Monkland Canal

The Monkland Canal was a canal designed to bring coal from the mining areas of Monklands to Glasgow in Scotland. In the course of a long and difficult construction process, it was opened progressively as short sections were completed, from 1771. It reached Gartcraig in 1782, and in 1794 it reached its full originally planned extent, from pits at Calderbank to a basin at Townhead in Glasgow; at first this was in two sections with a vertical interval between them at Blackhill; coal was unloaded and carted to the lower section and loaded onto a fresh barge. Locks were later constructed linking the two sections, and the canal was also connected to the Forth and Clyde Canal, giving additional business potential.

Maintaining an adequate water supply was a problem, and later an inclined plane was built at Blackhill, in which barges were let down and hauled up, floating in caissons that ran on rails. Originally intended as a water-saving measure to be used in summer only, the inclined plane was found to pass barges more quickly than through the locks and may have been used all the year.

In the second and third decades of the nineteenth century, technical advances in iron smelting coupled with fresh discoveries of abundant iron deposits and coal measures encouraged a massive increase in industrial activity in the Coatbridge area, and the Canal was ideally situated to feed the raw materials and take away the products of the industry.

The development of railways reduced the competitiveness of the canal, and eventually it was abandoned for navigation in 1952, but its culverted remains still supply water to the Forth and Clyde Canal. Much of the route now lies beneath the course of the M8 motorway, but two watered sections remain, and are well stocked with fish. Additionally, the branch of the canal, which passes through Summerlee Heritage Park, was designated a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland in 2013.

Route

thumb|Route of the canal

thumb|Route of the canal from the one-inch OS maps of 1945–47, shortly before closure

The eastern end of the final extent of the canal is at Calderbank, south of Woodside Drive, where there were coal pits; the canal was fed there from the North Calder Water. A reservoir was created at Hillend (east of Caldercruix) to sustain the canal in the dry season, and others were made later.

The canal ran close to the north side of the North Calder Water, passing more coal pits (and later ironstone pits) at Faskine and Palacecraig, then turning north there. Palacecraig was later the southern extremity of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway. The canal passed under the road at Sikeside (now called Sykeside Road, Cairnhill), from where it is nowadays in culvert.

Turning west it passed under what is now Locks Street, Coatdyke; the name refers to the original canal lock; there is a small sign there recording the history. There was a lock to the east of the road, and a basin and second lock to the west of it. This location was called Sheepford Locks, and was the eastern extremity of the canal as originally built. A branch canal called Dixon's Cut was later built from the basin southwards to Dixon's Calder Ironworks, south of the present-day Greenend housing area. The canal then continued westward, a little to the south of the Airdrie to Coatbridge main road.

It passed south of the present-day Main Street area of Coatbridge, from where the short Dundyvan Branch ran southwards. It was built to serve coal pits and then extended to serve the Dundyvan Ironworks with a complex of railway trans-shipment sidings at its termination.

Another branch diverged northwards here, to the west of Sunnyside Road: called the Gartsherrie, Hornock and Summerlea Branch Canal, it ended at the Gartsherrie Ironworks, just south of the present-day Gartsherrie Road. It was originally planned to serve coal pits, but it was still unfinished in 1830 when the Baird Brothers established their Gartsherrie Ironworks at its termination.

A short branch was formed off the Cut of Junction to serve industrial premises in the area between the present Royston Road and Charles Street. The Cut of Junction was originally made to the same depth () as the Monkland Canal, but in 1842 it was deepened to accommodate the larger vessels that could use the Forth and Clyde Canal, which could then reach Tennent's chemical works. Opening bridges were provided at Glebe Street and Port Dundas.

The inventor and engineer James Watt said later that Monklands was "a country full of level free coals of good quality, in the hands of many proprietors, who sell them at present at 6d per cart of 7 cwt at the pit".

By 1768, the rapid growth of Glasgow had vastly increased the demand for coal, and its price: several bodies expressed concern, and the magistrates of Glasgow took action. The Lord Provost was James Buchanan of Drumpellier, and the rich Monklands coalfield was practically untapped. Canals were being promoted all over the country, and seemed to be the obvious solution here; the magistrates commissioned James Watt to recommend a route.

In November 1769 he reported back, suggesting two possible routes; one was expensive, at more than £20,000, entering the Clyde at Glasgow Green. Its route involved 25 locks, with a summit above the level of the Clyde. Watt said:

<blockquote>The Great expense of the above canal and the time that would be consumed in passing the locks ... have made me examine how far it is practicable to bring a canal without any locks ... I find that it can be brought to within a little more than a mile [1.6 km] of the town and that a waggon way or good causeway can be made for the remainder of the way. [This route] ends a little south of Jermiston, there appearing to be no possibility of bringing it near Glasgow on that level."</blockquote>

This proposal seems to ignore completely the major problem of the of vertical interval at Blackhill, an obstacle that was to cause serious problems later.

On 3 January 1770 the cheaper scheme—at £10,000—was laid before a meeting of business people, and following a second meeting on 11 January a subscription list was opened. The Town Council of Glasgow agreed to subscribe £500, with a complicated precondition designed to prevent the coalowners forming a cartel to keep prices high.

The subscription list was swiftly filled, and the necessary act of Parliament, the (10 Geo. 3. c. 105) was secured on 12 April 1770.

The Lord Provost was refunded "£65 as half of his charges in going to and coming from London anent obtaining the Act of Parliament ... the other half of such expense being chargeable on the proprietors of the Monkland Canal".

The act allowed the proprietors to raise £10,000 by issuing shares, and an additional £5,000 if necessary. Water for the canal was to be extracted from Frankfield Loch, Hogganfield Loch, and any other streams or lochs within of the proposed route which were not already supplying the Forth and Clyde Canal. The requirement in the act to take water only from a narrow geographical area, and the prohibition on taking water from sources that fed the Forth and Clyde Canal resulted in continuing water shortage problems later.

Construction starts under James Watt

The construction process was very difficult and protracted. It was supervised by Watt, with work beginning on 26 June 1770 at Sheepford, working westward.

He experienced severe weather and difficult ground, writing in December 1770:

<blockquote>Notwithstanding the desperate weather I am almost constantly at the canal ... I have a hundred men at work just now, finishing a great hill we have wrought at this twelvemonth. The nastiness of our clay grounds is at present inconceivable; the quantities of rain have been beyond measure.

Our canal has not stopped, but it is likely to do so, from our having expended the subscription of [£10,000] upon of the navigation, and having about yet to make. We have, however, made a canal of four feet water for one of three feet subscribed to, and have also paid most abominably for our land.</blockquote>

It is clear that he made the canal deep, more than originally specified by the proprietors; this followed a visit by the engineer John Smeaton on 28 July 1770. Smeaton "pointed out that the depth of the canal could with advantage be increased to four feet ... without any additional excavation, and the General Meeting of the proprietors three days later agreed to this". Thomson mentions that this has been overlooked by many writers, including Leslie, but Lewis stated with a width of at the surface, diminishing to at the bottom. The canal was broad, suitable for boats measuring up to .

(Dougal's wharf was at Easterhouse; the reservoir was a temporary one at The Flatters near Drumpellier.

Stagnation, and the departure of Watt

Jams Watt appears to have severed his connection with the canal from July 1773; at that time there were of canal dug westwards from Sheepford to Gartcraig. Detail of the activity in the next decade and a half are more sketchy. It seems likely that the initial money subscribed had run out without the canal being completed, and the financial climate made it difficult to continue, and that the company terminated Watt's employment.

Not much coal seems to have traversed the part of the canal that was open, so that quite apart from the shortage of capital to continue construction, the company was making an operating loss and was unable to pay its debts. An extraordinary general meeting was called on 3 May 1780, at which those present decided to make a call of 10% on all shareholders. This was a difficult time to ask for money, as the American War of Independence (1775–83) had ruined many of the Glasgow businesses, dependent on the American tobacco business. Moreover, asking for more money to keep a bankrupt business going was inopportune.

At this time a remark was made, facetiously suggesting filling the canal in. Miller tells the tale:

<blockquote>... for many years, the revenue derived was so trifling, compared with the great outlay of capital, that the shareholders almost despaired of its ever proving a profitable investment. It is said that in 1805, when the annual meeting of shareholders took place, presided over by Mr Colt of Gartsherrie, at the conclusion, murmurs of dissatisfaction prevailed among the members at the very cheerless report. Many propositions were made, and, after discussion, abandoned. At last a question was put to the chairman as to what he thought should be done; he replied, "Conscience, lads! the best thing we can dae, is for ilka ane o' us to fill up the sheugh on his ain lands and let it staun."</blockquote>

Miller dates this at 1805, but Thomson is sure this must have been about 1781. Several writers have taken this as a serious proposal, including the engineer James Leslie in a respected journal. Of course filling in the canal would not have retrieved the money expended in digging it.

As a result of the financial crisis, the funds were not forthcoming and it was decided to sell shares by roup (public auction) on 14 August 1781; presumably these were forfeited shares (i.e. not additional shares). The shares taken up were heavily discounted and not all were taken; the final eleven shares were advertised in the Glasgow Journal on 21 March 1782.

The canal then consisted of two sections, from Sheepford to Townhead, interrupted by the inconvenient connection at Blackhill, where coals were moved between the two sections by use of the incline: this seems to have been no more than a slope surfaced either for road wagons or provided with rails. The coal was transhipped from barge to waggon and from waggon to barge.

Thomson says that there "is no means of ascertaining the nature of the proposed junction at Blackhill. Supplies of water were so meagre that locks were certainly out of the question and in all likelihood they used some modification of Watt's scheme for letting waggons down an incline, the descending waggons pulling up the unloaded waggons".

, writing later, says, "The communication between these levels was at that time carried on by means of an inclined plane, upon which the coals were let down in boxes, and re-shipped on the lower level."

Andrew Stirling initiates progress

Returning to 1786, the proprietors of the canal realised that the Blackhill discontinuity had now to be overcome; moreover the best coalfields lay a couple of miles east of Sheepford. An extension east involved locks there with a vertical interval of . The two groups of locks would vastly increase the requirement for water; this was readily available in the River Calder, but the Monkland Canal Act 1770 had forbidden the abstraction of any water that might later be claimed by the Forth and Clyde Canal, and that canal was itself considering an extension which would require the water.

Andrew Stirling and John Stirling had between them 46 out of 101 shares in the company, and "Only the Stirlings (and particularly Andrew Stirling) were alive to the commercial possibilities".

A way forward was explored, and it emerged that both canals could benefit, if the Monkland took the Calder water and also made a connection to the Forth and Clyde near Townhead; that canal had a branch from its main line to this point to serve local factories. This was at the highest level on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and therefore the entire Forth and Clyde Canal would be fed by the Monkland Canal. This arrangement was ratified by the Monkland proprietors at a general meeting on 8 January 1787.

Nonetheless, the canal's finances were difficult: from 1782 to the end of 1789, the company had a gross income of £853 17s 5d and had expended £29,966 5s 3d: a loss of £28,112 7s 10d, and at the end of that period most of the individual shareholders had sold out, so that Andrew Stirling was the owner (personally or through his company) of over two thirds of the canal.

The new works are undertaken

thumb|Grooves worn by ropes of canal barges at Townhead on the Cut of Junction, now pedestrian subway under Castle Street at Royston RoadThe extension to the River Calder was to cost £2,857 5s 0d and the locks at Blackhill £3,982. The Cut of Junction was to be funded by the Forth and Clyde.

The Cut of Junction was opened on 17 October 1791; at four feet deep it was the same as the Monkland Canal, although the main line of the Forth and Clyde was deeper. The extension to the Calder was completed in 1792 at a cost of £3,618 16s 3d, a 26% overspend.

The Blackhill locks took much longer, being completed in August 1793 although Thomson says (1794). There were four double locks, (i.e. two chambers with three pairs of gates,) each double lock having two falls of ; the total vertical interval was .

More prosperous times

Now at last the canal had an efficient means of fulfilling its original purpose: conveying coal from the Monkland pits to Glasgow. Talking of East Monkland in 1792, a writer says that "Twenty years ago coal sold so low as 6d. the cart load; but since the Monkland Canal was opened, it sells at 18d. the cart weighing 12 [long] cwt [610 kg]." In other words, coal extracted at Monkland now found a lucrative market in Glasgow.

Meanwhile, the principal users of the canal, the owners or tacksmen, necessarily working deposits close to the canal, reduced in number. In 1793 the Statistical Account comments that the canal is unfinished, but adds:

<blockquote>The canal trade is at present as follows:

| 1st, Coals navigated by Mr. Stirling

| --

| 50,000 carts

| 2nd, Ditto by Captain Christie

| --

| 30,000 carts

| ------------

| 80,000 carts.

|}</blockquote>

Stirling also brought 3,000 carts of dung and lime in to his agricultural estates.

In subsequent years, Stirling further expanded his activity and by 1802 he was paying 75% of the tonnage dues on the canal. In 1828 a rival company claimed that the Monkland Canal had "for many years yielded a dividend of Cent. per Cent ... arising solely on its Tolls on coal".

The iron industry was given a considerable boost when Blackband ironstone was discovered by David Mushet near Coatbridge in 1805 or 1806. The hot blast process of iron ore smelting was invented by James Beaumont Neilson, introduced in 1828. Several large ironworks were established in the Coatbridge area, seven blast furnaces in 1830, rising to 46 by 1840. These developments led to a vast and rapid increase in the industrial development in the Coatbridge area, focused on iron production and iron manufacturing. This led to a huge increase in demand for iron ore and coal from the pits in the area, and the Monkland Canal was able to transport it: coal carried in 1793 had been 50,000 tonnes, rising to a million tonnes by 1850.

The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway opened in 1831 and linking with other railways, it was the first railway that directly competed with the canal. Fearing disaster from this competition, "the company reduced their dues to about one-third of the rate which had been charged up till that time". iron-works near Airdrie, about a mile [1.6 km] in length; another to Dundyvan iron-works, extending to about a quarter of a mile [400 m]; and a third to Gartsherrie works, about a mile [1.6 km] long."

Decline

Although the trading position was buoyant in the mid-1840s, as railways developed and improved their own services, the canal lost traffic heavily as the years passed. Thomson says that the Blackhill inclined plane was only used for about 37 years (i.e. until about 1831) but this is completely inconsistent with traffic volumes, and Hutton's statement that it worked until 1887 is more convincing.

The Sheepford locks were demolished in 1962. The route forms an important part of the Summerlee Heritage Park and Drumpellier Country Park.

Water supply

Throughout its existence, procuring a reliable water supply was a significant issue for the canal. During the first construction phase under James Watt, Airdrie South Burn was used as a source, and "some sort of lade was carried up the burn for ".

This service seems to have continued for some time: in 1837 "upwards of 50,000 passengers were conveyed between Airdrie and Glasgow".

Hutton shows a photograph of a boat moored at McSporran's stable at Easterhouse; he says that it "is believed to be one used for Sunday school outings", and another photograph of a very crowded boat, "Jenny", taking a works outing on a pleasure trip.

It is not clear what the mechanical arrangements for this incline were. Leslie, writing much later, says:

<blockquote>An inclined plane for railway wagons at Blackhill connected the two reaches of the canal. The coals were unloaded from the boats in the upper reach into the wagons, run down the inclined plane, and again loaded into boats in the lower reach, which was a tedious operation, and hurtful to the coals. quoting the Glasgow Mercury for 20 August 1793 and the Glasgow Courier for 15 August 1793.

Finally, the Morris Canal was built between 1825 and 1831 in spectacularly hilly country from coal mines down to estuarial rivers in New Jersey, US. Its builders installed 23 inclined planes carrying boats of 18 tons payload: the boats were hauled dry on rail-borne carriages. (Other systems were adopted on the canal later).

