‘Harvie’s Dyke, 1823: The People, Their Liberty and the Radicalism of Place’

This talk focuses on an important but largely overlooked right of way protest and campaign against the erection of a wall that obstructed a long-established walkway along the river Clyde. The campaign may have been the first of its kind in the UK. The episode raises questions about our understanding of Radicalism in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, and the  nature and importance of class conflict. Did place matter more? Allied to these issues is the matter of popular memory; what is remembered, and what has been forgotten.

Christopher A Whatley OBE, FRSE is Professor Emeritus in Scottish History, University of Dundee.  Much of his academic output has concerned ordinary people, their experiences at home and work, and as political actors whether on the streets, in the fields or through more formal channels. Examples include, Scottish Society, 1707-1830 (2000); The Scots and the Union (2006, 2014); A History of Everyday Life in Scotland (2011); Immortal Memory: Burns and the Scottish People (2016) and, most recently, Harvie’s Dyke: The People, Their Liberty and the Clyde (2025).

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