Milestone to west of aqueduct, from SSW

Description Milestone to west of aqueduct, from SSW

Date 31/7/2001

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

Catalogue Number E 5900 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 691367

Scope and Content Avon Aqueduct Milestone, Union Canal, Falkirk, from south-south-west This shows a milestone to the west of Avon Aqueduct, built between 1818 and 1822, which was designed by Baird with advice from Thomas Telford. The pointed edge (centre) faces the canal and the left front is inscribed 7½ and the right front incised 24. The former indicates to travellers on the canal the number of miles to Falkirk and the latter to Edinburgh. Along the length of the canal there were milestones every mile and in some places every half-mile indicating the distances to Falkirk and Edinburgh. Each stone is usually a square and dressed stone pillar which is around 83cm high. The government authorised the construction of the Union Canal in 1817 and appointed Hugh Baird (1770-1827) as the chief engineer. The main purpose of the canal was to provide an economical route for the transportation of coal and lime between Edinburgh and Glasgow via the Forth & Clyde Canal (1768-90). The 51km-long canal was opened in 1822 at a cost of £461,760, almost double the estimate, and it ran from Lock 16 at Camelon, Falkirk to Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Except where the two canals are joined at Falkirk, the canal was built with no locks because it followed the contours of the hills. The Union Canal was closed in 1965, two years after the Forth & Clyde Canal, 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 both canals to reopen in 2002. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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