Archaeology Notes

Event ID 702685

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/702685

NS56NE 98 56719 68867

See also NS56NE 217.00.

Not to be confused with aqueduct over River Kelvin (NS 56152 68980), for which see NS56NE 85.

Aqueduct, Maryhill Road, built 1881 for the Forth and Clyde Canal. A massive rustic masonry structure, with a heavy segmental arch carrying the puddled bed of the canal and semicircular arches on each side of the towpath. This was a replacement of an earlier structure, which was situated immediately to the N.

J R Hume 1974.

This great stone aqueduct passes over the Maryhill Road. It was constructed in 1881, replacing the original one on the site. This original aqueduct was similar in design to the Lochburn Road Aqueduct (NS56NE 100), which was constructed by Whitworth in the 1780s.

The Forth and Clyde Canal Guidebook 1991.

Due to increased traffic, this aqueduct had to be rebuilt in 1881. It is a very solid structure and is a replica of the Possil Road Aqueduct, built in 1880.

H Brown 1997.

The original aqueduct, termed locally the 'Pen Bridge', was at the E end of the new Maryhill village. However, as Maryhill had expanded greatly by the late nineteenth century, reaching almost as far as Queen's Cross, the aqueduct which had been constructed in 1785 was found to be too small for Glasgow's much enlarged tramway system. Consequently, a much larger aqueduct was built in 1881 by the side of the earlier one, the canal having to be re-cut and angled round a sharper s-bend in order to go over it. During this construction work the banks apparently burst and the emergency was dealt with by the local Police Chief, who took to the flooded road on an upturned kitchen table. The re-aligned canal passed through part of the grounds of the Gairbraid Church.

G Hutton 1998.

The original aqueduct is visible on the 1st Edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1865, vi).

Information from RCAHMS (MD) 15 August 2000.