Archaeology Notes

Event ID 836704

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/836704

NS88SE 198.00 85241 80134 LIN 18

NS87NE 198.01 NS 85248 88002 to NS 85255 79862 Upper Basin (Extends onto map sheet NS87NE)

NS88SE 198.02 NS 85248 80004 to NS 85241 80117 Aqueduct

NS88SE 198.03 NS 85218 80153 Lower Basin and Slipway

NS88SE 198.04 NS 85269 80147 Visitor Centre

NS88SE 198.05 NS 85236 80226 Lower Lock

NS88SE 198.06 NS 85235 80240 Lower Lock, Footbridge

Location formerly entered as NS 8524 8013.

For (predecessor) Port Maxwell canal locks and basins, see NS87NE 102.

For (new construction: 'Millennium Link') Roughcastle Tunnel (to S), see NS87NE 31.05.

For adjacent (to S) portion of the Antonine Wall, see NS87NE 57.01.

Falkirk Wheel

(Rotating Boat Lift) [NAT]

Current OS map (GIS), March 2006.

Visited in August 2001 to record the moving components of the Falkirk Wheel immediately prior to installation.

Survey completed in December 2001 to record the site prior to the flooding of the canal basin. At the time, the rotating boat lift had been assembled, and was functioning and undergoing tests.

Information from RCAHMS (MKO), August 2001.

Millennium Wheel and Aqueduct, off Lime Road. By Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and partners, in association with British Waterways, 1999-2000. Prominent display of engineering, the single most ambitious part of the canal reopening.

[Structure described in detail].

J Gifford and F A Walker 2002.

Falkirk Wheel: this rotating canal lift connects the Forth and Clyde Canal [lower] with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal [upper], which has been extended for about 1.4km along the S side of the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line. A tunnel (NS87NE 31.05) carries the Union Canal under the railway and the Antonine Wall (NS87NE 57.01), onto the aqueduct leading to the wheel.

The first rotating boat lift in the world, this structure raises and lowes boats 25m. There is a visitor centre at its base.

The Falkirk Wheel occupies the site of a former tar distllery, which burnt out in 2002.

G Hutton 2002.

This impressive structure is situated in well-tended recreational parkland to the W of Falkirk. Built against a steep slope to the S, it is visible from a considerable distance around. The upper levels command a broad vista extending across the Campsie Hills, Ochil Hills and the Highland fringe.

The Wheel first turned on 11 December 2001.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 2 March 2006.