Glasgow Bridge, Forth and Clyde Canal, Swing Bridge View from East

Description Glasgow Bridge, Forth and Clyde Canal, Swing Bridge View from East

Date 29/9/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number D 58856 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 793014

Scope and Content Replacement bridge, Swing Bridge, Forth & Clyde Canal, Glasgow Bridge, East Dunbartonshire, from east This shows the bridge, which was engineered by Scott Wilson, Kilpatrick and opened in 1990. Each of the bridge's eight piers have been decorated in an Art Nouveau style with reliefs in patterns of squares and rectangles. The towpath on the right has been covered with block paving in the late 20th century and is where horses which were towing barges would have walked. Also visible in the background is the 'Janet Telford' which is a barge run by the Forth & Clyde Canal Society. Originally a bascule bridge (drawbridge) spanned the canal at this point but was replaced around 1930 by a swing bridge. The swing bridge was removed in the 1970s and a culvert built. However the Glasgow Canal Project, whose aim was to restore bridges on the Glasgow Branch of the canal, replaced the culvert with this new bridge. The Forth & Clyde Canal was built between 1768 and 1790. It could have been completed sooner but funds ran out in 1777 and more money was not found by the government until 1784. John Smeaton (1724-92) was the designer and first chief engineer for the project. He was replaced in 1777 by Robert Mackell (d.1779), and in 1785 Robert Whitworth (1734-99) took over the building of the final section of the canal from Glasgow. When the canal was completed in 1790 it ran from the River Forth at Grangemouth, in the east, to Bowling on the River Clyde in the west of Scotland. The canal was linked to Edinburgh when the Union Canal was opened in 1822. The Forth & Clyde Canal was closed in 1963 and the Union Canal in 1965 and the construction of new roads meant that it was impossible for boats to travel along the full length of these watercourses. However, the £84.5m Millennium Link project enabled the canals to reopen in 2002. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Colour negative

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/487000