacon of the Incorporation. The old mansion was demolished in 1869.

In terms of the area we now know as Blythswood, this was purchased by Provost Colin Campbell at what contemporaries  described a “very small price indeed,” with many doubting whether the family even paid the bargain price agreed by the Council.

The Town Council at the time was very liberal in its dealings, particularly with their friends, and with members of the Town Council. It would be no surprise if they gave a bargain to their own Provost, or there is the possibility that he may have paid nothing at all….

RAC Blythswood Square, now the Blythswood Hotel (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

The laird of Blythswood, James Campbell, died bankrupt in 1773. His affairs were not resolved until his trustees obtained an Act of Parliament in 1792 giving them powers to feu the property for development.

One of the earliest feuars was William Harley, a wealthy textile manufacturer. Harley already owned Sauchy Hall (renamed Willowbank House) which he bought from Lawrence Phillips, the first person to acquire a feu from Archibald Campbell.

William Harley (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

Harley erected extensive dairies and other buildings and at the same time he laid out and improved all the land he had feued.

He collected water from springs in his grounds. He sent the casks by horse-drawn carts to the city, where the wells were inadequate to meet the demands of a growing population, for fresh drinking water.

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He opened public baths on the road leading from the city to his gardens on the estate. The road was later named Bath Street and those first public baths, in 1804, paved the way for steamies and swimming pools across Glasgow.

During the Napoleonic wars there was little new feuing, but with the coming of peace a new town laid out on a grid iron pattern covering Blythswood Hill was conceived. This obligated purchasers to comply with conditions designed to preserve the residential nature of the development. In 1823 Blythswood Square was completed.

In common with the other streets, and in marked contrast to the housing in neighbouring Anderston, the square contained large family houses for well-to-do merchants and industrialists.

It took a number of years to complete the new town. Despite the concerns of the residents, Blythswood was annexed by the Burgh of Anderston in 1830.

It was William Harley and other early feuars who deserve much of the credit for the development of Blythswood. It was they who laid out many of its streets, squares and other improvements in the area. Truly little reward was accrued to them.

In particular Harley, and not the Campbells of Blythswood, should be credited as founding the New Town of Glasgow on what became known as the Blythswood Annexation lands.