Canals
Caledonian Canal
Crinan Canal
The Monkland Canal
Forth & Clyde Canal
Union Canal
The Caledonian Canal
The majestic Caledonian Canal is 60 miles (96.6 km) in length of which 22 miles (35.4 km) is man-made. Stretching from Inverness to Fort William it is one of the great waterways of the world, offering visitors spectacular scenery, amazing wildlife and the world famous Scots hospitality. The Great Glen divides the Highlands of Scotland with its series of lochs, and was therefore considered an ideal site for a canal.
The Caledonian Canal shares many characteristics with the Gõte Canal in Sweden and Canada 's Rideau Canal . Consequently both are twinned with the Caledonian Canal .
The Caledonian Canal was designed by Thomas Telford, the greatest of Scotland 's civil engineers. Funded by the British Government and constructed between 1803 and 1822, it was the first state-funded transport undertaking in British history, and remains under public ownership to this day.
Though initially intended to provide a safe transport route for naval frigates during the Napoleonic wars, the Caledonian Canal did not serve a military function until the First World War. Nonetheless, the Canal has played a significant role in the development of the Highland economy, fostering trade between East and West, as well as with Germany , Holland and the Scandinavian countries.
Major use is now leisure and yachtsmen use the canal as a safe winter berth as well as safe scenic passage from west to east.
A restoration programme, instigated in the mid 1990s, is now complete having achieved its aim of stabilising the many lock structures along the length of the canal. Many of the techniques and specialist products used in this process were specially created by us, for use on the Caledonian Canal.
Crinan Canal
Once described as the 'most beautiful shortcut in the world' the 9-mile (14.5km) Crinan Canal which rises 68ft (20.7m) above sea level was built over 200 years ago by a private company headed by the Duke of Argyll.
The canal was created to open up the west coast and improve access to the Western Isles, offering a safe transit route from Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne to Crinan, thus avoiding the often difficult sail around the Mull of Kintyre and cutting over 100 miles (160km) off the journey time.
A survey for a canal at Crinan was made as early as 1771, by James Watt. At that time, no money was available and nothing was done. The Crinan Canal Act was passed in 1793 following another survey the previous year by John Rennie who became the chief engineer. Actual construction did not begin until 1794 and was beset with difficulties. Funding subsequently ran out and Government loans and additional funds finally allowed the canal to be opened, in an unfinished state, in 1801. An embankment failure in 1805 caused the canal to be closed for nearly a year and when seventy feet of bank on the main reservior gave way in 1811 the canal closed for a further 18 months as there was no money to effect repairs. In 1812 the Commissioners for the Caledonian Canal asked their engineer, Thomas Telford, to survey the state of the canal and estimate costs of repairs. The canal was then reopened after repairs and kept open until 1816 when Telford procured a contractor, John Gibb, to undertake principal repairs and was reopened in 1817. An Act was passed in 1848 placing the Crinan Canal in the hands of the Commissioners of the Caledonian. The canal was to revert to the original proprietors once the public debt, with interest, had been paid. It never was.
By 1854, the Canal was carrying 33,000 passengers, 27,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle!
One of the most prominent sights on the canal for many years was the Clyde Puffer, little cargo vessels that were designed to fit the Forth & Clyde and Crinan Canals . They delivered coal to the west coast and brought back whisky and other produce. Today there are only two puffers left on the canal, Auld Reekie and Vic 32, which are based at the canal basin in Crinan.
The canal itself no longer carries freight although the harbour at Ardrishaig is an important element in Scotland 's timber trade.
Today the Crinan Canal serves as a still water marina base for cruising yachtsmen.
THE LOWLAND CANALS
The Monkland Canal
The Monkland Canal is no longer available for navigation but is, nevertheless, a vital part of the system. It provides the main water supply to the Forth & Clyde Canal and is locally important as an amenity for the community.
James Watt began cutting the Monkland Canal on 26 June 1770 . For three years the workforce inched toward Glasgow until funding finally ran out.
More money had to be raised in 1780 to continue with construction. Improvements were also carried out between 1790 and 1793. Locks were built at Blackhill to join the upper and lower levels, and the canal was extended to the Forth & Clyde Canal at Port Dundas.
The development of the iron industry in Coatbridge in the 1830s generated so much business that the growth of railways caused barely a blip in the canal's profits - even the passenger services continued to thrive.
The Forth & Clyde Canal Company bought the Monkland in 1846, and in 1867 these canals were in turn bought by the Caledonian Railway. Fierce competition for the iron business forced trade off the canals and onto the railways. Within 20 years traffic had halved, and by the mid 1930s the canal was disused, finally being abandoned in 1950.
In the 1960s much of the canal was filled in, with the section from Townhead to Easterhouse being buried beneath the M8 motorway.
The Monkland Canal was never glamorous, but even in its industrial hey-day locals enjoyed its amenity value. The sections which have survived, between Faskine and Drumpellier, have now reverted to attractive countryside.
In the Woodhall area, the canal towpath joins with the North Calder Heritage Trail. The canal also runs through scenic Drumpellier Country Park in Coatbridge .
The first iron boat in Scotland - The Vulcan - was manufactured on the canal in 1819.
Forth & Clyde Canal
The Forth & Clyde is 56 miles (35 km) long from Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth to Bowling on the Firth of Clyde with the Glasgow branch another 35 miles (56 km). The waterway was extended when the Monklands Canal was joined to the Port Dundas Basin in 1793, and the Union Canal at Camelon in 1822.
The waterway was bought by Caledonian Railway in 1867 (as a condition of buying the Port of Grangemouth ). It remained under railway management until 1948 when it was taken over by the British Transport Commission.
The canal passed to the newly established British Waterways Board in 1962 and in 1963 Parliament closed all rights of navigation.
Following completion of Millennium Link restoration work, the canal re-opened again in the Spring of 2001, providing coast-to-coast navigation. The link with the Union Canal , allowing navigation from the centre of Glasgow to the centre of Edinburgh was achieved following the opening of The Falkirk Wheel on 24 May 2002 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
There are a number of Scheduled Ancient Monuments on the Forth & Clyde Canal including the Bascule Bridge at Port Dundas, Possil Aqueduct & Old Basin , Maryhill Locks and the Kelvin Aqueduct. The Bascule Bridge and Railway Swing Bridge at Port Dundas are listed buildings.
In addition to being a Scheduled Ancient Monument the 403 feet (123 metres) long 69 feet (21 metres) high Kelvin Aqueduct was the largest structure of its kind in Britain when it was completed in 1790.
The Union Canal
The Union Canal, or to give the waterway its full name, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, was started in 1818 and opened four years later. The principal engineer on the project was Hugh Baird, although he took advice from the great engineer Thomas Telford.
The canal was originally constructed to transport coal into Edinburgh , breaking the monopoly of the Edinburgh coalmasters and Midlothian mine owners. A 31½-mile (50 km) contour canal, it ran from Edinburgh to Falkirk where it joined the Forth & Clyde Canal at Lock 16.
Popular features of the canal include the Avon, Almond and Slateford Aqueducts, which are amongst the finest in Britain , and the Laughin' and Greetin' Bridge at Glen Village , famous for its carved faces on the keystones.
Prior to the construction of the tunnel underneath the Antonine Wall the Union had one canal tunnel along its length, cut through solid rock. It was constructed because a powerful landowner objected to the prospect of being able to see the canal from his house.
The canal is famous for the discovery of the Solitary Wave of Motion by John Scott Russell in 1834. An aqueduct over the A720 Edinburgh City bypass was named after him.
On a more sinister note the famous body snatchers, Burke and Hare, were employed to cut the canal in the Edinburgh area.
The Glasgow to Edinburgh railway, which opened in 1842, caused the rapid decline of the Union Canal . In 1861 the canal was taken over by the North British Railway Company, and in 1921 Port Hamilton and Port Hopetoun were sold to Edinburgh Council and filled in.
