Aerial view of Falkirk Wheel. Digital image of E 12508

Description Aerial view of Falkirk Wheel. Digital image of E 12508

Date 10/8/2002

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 798900

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 12508 CN

Scope and Content Aerial view, The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk, from south-east This aerial view from the south-east shows part of the 2km-long extension to the Union Canal (foreground) with the Falkirk Wheel, aqueduct and circular basin in the top right. There is a wedge-shaped visitor centre beside the basin which is connected by a lock to the Forth & Clyde Canal. The new extension of the Union Canal also has two locks and a basin prior to the 160m-long tunnel which cuts underneath the railway line and Antonine Wall. This new section of the Union Canal has been built with traditional features which are found on other canals. The small building next to the locks is similar in style to the lock-keepers' cottages which were lived in by the canal workers and their families who were responsible for opening the lock gates. The path which runs parallel with the water course continues the towpath which is beside the original canal. The towpaths, now used as a bicycle route, were designed for horses to walk along whilst pulling barges. The Forth & Clyde Canal, built between 1768 and 1790, ran from the River Carron, near Falkirk, in the east, to Bowling in the west of Scotland. The Union Canal, built between 1817 and 1822, ran from Port Downie, Falkirk, to Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Eleven locks which rose 33.5m in a distance of 0.8km connected the two canals. The Union Canal was closed in 1965, two years after the Forth & Clyde Canal, and the locks were largely buried and landscaped in the 20th century. 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. The Falkirk Wheel, opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 2002, was part of this project and re-established the link between the two canals. It was designed and built by a team which included the combined building contractors of Morrison-Bachy-Soletanche with specialist advice from Ove Arup Consultants, Butterley Engineering and R M J M Architects. Constructed on the site of an abandoned opencast mine at a cost £17m, the rotating boat-lift can move boats from one canal to another. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/798900

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap