HEAD west, young man, or woman, and you’ll find a sculpture of style that marks the spot where thousands of heavy boots passed daily at Dalmuir.

Some 13,000 pairs of boots to be precise as Dalmuir was the home to the Beardmore Naval Construction Works.

It was established in 1906 becoming a place of vision, industrial might and key to Britain’s strength at sea.

War and conflict were the drivers of the Beardmore Yard and it is significant in its links to the First World War.

One of its most iconic creations in the dreadnought battleship the Ramillies.

And it is this that has been so beautifully sculpted and stands today at the corner of Beardmore Street and Dumbarton Road in memory of the outstanding work done at Dalmuir.

The Ramillies, modelled here in galvanised steel, was commissioned by local residents.

The job went to local artist Tom MacKendrick, who served his time at the nearby John Brown shipyard in Clydebank.

The sculpture itself is constructed from many of the components of the ship that would be commonplace to the shipbuilder but remain unseen by most of us.

The work of art has an inverted full scale aft section frame above the tip of the rudder to form the main arc.

Within this arc the shipbuilding parts of camber, sheer and frame spacing are referenced.

Weighty and robustly designed brackets that were used to support heavy armoured decks are integrated into the tracery that forms the base, along with gently curved frames and a section of double bottom plating.

And there, supported on four pillars high above is Tom’s interpretation of the Revenge Class Dreadnought, Ramillies, launched from Beardmore’s in 1916.

Ramillies is approximately 11 metres wide by 11 metres high; and is just over 6 metres long.

This interpretation of the battleship is said to address the distortions of the builder.

That is what the men at the yard would say is the reality where working on an object of this scale introduces unusual perspectives.

Towering above and viewed from below, the ship is elevated high on its stocks.

It is clearly an object of style and is realised as an homage to the skills, determination and sheer hard work of the men at Beardmore.

When you view it, look even closer. There, in the distance as you look through the sculpture’s legs from Dumbarton Road in the direction of the yard marks the exact site of the gantry where the Ramillies was built.

Glasgow Times:

Ramillies was the 25th ship ordered from the Dalmuir works but she was not the 25th ship delivered.

Due to an extreme shortage of experienced skilled members of the shipbuilding trades during the war, that of mainly platers and riveters, the construction of Ramillies took almost four years to complete.

She was laid down on the main building slipway, under the large over-berth gantry built by Sir William Arrol & Co, on November 12, 1913.

Glasgow Times:

Ramillies was not launched until almost three years later on October 12, 1916. It then took almost another year before she was ready to be commissioned into the Royal Navy in October 1917.

At its peak the Beardmore empire employed around 40,000 people on Clydeside.

In addition to heavy steel castings, warships and airships Beardmore’s also produced steam locomotives, combat aircraft, tanks and military equipment, motor cycles, lorries, cars, steam boilers and engines.

The Dalmuir Yard closed in 1930.

Tom MacKendrick’s work is dazzling by day and stunning, lit up very precisely, at night.

Go enjoy.