Description

The monument comprises that length of waterway forming part of the Forth and Clyde Canal falling within the boundary of the civil parish of Falkirk and the boundary of Falkirk District.

The length of the monument is approximately 9 miles (14.5 km) and runs from a point immediately west of the Red Burn Aqueduct (on the west) to immediately west of the M9 Motorway (on the east). The monument includes the entire length of canal in water, the short stretch of canal immediately west of the M9 Motorway now infilled, together with the banks on either side and the towing path running

along one side.

In addition, the monument includes the following canal structures:

[1] The Red Burn Aqueduct;

[2] Locks 19, 18 and 17;

[3] The Underwood Pend Aqueduct;

[4] The Seabegs Pend Aqueduct;

[5] The Bonnybridge Pend Aqueduct;

[6] The Rowan Tree Burn Aqueduct;

[7] The Carmuirs Burn Aqueduct;

[8] The Carmuirs Railway Tunnel Aqueduct;

[9] Lock 16;

[10] Locks 15 - 9;

[11] Locks 8 - 4;

The monument does not include either the Castlecary Road Bridge, or the bridge at Lock 16, or the bridge at Lock 8, or the two railway bridges at Camelon and Orchardhall, or the piped infills at [1] Castlecary, [2] Bonnybridge, [3] Camelon or [4] Bainsford, or any (modern) fences or walls, but does include an area to either side of the area in water in which traces of activities associated with its construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because, as an integral part of the Forth and Clyde Canal, it is a superlative example of Georgian civil engineering. It was the first of Scotland's great inland waterways to be constructed (between 1768 and 1790) and even at the time of its opening in the 1700s it was christened 'The Great Canal', a recognition of its undoubted national importance even then. The particular stretch of canal covered by this scheduling was part of the original scheme. The engineer was John Smeaton.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

References:

Hume, J. (1976) The Industrial Archaeology of Scotland: The Lowlands and Borders.

Lindsay, J. (1968) The Canals of Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland