SOME weeks ago, The National told the story of James Watt, the Scotsman who helped to spark the Industrial Revolution by inventing a new type of steam engine that vastly improved the power output achievable by steam.

He would invent many more things, and his standing among scientists was recognised by the naming of the unit of power after him.

The bicentenary of the death of Watt will take place on Sunday, August 25, and is to be marked in a unique way in Glasgow.

For it was while walking on Glasgow Green that Watt conceived of the idea of a condenser that would massively boost the power output of the existing steam engines of the day. His subsequent collaboration with Matthew Boulton at the Soho foundry near Birmingham would lead to the engines that powered the Industrial Revolution and the shops that expanded the British Empire.

On August 25, the James Watt Bicentenary Walk on Glasgow Green will go to the actual place where he conceived the idea of his steam engine, followed by poems at the Watt statue by the Federation of Writers Scotland.

The Federation have composed their Watt poems for a launch at St Mary’s Church, Handsworth, Birmingham, where Watt is buried for August 25, but have also agreed to share them in Glasgow on the day. It’s a free event, but anyone intending to attend should book via Eventbrite.

Historian and museum curator Dr Elspeth King explained that the event is being run by the Friends of the People’s Palace, Winter Gardens and Glasgow Green.

She said: “We were concerned that so many of the Watt Bicentenary events are taking place in Birmingham and elsewhere.

“I’ve been listening to various BBC radio programmes on Watt over the summer, and some have suggested that he would have been ‘nothing’ without Matthew Boulton, which is patently untrue.

“Watt had the type of genius for invention possessed by Leonardo da Vinci, and this should be appreciated in Scotland.”

Also, on August 25, the Industrial Museums of Scotland will celebrate ‘Go Industrial’ Day in tribute.

In chronological order, the following museums will each have an event that will also be live-streamed: 10.30am Scottish Maritime Museum; 11am The Scottish Shale Museum at Almond Valley; 11.30am Auchindrain Township; 12pm The Museum of the Scottish Railways in Bo’ness; 12.30pm Scottish Fisheries Museum; 1pm Museum of Lead Mining; 1.30pm Museum of Scottish Lighthouses; 2pm National Mining Museum Scotland the Junior Miner Experience; 2.30pm Verdant Works in Dundee will have a steam and mill-inspired performance from Quire with a Q; 3pm New Lanark; 3.30pm Summerlee Museum; 4pm Discovery Point.