View from west
E 15931 CN
Description View from west
Date 14/10/2001
Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu
Catalogue Number E 15931 CN
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Copies SC 797010
Scope and Content West Hermiston Bridge, Union Canal, Edinburgh, from west This shows the west side of West Hermiston Bridge which was designed and built by Baird around 1820. The projecting keystone of the large arch is incised with the number '12', which is the serial number for the bridge. A projecting string-course runs along the base of the parapet which is railed over the arch. Bridges on public highways had stone parapets whereas bridges on subsidiary or estate roads had railed parapets. Every bridge on the Union Canal has a serial number which runs numerically from Bridge No 1, Edinburgh to Bridge No 62, Falkirk. The towpath (left), originally walked by horses pulling barges, travels underneath the bridge but is now mainly used as a cycle route. All of the 62 canal bridges were designed so as the towpath could continue uninterrupted underneath them. 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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