The Union Canal is a 31.5 mile (50.7 km) contour canal The phrase contour canal generally refers to an artificially-dug navigable canal which closely follows the contour line of the land it traverses in order to avoid costly engineering works such as cutting a tunnel through higher ground, an embankment over lower ground, or a canal lock to change the level of the canal in Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland, from Lochrin Basin, Fountainbridge, Edinburgh Edinburgh (pronounced /ˈɛdɪnbrə/ ( listen), ED-in-brə or ED-in-bə-rə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437.[citation needed] It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas to Falkirk Falkirk (Scottish Gaelic: An Eaglais Bhreac, lit. 'the Variegated [or 'Speckled'] Church' is a town in central Scotland lying to the north west and north east of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, respectively. According to a 2007 estimate, the population of the town is 34,071. However, the wider Falkirk Area, which includes nearby towns such as, where it meets the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Location and Features

The Union Canal is a contour canal The phrase contour canal generally refers to an artificially-dug navigable canal which closely follows the contour line of the land it traverses in order to avoid costly engineering works such as cutting a tunnel through higher ground, an embankment over lower ground, or a canal lock to change the level of the canal, following a 73 metre (240ft) contour throughout its length. Originally, the only locks were those at Falkirk, to make the link to the Forth and Clyde canal. Now, there is one lock just before the Falkirk Wheel The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It is named after the nearby town of Falkirk in central Scotland. The two canals were previously connected by a series of 11 locks, but by the 1930s these had fallen into disuse, were filled in and the land built upon and a double lock just above. There is also a new tunnel where the canal passes under the Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall also known as the Severan Wall, is a stone and turf fortification, built by the Romans across what is now the central belt of Scotland and is also known as the Clyde-Forth frontier line. Although most of the wall has been destroyed over time, sections of the wall can still be seen in Bearsden, Kirkintilloch, Twechar, Croy,.

The canal has many aqueducts An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose. In a more restricted use, aqueduct (occasionally water bridge) applies to any bridge or viaduct that transports water—instead of a, including the Slateford Aqueduct The Slateford Aqueduct is an aqueduct in Slateford, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by Hugh Baird and completed in 1822 with advice from Thomas Telford that takes the canal over the Water of Leith in Edinburgh, the Almond Aqueduct The Almond Aqueduct is an aqueduct in West Lothian, Scotland, UK, west of Ratho. 420 feet long, it carries the Union Canal 76 feet (23 m) above the River Almond. It can be reached by car and by cyclists on the Union Canal path near Ratho Ratho is a village in the west of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian. Newbridge and Kirkliston are other villages in the area. The Union Canal passes through Ratho. Edinburgh Airport is situated only 4 miles away and the 810ft long Avon Aqueduct near Linlithgow, the second longest in the United Kingdom.

The Edinburgh end of the canal no longer reaches quite as far as it did (to 'Port Hopetoun' and 'Port Hamilton' basins which were filled in after the canal closed). Instead, the canal stops at Lochrin Basin at Fountainbridge.

Many of the stone bridges have keystones emblazoned with the coats of arms of Glasgow and Edinburgh, facing west and east respectively.

History and Archaeology

It was originally known as the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, to celebrate the uniting of the two cities by the new canal Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: aqueduct canals are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterway canals are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans network, but this name is rarely used today. The canal was designed by Hugh Baird, who oversaw the engineering work while it was being built between 1818 and 1822. Two of its construction workers were the famous murderers Burke and Hare. The soliton In mathematics and physics, a soliton is a self-reinforcing solitary wave that maintains its shape while it travels at constant speed. Solitons are caused by a cancellation of nonlinear and dispersive effects in the medium. "Dispersive effects" refer to dispersion relations between the frequency and the speed of the waves. Solitons arise, a form of wave, was first observed on the Union Canal in 1834, while its discoverer John Scott Russell John Scott Russell was a Scottish naval engineer who built the Great Eastern in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and made the discovery that gave birth to the modern study of solitons was travelling along the canal in a horse-drawn boat. A modern aqueduct An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose. In a more restricted use, aqueduct (occasionally water bridge) applies to any bridge or viaduct that transports water—instead of a over the Edinburgh City Bypass is named after Russell.

Originally used for transporting coal Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. It is composed primarily of carbon along with variable, competition from the railways Rail transport is the conveyance of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles running along railways in British and Australian English . Railway transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates international trade and economic growth. Rail transport is capable of high capacity and is energy efficient, but lacks flexibility and caused it to close to commercial use in the 1930s. The locks A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber whose water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself that rises and falls, connecting it to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Falkirk Falkirk (Scottish Gaelic: An Eaglais Bhreac, lit. 'the Variegated [or 'Speckled'] Church' is a town in central Scotland lying to the north west and north east of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, respectively. According to a 2007 estimate, the population of the town is 34,071. However, the wider Falkirk Area, which includes nearby towns such as, were filled in and built over.

In 2004, an archaeological investigation by a team from Headland Archaeology uncovered the stern of a 21 metre long wooden barge A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats. Canal barges, towed by draft animals on an adjacent towpath, contended with the railway in the early industrial revolution, but were outcompeted in the carriage of.^[1] The vessel was discovered on the south bank of the Union Canal. 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.

Modern Uses

The canal is now used recreationally by canoeists A canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be covered. In its human-powered form, the canoe is propelled by the use of paddles, usually with two people. Paddlers face in the at the Forth Canoe Club and rowers Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection from schools and universities, e.g. the St Andrew Rowing Club. The Edinburgh Canal Society The Edinburgh Canal Society is a charitable canal society on the Union Canal in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Society's main base is Ashley Terrace Boathouse at Lockhart Bridge, near Harrison Park in the Polwarth area of Edinburgh, the Bridge 19-40 Canal Society and Linlithgow Union Canal Society promote general use of the canal. They hire rowing boats and narrowboats A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales, and they provide regular boat trips on the canal for the general public. Also of note are Re-Union Canal Boats who operate a social enterprise building and maintaining a boat for hire.

The Millennium Link, a project to restore both the Union and Forth and Clyde Canals, saw the two canals joined once again at the Falkirk end of the Union Canal, in the year 2000, by means of the Falkirk Wheel The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It is named after the nearby town of Falkirk in central Scotland. The two canals were previously connected by a series of 11 locks, but by the 1930s these had fallen into disuse, were filled in and the land built upon. The Falkirk Helix is a new six year project which will connect the Union Canal with the sea, by way of another unique boatlift in the shape of kelpies The kelpie is a supernatural water horse from Celtic folklore that is believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland and Ireland, the mythical water-horses.

This area is currently being redeveloped for commercial and residential use, starting with Edinburgh Quay. British Waterways British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by government. It is the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals, and also some rivers and docks. It is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England and Wales, and by the Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong decided in June 2008 to market the area between Edinburgh Quay and Ashley Terrace Bridge as Edinburgh Canal Quarter. With the canal now largely restored for both boating and for walkers and cyclists on the towpath, it is enjoying new life. Holiday barges are common in the spring and summer, while in area nearer the city centre there are even year-round residents living on narrowboats A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales. A "floating restaurant" boat operates by arrangement, providing a meal whilst cruising. Raft races have been held in Edinburgh on 30 June June 30 is the 181st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 184 days remaining until the end of the year 2007 2007 was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century and 28 June June 28 is the 179th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 186 days remaining until the end of the year 2008 2008 was a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini era (or Common Era), using found "junk" material for the rafts A raft is any structure, with a flat top, that floats on water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Instead, rafts are kept afloat using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels, or inflated air chambers. Whilst the Linlithgow Union Canal Society has been hosting its cardboard boat race for many years, at the Linlithgow Basin.

References

• Coleman, R (2004) 'Union Canal, Leamington Wharf' Discovery and Excavation in Scotland p. 57
• Lindsey, Jean, (1968), The Canals of Scotland, David & Charles Publishers, ISBN 0-71534-240-1
• Massey, Alison, (1983), The Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, Falkirk Museums Publication, ISBN 0-90658-624-0

See also

• Canals of Great Britain
• History of the British canal system The British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products . The UK was the first country to acquire a
• Charles Baird, Hugh Baird's brother
• Forth to Firth Canal Pathway
• Falkirk Helix
• World Canals Conference

References

1. ^ RCAHMS - Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

External links

• Union Canal Edinburgh a community website about Lochrin Basin and the Union Canal in Edinburgh.
• The Union Canal on Undiscovered Scotland

Coordinates: 55°58′N 3°08′W / 55.967°N 3.133°W

Categories: Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Scotland | Canals in Scotland | Transport in Edinburgh | Transport in West Lothian | Transport in Falkirk

See Also:

• Union Canal (Scotland)
• Edinburgh Canal Society

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