thumb|Frozen overflow channel at the [[River Almond, Lothian|River Almond aqueduct during the big freeze of 2010]]

The Union Canal, full name the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, is a canal in Scotland, running from Falkirk to Edinburgh, constructed to bring minerals, especially coal, to the capital. It was opened in 1822 and was initially successful, but the construction of railways, particularly the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, which opened in 1842, diminished its value as a transport medium. It fell into slow commercial decline and was closed to commercial traffic in 1933. It was officially closed in 1965. The canal is listed as three individual scheduled monuments by Historic Scotland according to the three former counties, Midlothian, West Lothian and Stirlingshire, through which it flows.

It has benefited from a general revival of interest in canals and, as a result of the Millennium Link, was reopened in 2001 and reconnected to the Forth and Clyde Canal in 2002 by the Falkirk Wheel. It is now in popular use for leisure purposes.

thumb|right|The eastern terminus at Edinburgh Quay

thumb|right|Avon Aqueduct

thumb|Union Canal statues, Edinburgh June 2024

History

Proposal

The canal was conceived with the purpose of moving minerals from the mines and quarries in Lanarkshire to Edinburgh.

In 1817, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal Company obtained a local act of Parliament, the (57 Geo. 3. c. lvi) to start construction. Joseph Priestley described the purpose of the canal in his 1831 book Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain:

The estimate of cost was evidently inadequate because a second act of Parliament was obtained, the (59 Geo. 3. c. xxix), which authorised the borrowing of £48,100, a third, the (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. cxxii) authorised an increase in share capital of a further £50,000 and a fourth, the (4 Geo. 4. c. xviii) authorised a further £60,000. and throughout the 1970s and 1980s the remaining parts of the canal were left in a deteriorated state.

However, after a campaign was started by groups and local communities to improve the canal, work was carried out to restore the network during the 1990s. This culminated with the millennium project to reinstate the link between the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal with a boat lift called the Falkirk Wheel.

Archaeology

thumb|right|Boathouse where the canal passes near [[Shandon, Edinburgh|Shandon and Polwarth]]

thumb|left|Wooden barge during excavation<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|left|Plan of the barge -->

In 2004, an archaeological investigation by a team from Headland Archaeology uncovered the stern of a wooden barge. The vessel was discovered on the south bank of the canal between the Leamington Lift Bridge and Viewforth Bridge in Edinburgh. The remains represent the final berth of an early- to mid-19th-century canal barge or scow, a type of horse-drawn vessel that was the main freight carrier of the time. Typical cargoes included coal and lime from Lanarkshire, although there were a number of passenger carriers too; the actual function of this vessel is unknown. The vessel was dismantled and removed from the canal in order to record the techniques used in its construction. Additional work will seek to identify the species, age and provenance of the timbers.

The Millennium Link was a project to restore a link between the Union and Forth and Clyde Canals at the Falkirk end. In 2002 the Falkirk Wheel opened reestablishing this historic connection. The scheme involved building a new stretch of canal, single and double locks and a short tunnel under the Edinburgh–Glasgow railway line and the Antonine Wall. Several new bridges were also built on the Millennium Link. As no CAD information was available on narrowboats, the motion of articulated lorries were used to design the bends of the bridge approaches.

Leisure uses

alt=Students picnic on the Union Canal in 1922.|thumb|Students picnic on the Union Canal in 1922.

The canal is now used recreationally by canoeists at the Forth Canoe Club and rowers from schools and universities, such as St Andrew Boat Club, George Heriots School Rowing Club and George Watsons College Rowing Club. The Edinburgh Canal Society, the Bridge 19-40 Canal Society and Linlithgow Union Canal Society promote general use of the canal. They hire rowing boats and narrowboats, and they provide regular boat trips on the canal for the general public. Re-Union Canal Boats operate a social enterprise building and maintaining trip boats.

Scottish Canals (as successor to the British Waterways Board in Scotland) have redeveloped the area at the Edinburgh terminal; their publicity states:

<blockquote>Edinburgh Quay is a major regeneration project centred on the site of Lochrin Basin, in the heart of Scotland's capital. It provides around 90 waterfront apartments, of offices and of retail and restaurant space.</blockquote>

Raft races have become an annual event, having been held in Edinburgh from 2007 to 2011, and using found "junk" material for the rafts. The Linlithgow Union Canal Society has been hosting its cardboard boat race for many years at Linlithgow Basin.

2020 Canal Breach

In the early morning of Wednesday the 12th of August 2020, slow-moving thunderstorms caused torrential rain over much of eastern Scotland, including in the Falkirk area. This heavy rainfall caused the Union Canal to overtop its embankment east of Polmont, producing a 30 metre wide breach in the canal. The floodwaters released from the breach caused significant damage to the main railway line from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk High, Scotland's busiest railway line.

See also

  • Canals of the United Kingdom
  • Falkirk Helix
  • Falkirk Wheel
  • Forth to Firth Canal Pathway
  • History of the British canal system
  • John Muir Way
  • St Kentigern's Church, Edinburgh (Union Canal)
  • History of the Union Canal, archived from www.scottishcanals.co.uk

Bibliography

References

  • Video footage of Slateford Viaduct
  • The Soliton Wave and the Union Canal

de:Union Canal