Edinburgh, Craiglockhart, Union Canal. General view of canal. Digital image of ED 6947

Description Edinburgh, Craiglockhart, Union Canal. General view of canal. Digital image of ED 6947

Date 1900 to 1930

Collection Collection of photographs by George Chrystal and Francis Maxwell Chrystal, photographers, Edinburgh,

Catalogue Number SC 785589

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 6947

Scope and Content Union Canal, Edinburgh, looking west towards Harrison Road Bridge and Craiglockhart (closed 1965 and navigation restored 2002) The canal was 11.3m wide at the surface and 1.5m deep, and wound its way through some of Edinburgh's pleasant suburbs on its 50.8km route from Port Hopetoun in the city to Camelon near Falkirk in the west. Its towpath was wide enough to accommodate the pairs of powerful horses required to draw the larger commercial barges and fast passenger boats. Latterly, when commercial traffic on the waterway dwindled, small boat-houses (centre) grew up along its banks to provide rowing boats, canoes and other small pleasure craft for hire. There was a steady decline in the canal's income in the late 19th century. The final collapse in its carrying trade came during the early years of the 20th century, and in 1922 Port Hopetoun and the other city basins were finally abandoned. Although it remained important as a supplier of water to industrial establishments in the city, in particular to the North British Rubber Works at Fountainbridge, its main function became that of leisure, with pleasure boats running on the waterway and small craft available for hire. By the 1950s there were only a few work boats left on the canal, travelling on short hauls towed by a man walking along the towpath. The Union Canal, the last of Scotland's major canals, was a commercial venture begun in 1818 and completed in 1822. It was built principally as a means of importing coal and lime into Edinburgh, and ran from Port Hopetoun in Edinburgh to join the Forth & Clyde Canal at Camelon, Stirlingshire. However, within 20 years of completion most of its passenger traffic was lost to the railways, and the Edinburgh basins closed in 1922. The rest of the canal remained navigational until 1965 when it was finally closed by an Act of Parliament. In 2002, Britain's largest canal restoration project, The Millennium Link, restored navigation, and with an extension to the Union Canal and a link with the Forth & Clyde Canal through the Falkirk Wheel, boats were once more able to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/785589

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap