View from W showing route of canal inclined plane with Riddrie School in background

Description View from W showing route of canal inclined plane with Riddrie School in background

Date 1965

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 643559

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Site of Blackhill Locks and Incline, Monkland Canal, Glasgow The Monkland Canal was authorised in 1770, but was not completed for through navigation until 1793. The main traffic in the early days was coal for the Glasgow market, but iron traffic from the 1830s put pressure on capacity which was eased in 1850-1 by building an inclined plane to by-pass locks at Blackhill. This shows the site of the inclined plane as a gash in the hillside in front of the buildings on the right. It ran to a point out of sight on the right. Two lines of rails were laid in the cutting, with wheeled caissons running on them. There was a steam winding engine at the top. The incline was designed by James Leslie, civil engineer, and worked well. When traffic declined to the point that operation became uneconomic the equipment was dismantled, in about 1887. Rails remained on the incline until about 1970, when they were uncovered during road construction. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference H35/65/3/12

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/643559

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap