Description

The monument comprises that length of inland waterway forming part of the Forth and Clyde Canal falling within the boundary of the civil parish of New Kilpatrick and the boundary of City of Glasgow District.

The length of the monument is 1 1/2 miles (2.4 km) and runs from a point 200 m west of Duntreath Avenue (on the west) to a point 300 m north east of Blairdardie Road (on the east). The monument includes the entire length in water 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] Lock 35;

[2] Lock 34;

[3] Lock 33;

[4] The bascule bridge at Bard Avenue;

[5] Lock 32 (no longer in water);

[6] Lock 31 (no longer in water);

The monument does not include either the Garscadden Bridge, or the bridge at Blairdardie Road, or the Cloberhill Pipes infill, or any (modern) fences or walls, but does include an area to either side of the stretch in water in which traces of activities associated with its construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the attached 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 1770s 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 a scheme to extend the canal westward from its original western terminus at Stockingfield, in Glasgow. The engineer was Robert Whitworth.

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