NS3274 : Shipbuilders of Port Glasgow sculpture
taken 2 years ago, near to Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland
Inverclyde District, on the south bank of the Firth of Clyde, is home to many modern sculptures, many of which were commissioned by the local Urban Regeneration Company Riverside Inverclyde Link to brighten up and help delineate the approaches to the towns of Port Glasgow, Greenock and Gourock.
Other significant sculptures can be found along the Clyde waterfront and also on National Cycle Network Routes 75 and 753 which run through the district.
In addition to these modern sculptures, there are a number of more traditional statues to be found, including one of the District's most famous son, James Watt.
Port Glasgow has always punched well above its weight in the shipbuilding history books, having produced more than a quarter of the total tonnage of all ships built on the Clyde. The remaining yard on the Lower Clyde (Ferguson Marine) is still building ships in the town today.
The Port Glasgow yards played their part in the war efforts in both World Wars. Sir Stanley Spencer, a government designated War Artist, spent many months in the town over a seven year period during and after WWII and perhaps his works from that period influenced the new sculpture that we see today Link .
The 10m high steel sculpture, by the Manchester born renowned public works sculptor John McKenna Link , was intended to mark the western gateway to Port Glasgow, as a roundabout ornament on the A8 road at The Glen, but this proposal was changed due to road safety concerns. A new site at Coronation Park, on the site of the Wet Dock that was in-filled in the late 1960s, was agreed.
Late and well over budget, the sculpture is nonetheless a striking and fitting tribute to the generations of Portonians who have built great ships here since the 1700s, ships that travelled the globe and helped shape history.