THE foundation of the United States of America was disastrous for the Tobacco Lords of Glasgow, some of whom lost their plantations in the new country, but it forced the city fathers to address the issue of the lack of manufacturing capacity in and around Glasgow. There was a wide variety of products made in Glasgow just before the American Revolution which showed the change that was occurring in the city over the space of 30 years. Alexander ‘Jupiter’ Carlyle wrote in his famous memoirs that in the year 1744: “There were not manufacturers sufficient,” either there or at Paisley, to supply an outward-bound cargo for Virginia.
STEEPLEJACKS have been busy with routine maintenance work at Inveresk’s St Michael’s Church, which is known as the ‘Visible Kirk’ due to its prominent position. The specialist team completed an inspection of the lightning conductors and steeple, removed vegetation and also carried out work on an opening where coverings had fallen inwards. The project was undertaken by Northern Steeplejacks, which is based at Newtongrange in Midlothian. The cockerel weathervane was refurbished under a previous contract. There has been a church on the site since the 6th century. The present church was built in 1805 to the design of Robert Nisbet and the steeple is recorded as being by the architect William Sibbald, following his earlier design for that at St Andrew’s, George Street, Edinburgh, in 1894.