However, after consideration of the technical alternatives, it was "resolved to rebuild the two old upper locks and to build two new lower ones, so as to give an entire double set, which was done in 1841". (Hauliers were also said to object to supposed damage to their vessels in this system.)

thumb|Plan of machinery at the head of the Incline

In October 1849 the Committee of Management of the Forth and Clyde Canal (which had by now taken over the Monkland Canal) gave instructions to James Leslie to proceed, and the work was completed by July 1850. The caissons for the boats were made of malleable iron; they were 70 feet long by 13 ft 4 in by 2 ft 9 in high (21.3 by 4.1 by 0.84 metres). The caissons were profiled to conform to the hull of the boats, so as to contain as little excess water as possible, to a depth of , and were only to convey empty boats.

The caissons ran on a railway track of gauge with flat bottom rails on longitudinal timbers, on a gradient of 1 in 10. There were two tracks. They ran on ten pairs of wheels, of diameter except the uppermost pair were and the second pair were , to accommodate the wedge shape of the carriage. A continuous rack was fixed to the longitudinal timbers, and a pawl—Leslie calls it a "pall"—attached to the carriage was arranged to engage the rack if the tension was let off the haulage cable.

The caissons were counterbalanced, the ascending caisson and the descending operating together. At the top of the incline, the caisson was brought close to the end of the upper canal reach; it was then forced close to it by hand-operated screw jacks to obtain a water seal, and two guillotine gates, at the end of the caisson and at the end of the canal respectively, were opened. At the bottom, the caisson simply descended into the lower canal reach and became immersed.

thumb|Section of head of the inclineThere were two high pressure steam engines. For most of the ascent, the caissons balanced, but as the lower caisson entered the canal water, it gained buoyancy, and the final closing-up required the engines to operate at full power to bring the upper caisson to the canal. The engines operated two shafts carrying the winding drums, geared to work in opposite directions, so as to achieve the counterbalancing of the caissons. The speed of ascent and descent was about , with a passage time of 5 to 6 minutes.

The screw jacks for closing the ascending caisson to the canal gate proved unsatisfactory, requiring the engine operator to make too fine a stop, within , and a hydraulical accumulator system was later adopted, which could ram the caisson closed over a longer range: up to .

When a descent was about to start, the gates were closed and about of water from the space between was lost; it was pumped back to the upper reach.

The practice was to bring up empty boats partly grounded in the caisson, and to adjust the water in the descending caisson (containing water only) for balance. and also contemporary (1858) Ordnance Survey maps; Carter and some other sources spell it "Drumpellar"; Thomson, Hutton and Lindsay spell it "Drumpellier", which is the modern-day spelling of the place name.

Reference has already been made to the numerous feeder tramways to bring minerals to and from the canal where pits and ironworks were close but not immediately adjacent, and the willingness of the canal company to form trans-shipment wharfs for railway connections. The tramways were generally made by the pit or ironworks owner on his own land and without requiring parliamentary authority. There was one exception.

The Drumpeller Railway Company was incorporated under the (6 & 7 Vict. c. lxiii) on 4 July 1843 to construct a railway to connect pits at Bankhead to the canal at Cuilhill Gullet, a distance of just under . It never conveyed passengers: it was "simply a waggonway with such additional status as may be conferred by parliamentary authorisation". who shows "Bankhead Siding" at the point where the southern slip road from the A8 road nowadays joins the A752.

Other mapping sources do not show a settlement called at this location. Bankhead farm is about away on the east of the North Calder Water (beyond Waukmill). There is a Braehead in the appropriate location with several mining and claypit works indicated on the 1898 Ordnance Survey map. The exhaustive mines and minerals website Aditnow does not show a coal pit of either name in this vicinity. The southern terminus of the line must be Braehead. The pit there was considerably extended and the Drumpeller had many additional stub branches at the southern end as well as nearer the canal terminal.

General

The railway opened on 3 March 1845, and it had the track gauge of . The canal at Cuilhill Gullet was on an embankment above the local ground level, and the railway approached on a viaduct and crossed to the north side of the canal. The main line of the canal was diverted to the north of the wharf, forming an island. By 1849 the railway was sending 90 boatloads of coal a year to Glasgow. In 1849 an extension to pits at Tannochside opened.

Gartcraig as original western extremity

As described earlier, under James Watt's supervision the canal stopped some distance short of Glasgow. Hutton's description of the exact location is the clearest: "The terminal reached by Watt in 1773 was near Barlinnie and connected to Glasgow by a cart road." and the most likely location for the termination seems to be Gartcraig Bridge (sometimes known as Jessie's Bridge), from where access to Glasgow was by way of Carntyne Road. The next possible location would be Smithy Croft bridge, but that is on the Cumbernauld Road; even in 1858 that was not a humble "cart road".

Hume asserts that the temporary end point was a canal basin opposite Barlinnie Prison on the north side of the canal, between Jessie's Bridge (an alternative name for Gartcraig Bridge) and Smithycroft Bridge; he says the basin "is clearly visible on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1896, sheet viNE)". This is true, but the basin was not shown on the earlier 1858 map, and there was then no road in that vicinity.

The prison was built in 1880 and the canal was used for bringing in building materials. It is likely that the basin was made for that purpose. There is a track from the basin to the prison shown on the later map

Fishing

In the mid-1980s, the canal was stocked with Carp, Roach, Bream, Tench, Perch and some other species. Scottish Canals and North Lanarkshire council maintain the waterway but a permit charge is not currently taken.

Gallery

image:MonklandCanalNorthCalderWaterSource.JPG|North Calder Water dam and source

image:MonklandCanalStart.JPG|Start of the canal

image:MonklandCanalUpperFaskineBridge.JPG|Upper Faskine bridge

image:MonklandCanalFaskineBasin.JPG|Faskine basin

image:MonklandCanalLowerFaskineBridge.JPG|Lower Faskine bridge

image:MonklandCanalTowPathSeat2.JPG|Seat on towpath Tunnels & Bridges

image:MonklandCanalTowPathSeat1.JPG|Seat on towpath Vulcan

image:MonklandCanalCaledonianViaduct.JPG|Caledonian Viaduct

image:MonklandCanalSheepfordLocksRoadBridge.JPG|Road bridge over Sheepford Locks

image:MonklandCanalArt2.JPG|Sheepford Locks artwork

image:MonklandCanalArt1.JPG|Wildlife artwork

image:MonklandCanalGartsherrieHornockAndSummerleeBranch.JPG|Canal branch in Summerlee Heritage Park

image:MonklandCanalBlairRoad.JPG|Blair Road bridge

image:MonklandCanalKingStreet.JPG|King Street from Blair Road bridge

image:MonklandCanalTowPathDrumpPark.JPG|Tow path in Drumpellier Park

image:MonklandCanalBurginsholmeBurnWeir.JPG|Burginsholme Burn weir

image:MonklandCanalDrumpPark1.JPG|Eastern view in Drumpellier Park

image:MonklandCanalDrumpPark2.JPG|Eastern view in Drumpellier Park

image:MonklandCanalHomeFarmBridge1.JPG|West to Drumpellier Home Farm bridge

image:MonklandCanalHomeFarmBridge2.JPG|East to Drumpellier Home Farm bridge

image:MonklandCanalHomeFarmBridge3.JPG|East from Drumpellier Home Farm bridge

image:MonklandCanalDrumpellerCollieryBasin.JPG|Abandoned Drumpeller Colliery basin

image:MonklandCanalUnderNorthClydeLine.JPG|Culverted under the North Clyde Line railway

image:MonklandCanalWestOfNorthClydeLine.JPG|West of the North Clyde Line railway

image:MonklandCanalCuilhillCulvert.JPG|Culvert at Cuilhill

image:MonklandCanalBlackhillLocks1.JPG|Scan of photograph of Blackhill Locks

image:MonklandCanalBlackhillLocks2.JPG|Scan of photograph of Blackhill Locks lower basin