Titan Clydebank

Titan Clydebank is a 150-foot-high (46 m) cantilever crane that was built in 1907 at Clydebank, Scotland.[1] It was designed to be used in the lifting of heavy equipment, such as engines and boilers, during the fitting-out of battleships and ocean liners at the John Brown & Company shipyard, then the biggest shipbuilding group in the world.[1] The Category A Listed historical structure was refurbished in 2007 as a tourist attraction and museum about shipbuilding in Clydebank.

Contents

History

A £24,600 order for the crane was placed with a Dalmarnock based engineering company, Sir William Arrol & Co. in 1905.[1] Titan was completed two years later.[1]

In the late 1960s, the yard was incorporated into Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS), which collapsed in 1971.[1] It was bought from the receivers by the Marathon Manufacturing Company for oil rig construction.[1] In 1980 Marathon sold the yard to the French company Union Industrielle et d’Entreprise (UiE). UIE's owners, Bouygues Offshore closed the yard in 2001 and the site was earmarked for redevelopment.[2]

Refurbishment

In 1988 the crane was recognised as a Category A Listed historical structure.[1] The urban regeneration company Clydebank Re-Built started a £3m restoration project in 2005, and the crane opened to the public in time for its 100th birthday in 2007. Following the removal of the Titan crane at Govan Shipyard in 2007, four of these giant cantilever cranes remain on the River Clyde. The others are at Stobcross (Finnieston Crane), Scotstoun (former Barclay Curle engine works) and Greenock (James Watt Dock).

Tourist attraction

Tour parties can now access the jib and motor house during the summer (April-October). Access during the winter is by appointment only.

Gallery

Notes and references

See also

External links