Forth and Clyde Canal, Auchinstarry Swing Bridge View of control cabin from North Digital image of D/61844

Description Forth and Clyde Canal, Auchinstarry Swing Bridge View of control cabin from North Digital image of D/61844

Date 29/2/2000

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

Catalogue Number SC 793031

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 61844

Scope and Content Control cabin, Auchinstarry Swing Bridge, Forth & Clyde Canal, North Lanarkshire, from north This shows the control cabin for the electrically-operated swing bridge which was built in 1938 and replaced by a new bridge in 2000. The concrete-built structure has a piended (hipped) roof and the window has been covered with a metal plate. Part of the workings of the bridge are shown underneath the pedestrian walkway on the right and the works access sign probably referred to the building of the new bridge to the east. The controls for opening the bridge to allow larger ships along the canal were located in this cabin. Originally a drawbridge spanned the canal at this point but was replaced by this bridge probably due to greatly increased car usage from the 1930s onwards. The Forth & Clyde Canal was built between 1768 and 1790. It could have been completed sooner but funds ran out in 1777 and more money was not found by the government until 1784. John Smeaton (1724-92) was the designer and first chief engineer for the project. He was replaced in 1777 by Robert Mackell (d.1779), and in 1785 Robert Whitworth (1734-99) took over the building of the final section of the canal from Glasgow. When the canal was completed in 1790 it ran from the River Forth at Grangemouth, in the east, to Bowling on the River Clyde in the west of Scotland. The canal was linked to Edinburgh when the Union Canal was opened in 1822. The Forth & Clyde Canal was closed in 1963 and the Union Canal in 1965 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 the canals to reopen in 2002. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/793031

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap