The Molendinar Burn

The City of Glasgow’s name comes from the Gaelic Glasgu, meaning dear green place – the dear green place in question was a beautiful wooded valley beside the Molendinar Burn where St. Mungo (also known as Kentigern) founded a church in the 6th Century.

The Molendinar Burn kept it’s importance in Glasgow’s history for a long time – the later cathedral was built approximately on the site of St. Mungo’s church, and a bridge (the Bridge of Sighs) was built over the burn to the Necropolis. The burn also marked the eastern border of the city, and later was used to power the first of the mills that sprung up in the city.

The city outgrew the burn, though, and in the 1870s it was culverted over and almost forgotten – Wishart Street now runs along it’s path next to the cathedral. It’s exposed at one small section next to the old Great Eastern Hotel, so I went for a look.

The exposed section:

Molendinar Burn (by Ben Cooper)

The burn runs under Duke Street, and takes a sharp turn to the right:

Molendinar Burn 1 (by Ben Cooper)

It starts off stone-lined:

Molendinar Burn 3 (by Ben Cooper)

Turns to oval brick:

Molendinar Burn 4 (by Ben Cooper)

Then very low concrete:

Molendinar Burn 5 (by Ben Cooper)

Then steel pipe, which takes a sharp turn then carries on straight for a while:

Molendinar Burn 7 (by Ben Cooper)

Before turning into a lovely 7′ high brick tunnel:

Molendinar Burn 11 (by Ben Cooper)

This carries on for quite a while, past a blocked-off side flue:

Molendinar Burn 12 (by Ben Cooper)

Looking up at a manhole on Wishart Street (I think) – note the slates used as a platform:

Molendinar Burn 18 (by Ben Cooper)

And a more modern access shaft – I’m not sure why there are two ladders:

Molendinar Burn 20 (by Ben Cooper)

Then, stalactite city:

Molendinar Burn 23 (by Ben Cooper)

In places, it looked like a natural cave:

Molendinar Burn 30 (by Ben Cooper)

With only a little brick showing through:

Molendinar Burn 32 (by Ben Cooper)

And old pipes slowly filling up:

Molendinar Burn 34 (by Ben Cooper)

I met some of the locals:

Molendinar Burn 35 (by Ben Cooper)

It turned back into steel pipe:

Molendinar Burn 38 (by Ben Cooper)

Then what looks like an open channel that’s been concreted over:

Molendinar Burn 41 (by Ben Cooper)

A few more stalactites:

Molendinar Burn 43 (by Ben Cooper)

And a very low chamber with two inlets – I didn’t feel like crawling any further:

Molendinar Burn 44 (by Ben Cooper)

Returning to the start, I went downstream a bit:

Molendinar Burn 47 (by Ben Cooper)

Into the next tunnel:

Molendinar Burn 48 (by Ben Cooper)

And carried on for about 10 minutes before turning back – downstream is a mission for another day.

Molendinar Burn 46 (by Ben Cooper)

I’m not sure how far I got – it certainly felt quite far, I think I got all the way along Wishart Street to Alexandra Parade. Looking at some old maps, the burn split in two about there, which would make sense with what I saw.

52 Responses

    1. Edwin Moore, once of Collins? How are you young man. Still getting the extra gigs – up till the world stopped? I have a copy of your interesting book on Scotland, for which many thanks. Paul

  1. Oone side of this burn, as far as I know, ran out from Cardowan colliery and alongside the railway which currently has its first stop after Stepps as Springburn. Growing up in Cardowan our local big stops were Duke St, Parkhead, Alexandra Parade, St. Mungos in Glasgow and the toon. Which may fit in with the natural route of the burn, not to mention the natural animosity wae the Craigend gangs where I believe the burn also ran. Happy days, apart from the rats maybe, although the wee dug was fair happy wi them.

  2. Thats amazing.
    I think when you live in a place you become lazy about discovering your past .
    These pics are great .
    Im defo gna take a wee trip down their myself.

  3. Really enjoyed your walk and pictures, I thought it ended up going under Turnbull street and under Glasgow Green then into the clyde?

  4. Thank you for taking and posting these amazing photos. I’ve had a fascination for this wee burn the past decade or so.

  5. Wonderful. I remember being taught about st mungo and the molendinar burn at school. Your photos would.Have made it so real. Thanks

  6. Superb – had done some research in the past and went to school next to open part of the burn in Duke St. Very clear and interesting pictures, dont think I would ever have been so brave to go so far in the tunnel, one last point – pleasantly surprised at how clean it appeared to be.

  7. Was looking up the Molendinar just for some information on a project of my own. (Wanted to know more about Spoutmouth and the ‘four cisterns of fine sweet water’ that M’Ure wrote about in the 1700s and tried to find out a bit more about the burn while I was doing it.) Came across these spectacular and evocative pictures. They are wonderful – thank-you! Love your site.

  8. I dont know if I’m correct but I understood that Tennents brewery used the water at some point from the Molendiner ? I was born in Duke street so find the subject fascinating

    1. the lady well on the side of cemetery nearest the brewery theystopped the usage of the water from the well once they reliased that the cemetery was acting as a filter for the water.
      another 2 parts can be seen up at hogganfield loch

  9. Did some work for Scottish Water on the Molendinar Burn in about 2002. Youve probably got better information here than we had then.

  10. Love reading about this stuff I’m a New Zealander with Scots heritage from my grgr grandparents who came out to NZ

    1. Re : Jack’s comment – There was a burn at the store, Haddows it was when I was young, but I dont think it was the Molendinar, more likely the Lightburn given the name of the area. Still visible on Google maps.

    1. If you go on to the national library of Scotland naps website, you can do a layover of old and modern maps and that will tell you loads about your local area.

  11. I actually thought it ran under the old monkland canal now the m.8.and underneath cranhill and cranhill park as you can still see a wee bit of it next to the undertaker on the Edinburgh rd

  12. Thank you for exploration and photos
    I have an old print of a rural section of theMolendinar burn from way back It is a memento from my youth in Glasgow at the Old Royal Infirmary and Duke St Hospital No idea where I got it from, but treasured in my now home in far NSW
    Will endeavour to photograph it and put it up
    Signature looks like Jas Faulds.
    Described as A bit of the Molendinar Burn’
    The Cathedral is in the far background with some y’all trees and some ancient dwellingswith a smokeychimney
    Any info on this gratefully teceived
    Attributed also to a sketch taken about 1883 by mr RL Sutherland

  13. I went to St Mungos school in Duke Street around 1970, I remember we accessed the burn one day with torches , can remember how far we went though. Great photos.

  14. Always had a fascination with the history of glasgow. Grew up in dennistoun so was aware of the exposed part at the great eastern hotel. The pictures are amazing. Would love to see more especially if you decide to venture further.

    https://maps.nls.uk/towns/glasgow.html

    Had a look at some old maps of glasgow to see where exactly the burn flows after Frankfield and hogganfield lochs. Hope others may find this useful???

  15. Whilst working in WD&HO Wills Factory on Alexandra Parade the Burn fan under the Basement
    Some times water would come up and occasionally
    There would be a stinky smell

  16. Thanks for this and all your research. I’m a Renfrew girl who went to school in Paisley. A treat was tram to Govan Cross and subway to town.

  17. Fab photos. I work at Strathclyde University and an academic at my work once told me how Glasgow is built over a network of underground waterways, so much so that when the building occupied by Debenhams (if my memory serves me correctly or was it TJ Hughes?) was getting built the work got halted as a body was found in the ground
    . After examination it turned out it was a poor soul from the Ramshorn Cemetery that had been washed downstream to argyle street out of their grave

  18. Was brought up in Duke St Dennistoun and was always interested in the canal.
    Used to go to the open part near Alexandra Parade where I went to primary school and always wanted to clear the rubbish out of it but was too small to do it!
    Amazing history!!!!

  19. The Molly doesn’t run through Barmulloch. It’s over in Provanmill, at the school, where it’s actually exposed, for the last time until that wee bit at Duke st. It exits huggy, and runs along the graveyard. After Provanmill it runs roughly same path as M80 but underground , then through Ally park. There’s a plaque on Alexandra park at to mark it’s course. Through the Milnbank area of Dennistoun to Wishart street.

  20. Fantastic pictures, I would love to travel along these tunnels . So much history and love the fact you don’t know what or where is above you! Also the fact that travelling along wishart street a lot of people don’t know what’s beneath them.

  21. The molindiner burn runs through blackhill and provanmill,it runs through molindiner park ,well worth looking into it had a waterfall that run into the burn.

  22. Thanks for sharing. I’d never heard of the burn until I started work at Seven Lochs Wetland Park. Love a bit of tunnel exploration.

  23. Interesting and fascinating that beneath the city exists history from the past in many forms . Where does the burn enter the Clyde?

  24. I lived in Ballindalloch Drive and at the back of our home was a spare stretch of ground that backed up to the Monkland canal , now M8 in between was a stretch of burn that went from the end of Roebank st and flowed parallel with the canal, we used to catch tadpoles in it and get stuck with leeches, this was part of the Molindinar burn I’m talking rhe 1950’s

  25. Glasghu is actually Brythonic (Old Welsh) as are most places in Southern Scotland before the arrival of Anglians and Scots.

Leave a Reply