The Forth And Clyde Canal
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The Forth and Clyde Canal stretches across central Scotland from Grangemouth on the River Forth, to Bowling on the River Clyde.
Planning the route
The idea for a man made waterway between the German Sea 1 and the Irish Sea was first put forward by Charles II (1660-1685) who saw it as a way to safely move his warships from one coast to the other.
It was not until 1763 that the Forth and Clyde navigation company commissioned the engineer John Smeaton to carry out a survey that would determine the best route. In 1764 Smeaton presented two options.
ROUTE ONE-Grangeburnfoot (on the River Forth) to the River Clyde at Yoker (just west of Glasgow) via Dullatur Bog and the Kelvin Valley.
ROUTE TWO-Grangeburnfoot to the River Clyde at Dumbarton (about 20 miles west of Glasgow) via Stirling, the River Endrick, Loch Lomond and the River Leven.
Route two was completely unacceptable to the merchants of Glasgow who, in 1767, asked Robert Mackell and James Watt to amend route one so that the canal would enter the Clyde in Glasgow. This was not really practical as the Clyde was not very deep in Glasgow at this time. Eventually a compromise was reached. The canal would follow route one but enter the Clyde at Dalmuir (8 miles west of Glasgow) and a branch line would be built from Stockingfield (in the northwest of Glasgow) to Hamiltonhill (a mile from Glasgow city centre).
A bill was introduced to Parliament in October 1767 and was passed in December 1767. £150,000 was to be raised in shares of £100.
Building the canal
On the 10th of June 1768 construction work finally started at the eastern end of the route. Rather unusually for the time, the project used mainly local labour (most major engineering projects of the time used Irish or Highland labourers).
In the Autumn of 1773 the canal had reached Kirkintilloch and it was decided to open it to traffic, Kirkintilloch being near enough to Glasgow to transfer goods to carts. The next phase to be completed was Kirkintilloch to Stockingfield. This was opened in 1775, at this time a decision was made to build the branch to Hamiltonhill before completing the main line to Dalmuir, this branch being opened in November 1777, unfortunately the canal company ran out of money at this point.
In the mid 1780's a loan was secured from the forfieted Jacobite estates fund and work restarted. It was in this phase of building that the impressive Kelvin Aqueduct (taking the canal over the River Kelvin) was constructed, on land purchased from the Gairbraid Estate. In 1785 the route to the Clyde was altered again, the canal would now enter the Clyde at Bowling (1.5 miles west of Dalmuir).
On the 28th of July 1790 the Forth and Clyde canal was finally opened along its whole length.
In 1793 the Glasgow branch of the canal was extended to Port Dundas (Half a mile from Glasgow city centre) where it was linked to the Monkland canal.
In 1822 the Union canal2 was linked to the Forth and Clyde canal at lock 163 thereby creating a waterway between the centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The rise and fall of canal traffic
Although very successful in its early days the canal inevitably became a victim of the success of the railways. In 1867 the canal was sold to the Caledonian Railway Company, as part of a package which included Grangemouth docks. Traffic continued to decline and after 1918 mainly fishing boats and pleasure craft used the canal.
Ownership of the canal was transfered to the British Transport Commission in 1948 and in 1962 control of the canal was handed over to the British Waterways Board. In the same year the Denny bypass on the Glasgow to Stirling road was being built, and rather than spend £160,000 on a lifting bridge a decision was taken to close the canal.
On the 1st of January 1963 navigation from Grangemouth to Bowling was no longer possible.
In the following years several parts of the canal were filled in and lifting bridges were changed to fixed bridges when road upgrading projects were carried out.
The Millenium Link Project
In the 1990's the Millennium Link project to reopen the Forth and Clyde canal and the Union canal was started.
On the 26th, 27th and 28th of May 2001 a series of official ceremonies were performed in all the local authority areas that the Forth and Clyde canal passes through to mark its reopening.
The project is due to be completed in Spring 2002 when the two canals will be linked by the Falkirk wheel, the worlds first rotating boat lift
The total cost of this project is £78million.
Canal Dimensions
Number of locks- 39
Highest point- 47.5 Mtr (156 feet) above sea level
Length- 62.8 Km (39.4 miles) including Glasgow branch
Width- 18.3 Mtr (60 feet) at water surface
Depth- 2.9 Mtr (9 feet 6 inches)
Lock Size
Length- 21.3 Mtr (70 feet)
Width- 6.1 Mtr (20 feet)
Maximum Boat Size
Length- 20.1 Mtr (66 feet)
Beam- 5.9 Mtr (19 feet 8 inches)
Draught- 2.7 Mtr (9 feet)
