Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal

In 1949 IWA Bulletin 18 reported:-

"The Union Canal runs without locks and, in the main, through attractive country from Edinburgh to Falkirk; where formerly it was connected with the Forth & Clyde Canal by a series of locks. It was designed primarily to bring coal from the coalfields around Glasgow to the industries and households of Edinburgh. There seems no good reason why it should not still be fulfilling this function, as well as providing pleasant pleasure boating for the citizens of the capital, of the large industrial town of Falkirk, and of the rest of the country. There is, however, a bad reason: the locks at Falkirk have been filled in. The Union Canal has become an isolated stretch of water, naturally quite unused. Naturally also, the filling in was done by a railway company, the Canal having been the property at the time of the former London & North Eastern Railway, with whose principal Scottish main line it was in direct competition.

"Our Member Mr.Doug1as G.Russell of Treetops, Dirleton Avenue, North Berwick, East Lothian, Assistant Secretary to The Scottish Tourist Board, has kindly undertaken on our behalf some research into this destructive episode. Mr.Russell writes: 'I have heard from the Town Clerk of Falklrk. He has consulted his records and finds that the work of filling in the locks connecting the Union Canal with the Forth & Clyde Canal was begun in 1933 and that Parliamentary sanction for the work was granted in accordance with Section 26 of the London & North Eastern Railway Confirmation Act 1930. I have not ascertained when the work was finished but local opinion gives approximately 2 years as having been occupied by it.'

"It is an astonishing story. Having regard to the magnitude alike of the destruction and of the expenditure in time and money required to encompass it, we consider it unequalled even in the odious annals of British canal history.

"But more is to come. Mr.Russell continues: 'I am given to understand that the 'need' for filling in the locks was actually pressed by the local authority. The Town Clerk now adds that the Union Canal has not been used at least at its Falkirk end for very many years and that it is now little more than an open ditch or sewer. His opinion is that the Canal ought to be filled in completely from end to end'. (Mr.Russell remarks that the Town Clerk is wrong even in stating that the Canal even in its hopelessly amputated condition has not been used at the Falkirk end for many years: one of the Town Clerk's own ratepayers is using it now, being the owner of a boat hiring station upon it.) Persons In whom all aesthetic capacity is not dead, might we1l take the view that the Union Canal is by far the most notable, almost the only, object of man-made beauty in the Burgh of Falkirk. The Canal runs along a high contour to the south of the town, has even now a charming and peaceful atmosphere, and offers entrancing views over the Firth of Forth."

In March 1955 the Board of Survey reported and recommended the disposal of 771 miles of waterway including some canals like the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Barnsley Canal that had already been abandoned and closed to traffic. These "Group 3" waterways also included the Ashton, Peak Forest, Macclesfield, Bridgwater and Taunton, Chesterfield, Cromford, Dearne and Dove, Erewash, Forth & Clyde, Grand Western, Grantham, Kennet & Avon, Lancaster, Manchester, Bolton & Bury, Monmouthshire & Brecon, Nottingham, Oxford (southern section), Pocklington, Ripon, Llangollen, Montgomery, Stratford-upon-Avon (southern section), Swansea and Edinburgh & Glasgow Union canals as well as the River Witham.

In response IWA advocate a National Waterway Conservancy to look after all our waterways and point out that it is cheaper to restore and use waterways than to eliminate them.

The Linlithgow Union Canal Society was founded in 1975 to promote and encourage the restoration and use of the Union Canal, particularly in the vicinity of Linlithgow.

The Queen at the opening of the Falkirk Wheel 21st May 2002.The Millenium Commission anounced a grant of up to £32 million in 1997 for Scotlands Millenium Link to restore the Forth & Clyde and Edinburgh & Glasgow Union canals.

On 21 May 2002 the Queen opened the Falkirk Wheel linking the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Edinburgh & Glasgow Union Canal.