River Cart

The River Cart is a tributary of the River Clyde, Scotland, which it joins from the west roughly midway between the towns of Erskine and Renfrew and opposite the town of Clydebank.

The River Cart itself is very short, being formed from the confluence of the Black Cart Water (from the west) and the White Cart Water (from the south east) and is only 3⁄4 mile (1.2 kilometres) long. The River Cart and its tributary the White Cart Water were navigable as far as the Seedhill Craigs at Paisley; and, as with the River Clyde, various improvements were made to this river navigation.

In 1840 the 1⁄2-mile (800-metre) Forth and Cart Canal was opened, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal, at Whitecrook near Clydebank, to the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Cart. The aim was to provide a direct link between Paisley, Port Dundas, Edinburgh, and the Firth of Forth.

Black Cart Water

The Black Cart Water originates at Castle Semple Loch in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire. From there, it flows northeast though Johnstone, passes Linwood and then under the M8 motorway at Blackstoun, where it is joined by the River Gryfe. The river then flows parallel with the main runway of Glasgow Airport; passing under the A8 at Renfrew by means of a stone bridge, where it joins the White Cart Water.

White Cart Water

The waterhead of the White Cart Water originates in South Lanarkshire, just beyond the south-eastern boundary of East Renfrewshire, where Eaglesham Moor meets Ellrig Muir. Although a large number of historical sources from the 1500s to the 1900s attest its origin on Ellrig Hill, some discrepancies in mid-19th century OS mapping between counties, coupled with later mis-readings of the same by gazetteers, have led to a much repeated but false consensus in later sources, that the watercourse rises further west, on Corse Hill in Eaglesham parish; an error repeated by such reputable sources as newspapers, local authority websites and digital map data licences used by many entities.