Archaeologists have uncovered new remains linked to a dramatic 200-year-old battle in which ordinary Glaswegians fought a wealthy landowner for the right to walk along the banks of the River Clyde.
The discoveries were made during an excavation at Harvie’s Dyke in Dalmarnock, the site of one of Glasgow’s earliest major campaigns over public access to the river.
The dispute began after wealthy distiller Thomas “Lang Tam” Harvie bought the Westthorn estate on the eastern edge of Glasgow in the early 1820s.
Harvie built two substantial walls around his property, with the larger structure running down towards the Clyde and blocking a long-established route used by workers and residents along the north bank of the river.
Contemporary accounts describe the wall as around 12ft high and fortified with iron spikes and broken glass. One section included a watchtower armed with small cannons.
The move caused fury among people living in nearby communities, including colliers and other workers who regularly used the riverside route.
On Midsummer’s Eve in 1823, a large crowd gathered and began tearing down Harvie’s Dyke.
The authorities responded with cavalry. The disturbance was brought to an end by a charge and dozens of those involved were arrested, with some later imprisoned.
Harvie rebuilt the walls, but the confrontation developed into a much longer fight over access to the Clyde.
A six-year legal struggle eventually reached the House of Lords, which ruled in 1828 in favour of those campaigning to defend what became known as the “liberties of the banks of the Clyde”.
The case became celebrated across Glasgow and was commemorated in songs, poems and medals, although the story largely disappeared from popular memory in the generations which followed.
Now archaeologists have returned to the site as part of the Digging the Dyke project, involving Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, Glasgow City Council, Archaeology Scotland and historian Professor Chris Whatley.
Researchers looking for the remains of the demolished eastern wall uncovered a series of finds, including a rare Glasgow trade token dating from 1791 and bearing the city motto “Let Glasgow Flourish”.
They also discovered mortar, floor surfaces, roofing slate and fragments of plaster.
Archaeologists believe the material could be evidence of a fortified summerhouse which once stood overlooking the riverside pathway. A surviving section of Harvie’s Dyke can still be seen at Thorndyke Lane in Glasgow’s east end.
More than 400 people visited the archaeological excavations or attended associated walks, talks, tours and performances during the project, which formed part of the 2026 Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.
The campaign also had consequences for Harvie himself. His whisky was boycotted and his fortune was reportedly swallowed up by the protracted legal battle. He was eventually left bankrupt and died in poverty around a decade later.
Professor Whatley, whose 2025 book Harvie’s Dyke: The People, their Liberty and the Clyde examined the confrontation, has described the episode as a victory by ordinary Glaswegians over an uncompromising landowner.
The dispute also helped inspire later campaigns against attempts by landowners to close established public routes, making the little-known confrontation on the Clyde an early chapter in the history of access rights in Scotland.