Interior. View from NNW of entrance.
E 5868 CN
Description Interior. View from NNW of entrance.
Date 31/7/2001
Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu
Catalogue Number E 5868 CN
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Copies SC 796879
Scope and Content Entrance, Canal Tunnel, Union Canal, Falkirk, from north-north-west This shows the southern entrance of the canal tunnel, which was designed by Hugh Baird and built between 1818 and 1822. This part of the interior has been finished with masonry and patched in brick. The timber handrail has been added for pedestrians walking along the restored cobbled towpath and the green-painted gate and pole (background) could be closed to stop traffic using the tunnel. This tunnel was dug because William Forbes, owner of Callendar House, did not want to see the canal from his property. This meant that a 631m-long tunnel had to be cut through the solid rock of Prospect Hill. 'Navvies' (labourers) dug into the rock at opposite ends and created three shafts from the top of the hill. These shafts enabled the workers to dig outwards from inside the hill. 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.
Medium Colour negative
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