amazing piece of civil engineering! civil of piece amazing The Forth & Clyde Canal – 35 miles long, 40 locks and roughly 21 hours to complete by boat today. What an an What today. boat by complete to hours 21 roughly and locks 40 long, miles 35 – Canal Clyde & Forth The Grangemouth (apart from a wee climb at the Falkirk Wheel). Falkirk the at climb wee a from (apart Grangemouth If you are, then it’s worth knowing that if you start at Pinkston where our trail begins, it’s all downhill to to downhill all it’s begins, trail our where Pinkston at start you if that knowing worth it’s then are, you If Planning to walk or cycle all the way to Grangemouth? Grangemouth? to way the all cycle or walk to Planning Now that is smart! is that Now flooding. prevent help to rain heavy predicted of ahead level water Smart canal will help us tackle the effects of climate – in extreme weather events engineers will be able to lower the the lower to able be will engineers events weather extreme in – climate of effects the tackle us help will canal Smart canal to drain rainfall from the surrounding land, unlocking regeneration in areas otherwise lacking in drainage. The The drainage. in lacking otherwise areas in regeneration unlocking land, surrounding the from rainfall drain to canal Or to give it it’s full title, the ‘North Glasgow Integrated Water Management System’ will allow the Forth & Clyde Clyde & Forth the allow will System’ Management Water Integrated Glasgow ‘North the title, full it’s it give to Or Glasgow’s Smart Canal Smart Glasgow’s will be replaced with a new automated system. automated new a with replaced be will water level is controlled by gates that let water from the reservoirs into the canals. The current hand operated gates gates operated hand current The canals. the into reservoirs the from water let that gates by controlled is level water Like all our water, it starts as rain gathered in a reservoir. There are several reservoirs that feed into the canal and the the and canal the into feed that reservoirs several are There reservoir. a in gathered rain as starts it water, our all Like So, where does the water in the canal come from? from? come canal the in water the does where So, Summit Pound – this is the highest point of a canal. canal. a of point highest the is this – Pound Summit a central pivot or from one end. one from or pivot central a Boat enters lock enters Boat lowers level Water lock leaves Boat swings horizontally to allow boats to pass. This can be from from be can This pass. to boats allow to horizontally swings Swing Bridge – a swing bridge is an opening bridge that that bridge opening an is bridge swing a – Bridge Swing provide a waterproof lining to the canal the to lining waterproof a provide Puddle Clay – puddle clay is the natural material used to to used material natural the is clay puddle – Clay Puddle helping prevent the canal overflowing elsewhere. overflowing canal the prevent helping Spillway – a spillway acts like an overflow on the canal, canal, the on overflow an like acts spillway a – Spillway POUND LOCK LOCK POUND POUND obstacle. it generally refers to a bridge carrying the canal over an an over canal the carrying bridge a to refers generally it supporting structure used to carry water. On the canals, canals, the On water. carry to used structure supporting Aqueduct – an aqueduct can be a pipe, ditch, tunnel or or tunnel ditch, pipe, a be can aqueduct an – Aqueduct up and canal traffic to pass under pass to traffic canal and up Counterweights allow bridge to swing swing to bridge allow Counterweights traffic canal to closed Bridge from one part of a canal to the next. next. the to canal a of part one from Stop Lock – a stop lock completely stops the flow of water water of flow the stops completely lock stop a – Lock Stop filled or drained to lift or lower a boat. a lower or lift to drained or filled A lock is a chamber with gates at both end that can be be can that end both at gates with chamber a is lock A proper name) are a way of moving boats uphill or downhill. downhill. or uphill boats moving of way a are name) proper Pound Lock – canal locks (or pound locks to give them their their them give to locks pound (or locks canal – Lock Pound it lifts, like a drawbridge. a like lifts, it a counterweight which balances the deck of the bridge as as bridge the of deck the balances which counterweight a BASCULE BRIDGE BRIDGE BASCULE BASCULE Bascule Bridge – a bascule bridge is a moving bridge. It has has It bridge. moving a is bridge bascule a – Bridge Bascule GLOSSARY Welcome to Glasgow’s Forth & Clyde Canal civil engineering trail THE TRAIL The walk along this section of the canal will take you back in time to Glasgow’s industrial heyday as well as Start the trail at Pinkston water sports centre and take you into the future with planned new developments follow the canal roughly north west as it meanders for the city’s leisure & recreation. You’ll learn about the engineering of the canal and see things you may never to the Kelvin Aqueduct. There are several points have noticed before. where you can leave the canal path and return to the city centre or elsewhere by bus along Maryhill Road. Firstly, a little bit of history… There are also places to stop off for a well earned rest and a cuppa if you want to. Why was the Forth & Clyde Canal built? The reason lies with merchants operating in Glasgow and Edinburgh This trail has been produced by the Institution of Civil in the mid-1700s. These traders needed a reliable way to transport their goods across the country. After much Engineers in partnership with Scottish Canals and can campaigning and Government lobbying, they got the go- accompany a guided walk by our volunteers. ahead for the canal. Who was chosen to design and build this hugely important piece of infrastructure; the motorway Thank you to the pupils and staff of Dunard Primary of its day? The job was given to a civil engineer called School for their help in developing the trail. John Smeaton. He’s still famous today. Smeaton was so influential he actually invented the term ‘civil engineering’ to differentiate from military engineers and founded the first ever engineering society in the world (which still meets INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS today). Work started at Grangemouth in 1768 and proceeded as far as Stockingfield Junction (which is on this trail) when in 1775, the project ran out of money. It took the Glasgow merchants two years to raise the funds to build the branch of the canal into the city centre. By this time, John Smeaton had retired and a new engineer had to be found, so the job went to canal specialist Robert Whitworth. It took until 1785 for the funds to be raised to complete the canal to Find out more: Bowling on the River Clyde (funds seized from Jacobite ice.org.uk/wice lands after the rebellion). ice.org.uk/scotland @ICEScotland The canal as a piece of infrastructure didn’t survive the birth of the railways and fell into disuse, finally closing [email protected] in 1963. It re-opened in 2000 and is now flourishing with a new purpose for leisure activities. There are still civil engineers working on the canal today, building new Glasgow’s bridges, improving access and making sure that this amazing piece of history is here for future generations to Registered charity number 210252 Registered in Scotland SC038629 enjoy. Forth & Clyde Canal Trail Design www.uprightcreative.com 1. RAILWAY simply the overflow weir. If the water level in the canal gets SWING BRIDGE canal bridge. too high it will spill over the weir and go down the & WHITWORTH 5. CLAYPITS LOCAL NATURE RESERVE spillway, a bit like the overflow in the sink in your BASCULE Walking on, across the canal you can see the site bathroom or kitchen at home. BRIDGE of the former clay pits, where the puddle clay that 8. MURANO We’ll start our lines the canal was dug from. This area is Glasgow’s STREET BRIDGE 10. STOCKINGFIELD JUNCTION trail at a black & only inner-city Local Nature Reserve, currently This modern bridge allows pedestrians to cross Stockingfield Junction is where the Glasgow branch white wooden being further redeveloped with new paths and the canal including all those living in the student joins the main Forth & Clyde canal. East takes you bridge known to Grangemouth (eventually) and is the canal built as a Whitworth Bascule Bridge, named after the by John Smeaton. The other way towards the West engineer who built this stretch of the canal. Across (where our trail goes) leads to Bowling on the the canal you’ll see a large metal railway swing Clyde and is the part built by Robert Whitworth. bridge, which once allowed locomotives to cross The section we’ve just walked along (the Glasgow M8 the canal and get to the industries on the north Exhibition Station Canal) is a mixture of both Smeaton’s and bank. It’s left open now to allow boats to pass. Whitworth’s work. 2. SPEAKER MARTIN’S LOCK & PORT There’s going to be a new bridge built here to DUNDAS BASIN connect all three branches of the canal, being Walking away from Pinkston watersports designed by civil engineers in Glasgow.