The Union – or the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal as it was known
A DIFFERENT feat of engineering and interest, the Union Canal feels much more domestic, running through towns, villages, farmland and countryside between Edinburgh city centre and Falkirk, although it drove industrial development along its length through the 19th century.
Originally conceived in 1793 as a means of providing Edinburgh with a source of cheap and plentiful coal from the Monkland coalfields, construction wasn’t approved until 1817.
Delays were due to indecision over the several suggested routes, and the conflicting interests of landowners, manufacturers and the coal mine proprietors. Construction finally began in 1818 with Hugh Baird, an engineer on the Forth & Clyde Canal, leading the project.
The 32 miles of Union Canal opened in 1822, after only four years. Increased railway traffic saw the demise of the canal, with the western terminus closed in 1993 as commercial traffic ceased. The lock flight in Falkirk, linking the Union and Forth & Clyde canals, was closed and filled in, and the canal culverted in several places to make way for new roads.
The canal was formally closed to navigation in 1965 and it was not until after a tremendous campaigning effort that restoration happened as part of the Millennium Link project, launched in 1994 and one of the largest canal restoration projects ever seen in Britain.
Designed as a contour canal, following the lie of the land, there are only three locks. Lock 3 takes boats from the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Falkirk Wheel and locks 1 and 2 rise on to the Union Canal proper.
Today the canal is a delight as it winds through the countryside. The many bridges include Leamington Lift Bridge, built in 1906 and located at Lochrin Basin, the canal’s Edinburgh terminus.
Scott Russell Aqueduct is the most recently built, being completed in 1987 ahead of the canal restoration. It is named after the Naval engineer and scientist who discovered the Soliton (single) Wave Theory on the canal itself – the phenomenon of a single wave gathering momentum and travelling a considerable distance.
Prince Charlie Aqueduct, so named because the Bonnie Prince set up camp nearby in 1745 while awaiting the surrender of Edinburgh, was rebuilt in 1937. The other three aqueducts – Slateford, Almond and Avon – form part of the original construction.
Almond Aqueduct is the largest aqueduct in Scotland and the second-largest in Britain. Hugh Baird reputedly consulted with Thomas Telford in the design of these structures, which carry the canal through iron troughs on hollow stone pillars.