Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Two rowers in a boat on the Union Canal, Edinburgh. A boy and his bicycle are on ther towpath. General view. Digital image of ED 7073

SC 785629

Description Two rowers in a boat on the Union Canal, Edinburgh. A boy and his bicycle are on ther towpath. General view. Digital image of ED 7073

Date 1900 to 1930

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

Catalogue Number SC 785629

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 7073

Scope and Content Union Canal, Edinburgh (closed 1965 and navigation restored 2002) The canal was 11.3m wide at the surface and 1.5m deep, and followed a winding course through pleasant wooded countryside along most of its 50.8km length. A towpath, broad enough to accommodate the pairs of powerful horses that drew the heavy barges and fast passenger boats, ran the length of the bank although after the decline of commercial traffic on the waterway, it was reduced to grassy track in parts. As the amount of commercial traffic on the canal gradually dwindled in the early 20th century, the numbers of rowing boats, canoes and other small pleasure craft on the waterway increased. Boats could be hired at boating stations in Edinburgh and rowed out into the countryside, and serious rowing competitions between local teams became popular, with spectators observing and encouraging the competitors from the towpath. Although the canal was too narrow for boats to race side by side, 'station' races were organised where one boat started three lengths in front of the other. There were two finishing posts, and if the first boat had extended the gap or the second boat had closed the gap on the other, it was the winner. 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/785629

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap

Collection Hierarchy - Item Level

Collection Level (551 64) Collection of photographs by George Chrystal and Francis Maxwell Chrystal, photographers, Edinburgh, Scotland

> Item Level (SC 785629) Two rowers in a boat on the Union Canal, Edinburgh. A boy and his bicycle are on ther towpath. General view. Digital image of ED 7073

People and Organisations

Events

Attribution & Licence Summary

Attribution: © Courtesy of HES (Francis M Chrystal Collection)

Licence Type: Educational

You may: copy, display, store and make derivative works [eg documents] solely for licensed personal use at home or solely for licensed educational institution use by staff and students on a secure intranet.

Under these conditions: Display Attribution, No Commercial Use or Sale, No Public Distribution [eg by hand, email, web]

Full Terms & Conditions and Licence details

MyCanmore Text Contributions