View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
peekay Site Admin
Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 44
|
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:23 pm Post subject: The Forth and Clyde canal. |
|
|
The Nolly as those who live near the Forth and Clyde canal call, was constructed between 1768 and 1790. It was cut from Gragemouth to Bowling with a branch canal extended into Glasgow to link up with the Monklands Canal in 1793. It was 35 miles long and was raised to a summit above sea level of 158 feet by 20 locks at the east and 19 at the western side. The Glasgow branch was 2.5 miles long.
It prospered for over 100 years but with the advent of the railways , fortunes began to decline. It was closed on 1st January 1963. The last voyage from sea to sea was by a fishing boat on 26th December 1963- an unusual event for a canal that had apparently outlived it's usefulness. The most famous vessel to sail on it was the Charlotte Dundas- the worlds first practical steamboat in 1802, but the canal saw the first iron boat in Scotland, the Vulcan of 1818.
Puffers made famous in Neil Munro's stories of Para Handy and the "Vital Spark", are also a creation of the canal. Other memories are hard to beat For instance the pleasure steamers like the "Fairy Queen", "May Queen" and of course the "Gypsy Queen", which sailed from Glasgow out into the country for cream teas at a tearoom at Craigmarloch.
The western end the old harbour at bowling, recently tidied up of many old wrecks. As a boy I remember the old Clyde steamers were wintered here.
This was the old Custom and excise building, now office for the Bowling harbour. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
peekay Site Admin
Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 44
|
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A very tranquil scene at Bowling harbour. A nice trim wee fishing boat to.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
peekay Site Admin
Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 44
|
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Another old boat , nice but unusual with a funnel too.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
peekay Site Admin
Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 44
|
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A new type of boat for the canal. A narrow boat of a type seen more in the canals of England. This seems to be a new trend with partial finished narrow boats coming up from down south to be fitted out.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
peekay Site Admin
Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 44
|
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A typical Basqule bridge . This one at Linnvale.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|