Edinburgh, Union Canal. View of 2 men at Johnston's Boathouses.

Description Edinburgh, Union Canal. View of 2 men at Johnston's Boathouses.

Date 1900 to 1930

Collection Collection of photographs by George Chrystal and Francis Maxwell Chrystal, photographers, Edinburgh,

Catalogue Number SC 785615

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 7005

Scope and Content Johnston's Boat-houses, Lochrin Basin, Union Canal, Edinburgh (canal closed 1965 and navigation restored 2002) This long, low timber boat-house stood on the south side of Lochrin Basin at Lower Gilmore Place, Viewforth. It specialised in the hire of rowing boats which could be rowed out into the countryside at Slateford and Hermiston. The north side of the basin was dominated by the great bulk of the North British Rubber Works building (right), one of the few surviving industries which were still dependent on drawing a source of water from the canal in the 1930s. In the early 20th century the numbers of commercial craft on the canal dwindled and the numbers of pleasure craft increased. By the 1930s, leisure boating was a popular pastime, with boating stations established at Slateford, and closer to the city centre at Johnston's Boat-houses at Lochrin Basin, then the eastern terminal basin of the canal. Rowing clubs were founded, although the oldest club, St Andrew's Boat Club at Meggetland, dates from 1846. Regattas between rival university clubs were popular throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and several Edinburgh schools also established boat clubs on the canal. The Union Canal, the last of Scotland's major canals, was a commercial venture begun in 1818 and completed in 1822. It was built principally as a means of importing coal and lime into Edinburgh, and ran from Port Hopetoun in Edinburgh to join the Forth & Clyde Canal at Camelon, Stirlingshire. However, within 20 years of completion most of its passenger traffic was lost to the railways, and the Edinburgh basins closed in 1922. The rest of the canal remained navigational until 1965 when it was finally closed by an Act of Parliament. In 2002, Britain's largest canal restoration project, The Millennium Link, restored navigation, and with an extension to the Union Canal and a link with the Forth & Clyde Canal through the Falkirk Wheel, boats were once more able to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/785615

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap