John Brown's and the great liners

The Clydebank yard that built some of the most famous ships the world has ever seen.

If one place made Clydebank's name around the world, it was the shipyard. John Brown & Company built some of the most famous vessels ever to take to the water, right here on the Clyde, and for the best part of a century the yard was the beating heart of the town. Thousands of families depended on it, and the skyline was a forest of cranes and half-built hulls.

From its slipways came the great Cunard liners – the Lusitania, the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 – alongside warships such as HMS Hood. On a launch day the whole town would turn out, lining the riverbank to watch tens of thousands of tonnes of steel slide into the Clyde to a roar that you could feel in your chest.

A proud and defiant yard

Working in the yard was hard and often dangerous, but it carried real pride and a fierce sense of community. When the shipbuilding industry was threatened in 1971, Clydebank workers were at the heart of the famous Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in – rather than strike or walk away, they kept the yards running to prove the industry was worth saving, in a stand that drew support from right across the country.

The great liners are long gone, and the slipways with them, but their story still belongs to Clydebank – and the Titan Crane that helped build them still stands over the river today.

Did your family work in the yards?

So many Clydebank families have a shipyard story. We would love to hear yours – come in for a chat, or send us your old photographs. Share your story.

More Clydebank stories · The Titan Crane

Paul James Home, inside the Co-op Department Store, Clydebank. Monday to Saturday 9 to 5. 0141 266 0400.