2nd Pier - Bowling harbour pier

Bowling Harbour: Circa 1912

BACKGROUND

The village of Bowling lies on the North Bank of the Firth of Clyde and is located between Clydebank and Dumbarton and the history of the harbour goes back to 1790 when the opening of the Firth and Clyde canal at Bowling allowed the passing of vessels through the village to Glasgow. 

The harbour was then developed as a site for shipbuilding and repair and the shipbuilder, William McGill constructed a brig in the dry dock of the canal and had over 40 ships built there.  McGill later formed a partnership with James Scott in 1851 and the partnership went on in name until 1979.  The harbour itself was later extended and regularly used as a winter mooring place for Clyde steamers.

Unfortunately however as shipbuilding and repairs ended during the middle of the 20th century, the harbour fell into disuse and became known as a ship's graveyard where today there are still some rotting ship hulks lying there and the pier there has now become derelict. 

Bowling harbour is now no longer used however it did undergo a major refurbishment programme in 2008 where many of the shipwrecks have now been removed.  The area has been renovated and many sailing boats can be found at its basin and it remains as an access point to the Forth and Clyde canal.  

IMAGES OF THE PIER TODAY 

The above shots were taken using an Olympus E-M1 mirrorless camera and these images were shot on 9 March 2017 (although I had done an initial shoot in January this year).

For these shots I was able to get right along and underneath the beams of the pier itself due to the tide being out at the time of the shoot.  This enabled me to get some close-up shots and the shot with the triangular shaped beam structure I captured a different perspective than I would have had the tide been in.  I also used a neutral density filter (a Lee 10 stop filter) in the first shoot to smooth out the water and give some movement in the clouds. 

Overall I think these shots work well and show again the structure of the pier from both a wide angle perspective and close-up.