As the saying goes, 'Glasgow made the Clyde and the Clyde made Glasgow' - a tribute to the hugely important role the river has played in the city's history.
And while the long tradition of shipbuilding still exists, the riverside has undergone significant regeneration in recent years to attract new industry, like BBC Scotland HQ and the SEC and Hydro.
But did you know that the River Clyde as it passes through the city, isn't technically a river at all?
At a little more than 100 miles long, the Clyde flows from the Lowther Hills in South Lanarkshire down to the Firth of Clyde on the west coast.
And while communities the length of the Clyde, right up to Greenock and Port Glasgow, might refer to it as a river - there's an argument to be made that it stops being 'the River Clyde' at Glasgow Green.
That's due to the Clyde Tidal Weir, which maintains the water level by stabilising the upstream banking to create a deep, wide channel of water through Glasgow Green.
From the Green onwards, the Clyde is entirely tidal, alternating between fresh and sea water, and as such, is more of an estuary than a river.
Prior to the widening and deepening of the Clyde to allow ships to navigate it up to the city centre, it was a shallow estuary with sandbanks and islets - and with the construction of the tidal weir in 1901, it's arguable that it became a (much) deeper estuary.
Don't believe us? Well, here's some evidence to back that up ...
An article from The Journal of Coastal Conservation from 2011, titled 'Modelling the long-term morphological evolution of the Clyde Estuary', refers to the Clyde Estuary as forming "the inner part of the Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. The estuary extends 40 km from Greenock to the tidal weir at the city of Glasgow.
"The River Clyde, with its five tributaries (Rivers Kelvin, WhiteCart, Black Cart, Gryffe and Leven), are the main freshwater sources into the estuary."
Another paper entitled 'Flood Forecasting and Flood Warning in the Firth of Clyde' published in the journal Natural Hazards in 2005, notes that the Clyde Estuary extends from 'the Firth of Clyde up to Glasgow city centre' in reference to SEPA's coastal flooding warning system.
So...it turns out that every day is a school day, and this may be one to wheel out to your friends the next time you're in need of some pub trivia.
Still, we can't imagine Glaswegians giving up 'the River Clyde' any time soon!
Article first published in May 2020.
