Heavy industries helped shape a whole community

TODAY the Parkhead Forge is nothing more than a byword for retail therapy.

But for over a century the site was the epicentre of industrial activity.

Parkhead Forge, run by the Beardmore family, was an industrial giant, producing high quality steel plates for the Admiralty and components for the Clyde's shipyards.

At one time it was the biggest employer in Scotland. In its heyday more than 20,000 men toiled in its forges.

Margaret Clarke, 79, who was brought up in nearby Westmuir Street, said: "The Forge gave work to thousands.

"People came from as far as Carluke. It gave men work where there was poverty.

"When they opened the gates thousands came out, up Parkhead Cross way.

"If you were there at 5pm you saw them all coming up both sides of Westmuir Street and Old Shettleston Road in their thousands.During the War the German planes came up the Clyde, they never got the Forge though.

"I think they hit Clydebank thinking that was the Forge.

In 1976 the Forge closed, devastating an area already reeling from the downturn in traditional industries.

But the sprawling industrial site was not the only major employer.

Arrol's Iron Works in Dalmarnock specialised in building bridges, the best known being Tower Bridge in London and the Forth Road Bridge.

The magnificent Templeton carpet factory on the edge of Glasgow Green, built as a replica of the Doge's Palace in Venice, also gave work to thousands.

Add to that the Clyde Ironworks between Carmyle and Cambuslang, Clyde Bridge at Eastfield and Stewart and Lloyd's Tubeworks at Tollcross.

Even the factory that bottled Scotland's other national drink - Irn-Bru -was for years located in Parkhead before moving to Cumbernauld in 1996.

When Beardmore's shut in 1976 it sounded the death knell not just for the steel industry in the area but a way of life.

Small foundries and factories - and many corner shops - which depended on the Forge for survival were forced out of business.

Locals felt they had been abandoned as unemployment shot through the roof.

But throughout the industrial carnage, one company has stood the test of time.

Brothers Hugh and Robert Tennent founded the brewery which bears their name in 1740 - but the company can trace its existence back to 1556.

Their original site, at Drygate Bridge, Drygate, has grown into the Wellpark Brewery which still stands on Duke Street today.

But in the late 19th century, when one of the family was visiting Germany, came the discovery that would make the plant famous - lager.

Mike Lees, managing director at Wellpark, said: "He introduced it to Scotland and it became the first lager in Britain. Next year is its 125th anniversary."

the East End is part of our heritage. It used to be that people were born and brought up on the brewery site, their whole life was the brewery.

"Some guys have 40-plus years' service and they stayed in our tied houses for most of their lives. In the '80s we sold the houses and people now come from further afield.

"The workforce has always been loyal and historically we had lots of different business dotted round the area.

"We have come through some tough economic times and are still there.

"I started as a management trainee in Wellpark in 1978 and am now in my 32nd year with the company.

"I went down south for a while and they asked me to come back up as managing director.

"When I returned I saw a massive difference. When I worked there in 1978 there were 600-700 people on site, all that has changed.

"Things have become modernised but the commitment is still there.

"The East End has changed dramatically and in the next 5-10 years when it is redeveloped it will be a totally different place." Community spirit has been lost By Iain Lundy TWO women who remember the East End during its industrial heyday remember it as a much happier place - with a community spirit they feel has been lost.

Mary McKean, 74, grew up in Vesalius Street, Shettleston and Margaret Clarke, 79, lived in a room and kitchen in Westmuir Street, Parkhead. The pair, pictured left, visit local schools as part of an education project which compares life for children today with growing up in the 1930s and 1940s.

Mary said: "We were well-fed and we were reasonably clothed. We came from the Gallowgate and moved to Shettleston when I was four. When we came here the places like Greenfield and Easterhouse were all farmland.

Margaret said: "The East End was a good shopping area, there were about eight bakers in Parkhead and you had small dairies where you got your milk and rolls.

"There were smaller industries and they all created work in the area. That doesn't seem to be the same now. You had Arrol's and Beardmore's, they were the big ones.

"Tramcars were everywhere. You just jumped on a car and it was cheap travel then. It took you to Dalmuir, Cambuslang and Coatbridge - it went all over."

She gave the regeneration of the east end a cautious welcome. "I am glad there's some life coming to the East End because it needs more than houses - we need jobs." Strike sparked trade unionism

By Iain Lundy SCOTLAND'S first major industrial dispute - which created the country's first working-class martyrs - happened in the East End more than 200 years ago.

A strike by weavers from Calton sparked riots in nearby Drygate Bridge. Six were killed by soldiers.

The shocking scenes in 1787 were described as "the sunrise of the trade union movement".

At the time Calton was a small weaving village where muslin cloth was woven in people's homes.

When cheap Indian muslin was introduced by the East India Company, the Calton Weavers refused to take "starvation" wages and went on strike.

The clash at Drygate Bridge was brutal and strike leader, James Granger, a father-of-six, was arrested and whipped through the streets of Edinburgh.

The names of only three of the dead men are known, John Page, Alexander Miller and James Ainsley.

They are buried in the Calton Cemetery.