Insight into life of Forth & Clyde Canal
Guest speaker takes a trip down memory lane
East Kilbride Probus Club’s first meeting of the season was opened by new president John Walker.
Various aspects of business were carried out with a minute’s silence held for Rex Diack, who had sadly passed away.
President Walker also made a presentation on behalf of the club to the retired secretary for his long and distinguished service of 14 years.
Guest speaker Tom Lawton gave a talk about the Forth and Clyde canal that transits Scotland – its past, present and future.
The canal is some 250 years old and was first mooted way back in the time of Charles II, who wanted a cut across Scotland to save going all the way round with his ships and the risk of capsizing.
Alas, nothing happened.
It was not until the mid1700s that the building of the Forth and Clyde Canal or ‘The Great Canal’ as it was referred to then, became an actual possibility with funding being raised to carry out the work.
The first spade was dug out in June 1768 and construction continued for 22 years – including a seven-year period when no work was carried out due to lack of funds.
It was the company’s policy to try to recruit locally to provide employment in the areas the canal crossed.
The prior alternative was by stagecoach which took three days, or even by sedan chair which took even longer.
Work was hard and the ‘Navvies’ (navigators)were the manual labour with the use of picks and shovels to dig out heavy wet earth.
Water was first let into the canal in 1773 when it was filled as far as Kirkintilloch, which increased this town’s profile with additional trades appearing in the area.
It was two years later that the canal opened as far as Stockingfield, Maryhill. A cut was also made towards Glasgow as far as Hamiltonhill.
In 1784, work resumed when the government of the day approved a loan of £50,000 to the Canal Company, and this allowed the canal to reach Bowling.
By the summer of 1790, the first boat navigated the full Firth to Forth channel in August of that year.
It boasts of some 39 locks, is 60ft wide and 10ft deep, however, nowadays it is only about 6ft deep. All the bridges are the opening type although currently five are being looked at for repair or refurbishment.
The canal served three main purposes – it allowed seagoing vessels passage from east to west or vice versa and provided the fast movement of goods, such as agricultural produce, mineral resources and locallyproduced goods that could be transported more easily across Scotland. It also acted as a way for travellers to move across Scotland using “Swift” boats that linked to coach services.
The Forth and Clyde Canal had an active life into the years of the Second World War, though by this time railways were carrying more goods around the country.
Trade was slowly falling away, though transits through the canal and day-tripping continued. Eventually, on January 1, 1963, the Forth and Clyde Canal closed to through traffic.
However, the Forth and Clyde Canal Society are hard at work to reopen the entire length of the canal but with only volunteers the work is ongoing.
Its tow paths are used by cyclists and walkers and fisherman can look to catching up to 19 different species. There are extensive boat trips on the society’s fleet of boats – some adapted, some purposely-built for passengers.