View from east Digital image of E 5938 CN

Description View from east Digital image of E 5938 CN

Date 31/7/2001

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

Catalogue Number SC 796903

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 5938 CN

Scope and Content Bridge No 35, Union Canal, West Lothian, from east This shows the east side of Bridge No 35, which was designed by Baird and built around 1820. The arch has a central keystone which is surmounted by a corbelled plinth and panel. Polygonal piers support the railed parapet and the towpath continues underneath the bridge on the right. Every bridge on the Union Canal has a serial number which runs east-west from Bridge No 1, Edinburgh to Bridge No 62, Falkirk. The bridges were also built with dressed stone which was in contrast to the many timber bascule bridges (drawbridges) on the Forth & Clyde Canal. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/796903

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap