The Molendinar Burn was the site of the settlement that grew to become Glasgow, and where St Mungo founded his church in the 6th century. It was later used to power the growing town's mills.

It flows from Hogganfield Loch in the north-east of Glasgow, into the Clyde. It was covered over in the 1870s (by what is now Wishart Street). The point where it flowed into the Clyde caused silting, which allowed a ford to be made at the Saltmarket. This was later dredged.