Title: Kirkintilloch Canal Festival
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- The forth and Clyde canal was the first ever
canal to be built in Scotland, and much more
recently, has been the largest ever canal
restoration project in the country. The canal
restoration and construction of the Falkirk Wheel
was one of Scotlands largest Millenium projects,
reopening the canal in 2001, 40 years after its
closure. - Canals in the UK have a long history dating back
to the Romans, who built several canals here
including the Fossdyke, which is still navigable
today. A long period elapsed after the Romans
left Britain when no canals were built. Instead
improvements to rivers were made with the aim of
harnessing waterpower, or for fishing, rather
than for navigation purposes. It was in the
reign of Elizabeth I that the next canal was
built, at Exeter.
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- This was also the first use in Britain of pound
locks - the type of lock in common use today -
all the navigable rivers at that time used flash
locks. After this many schemes were introduced
for the improvement of river navigations, often
provoking strong opposition from water mill and
fish weir owners. In 1660 there were 685 miles
of river navigation, by 1724 another 475 miles
had been added by improvements to many rivers
including the Aire and Calder, Douglas, Idle,
Irwell, Kennet and Weaver. - When work began on the Forth and Clyde Canal in
1768, the plan was for the waterway to progress
steadily westwards from the Forth via the River
Carron to Stockingfield (Maryhill), in Glasgow.
Nine years later work stopped due to lack of
funds and eight years went by before money
forfeited from the Jacobite Estates became
available, allowing the canal to continue its
journey to the River Clyde.
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- The weather, strong currents and island-strewn
western coastline of Scotland meant sailing
around it was risky as well as time-consuming in
the 18th century. The idea of building a canal
across the narrowest part of the Scottish
lowlands to connect the Firth of Clyde and Forth
gathered momentum and the Forth and Clyde canal
was born - a 35 mile canal, with 39 locks, from
Bowling on the northern bank of the Clyde to the
southern side of the Forth near Grangemouth. - The engineer, John Smeaton, carried out most of
the design drawing on advice from, among others,
the geologist, James Hutton. The canal was
constructed between 1768 and 1790 bringing new
opportunities for trade and manufacture to the
communities along its banks. Small ocean-going
vessels could carry goods along it, and parts of
the canal branched off into Glasgow and Edinburgh.
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- Shipbuilding yards were established at Bowling
and Kirkintilloch, mostly building the small
steamboats, known as Clyde puffers. The puffers
had to be less than 20m long to fit in the canal
locks, and plied routes along the canals and
rivers and out to the islands. They were
immortalised in Neil Munros Para Handy stories
about the Clyde Puffer The Vital Spark. - The pace of change in the 19th century was so
great that by the time the major canals were all
finished, their role as a transport route was
already being overtaken by the railways.
Management of the Canal was taken over by the
Caledonian Railway in 1853. Each canal in the
country is an engineering feat and tells its own
story about the surrounding area.
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- J. Hay Sons Ltd of Kirkintilloch were both
boat builders and operators on the Forth and
Clyde Canal. It wasnt too long before their
operations extended out onto the Clyde and the
west coast and Hebridean Islands. Starting with
a fleet of horse-drawn scows transporting coal,
iron, timber and grain on the canal, in around
1857 Hay fitted some of his scows with simple
non-condensing steam engines driving a single
screw, and also in 1857 took delivery of the
first ever steam screw lighter to be built as
such from scratch. This vessel, named Glasgow,
was built by David Swan at his Kelvin Dock yard
on the canal. - In 1867 Williams two sons, James and John, took
over the floundering boatbuilding business of
Crawfords in Kirkintilloch and put it to work
maintaining the familys fleet of canal boats.
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- In 1879 they went into business of operating
coastal steamers on their own account with James
running that side of the business and John
continuing to manage the yard. They soon turned
to building their own vessels and the Helena
was launched that same year. In the ensuing
decade the yard launched eleven vessels, ten for
themselves and one Aniline for a Falkirk owner.
New-builds were launched broadside into the
canal as shown in the postcard from the early
1900s reproduced below. The letters ITO are
visible and so it is possibly the 1905 Briton.
The location of the launch is readily
identifiable today from the red sandstone
building in the background which still stands at
the corner of Southbank Road and Townhead. - In 1888 the firm of J Hay Sons Ltd was
formally constituted by John Hay to run the
coasting business. Shortly afterwards he took
over the shipbuilding side of the business and
renamed it J J Hay Ltd.
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- In the period from then until the start of WW1,
the company built 14 vessel for its own fleet.
In 1917 the yard was awarded an Admiralty
contract for some barges with tanks for the
carriage of oil from Grangemouth on the Forth to
Bowling on the Clyde. Just as the work was
completed the admiralty decided to lay a pipeline
instead. - In 1921 the two companies were merged into J.
Hay Sons Ltd and in the inter-war years the
company became the principal operator on the
canal. During WW2, only three vessels were built
in Kirkintilloch VIC18, the Kaffir and the
Boer. Their final build was the 1946 Chindit,
for their own fleet. - Hays shipyard at Kirkintilloch was demolished
in 1954 although the slipway remained in use for
ship repairs until 1961. During this time Hay
required a reputation for rebuilds of salvaged
lighters.
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- As a vessel-operating company only by now, J J
Hay merged with G G Hamilton in 1963 to form
Hay-Hamilton Ltd, who in turn amalgamated with
Ross Marshall in 1969 to form Glenlight
Shipping. - For over 200 years the Forth and Clyde Canal was
in operation. It was nationalised in 1948, then
closed down in 1963. It reopened in 2001 after
massive regeneration. - Now it is the focus of leisure activities such
as sailing through the canal for a sea-to-sea
transit between the River Clyde and the River
Forth. It also plays host to canoeing and
kayaking enthusiasts who can paddle boats from
coast-to-coast. Because of the new facilities on
the canal and improved banks, as well as the
flat water it is a popular sport for paddle
sports. Canal fishing is also popular, with
species including roach, bream rudd, gudgeon,
carp, eels, tench, perch, pike and trout.
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- British Waterways Scotland, who run Scotlands
canals, hold an estimated 7,766 megalitres of
water in canals and 18,304 megalitres of water in
reservoirs. They are rolling out a programme
designed at encouraging people to take boating
holidays on the canals, and, since living in a
houseboat has become a sought-after lifestyle, BW
have selected locations across Scotland where
people will be able to reside in boats and
canals. - Cycling the Forth and Clyde Canal towpath has
never been easier or safer, thirty-five miles of
towpath through beautiful countryside have been
restored with the cyclist in mind. Sustrans
Route 754 follows the canal towpath from Bowling
to Edinburgh, so you can cycle across Scotland
coast-to-coast. The towpath between Dalmuir and
Bowling forms part of the scenic Glasgow to Loch
Lomond cycleway.
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- There are many walks taking in the countryside
along different sections of the canal path,
however if you want a long-distance walking
challenge, theres only one path to walk from one
side of Scotland to another. It takes two days
with a stop-over point in Kilsyth to spend the
night and stock up on supplies. - Along the canal there are four places of
particular wildlife interest Dullatur Marsh and
Possil Loch are designated as Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and each end of the
canal is a designated Special Protection Area
(SPA) for estuarine birds. Wildlife on the Forth
Clyde includes many types of bird, plant, fish
and mammals. Otters frequent the canal as do
pipistrelle and Daubentons bats. Nearby
hedgerows and woodland provide cover, nesting
sites and food for hedgehogs, grey partridge,
chaffinch, water voles and wood mice.
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- Watch out for the extremely rare Bennetts
pondweed the only location in the world where
it is known to occur. Birds youll see along the
canal include mute swan, mallard, coot, little
grebe and tufted duck. - Children can benefit a lot from outdoor learning
experiences, and the canal offers a wealth of
such learning opportunities for primary schools,
uniformed groups and families. There are a wide
range of tailored, canal specific resources in
addition to the broader educational aids for
learning about the waterways, which help make the
canal a perfect topic choice for a class or
school project. Resources are linked to the
Curriculum for Excellence learning outcomes and
achievements, making it easy to link particular
aspects of the canals into broader topics. There
are also plenty of volunteering opportunities in
the area for both adults and young people.
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- The Kirkintilloch Canal Festival celebrates the
heritage of Kirkintilloch, including its status
as Canal Capital of Scotland. Around 15,000
visitors attend what has been to date a fantastic
weekend of events in Kirkintilloch. This year
the festival will be a week-long, with events
daily, and culminating in a terrific weekend with
a jam-packed activities day on the Saturday and
ever-popular Gala Day on the Sunday. Activities
will be centred around the marina.