Forth and Cart Canal - Remains of The Canal

Remains of The Canal

The closure of the canal provided an opportunity for the Glasgow - Clydebank railway, which brought workers from Glasgow to the adjacent Thompson shipyard, to extend the line to Dalmuir. This line opened in 1896, and destroyed the first section of the canal. By 1897, there was a small section of canal at the northern end, which ended where a railway siding of the Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Railway crossed it. It had been shortened by the construction of another railway siding by 1919, although the towpath bridge was still evident. By 1937, there was no trace of the north end, as an employment exchange had been built over it. At the south end, the canal was truncated just below the first lock, where the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway crossed it. It remained in this state in 1919, but by 1939 had been reduced by half. A small part of it was still evident in 1985, but is no longer so.

Despite its having been closed for over 100 years, the Environmental Statement for the construction on a new junction on the M8 motorway noted that the course of the canal was still clearly visible to the eastern edge of the shipyard site, and concluded that much of it probably still existed. A subsequent planning application for the development of the shipyard site stated that although it had been intended to reinstate a short section of the canal as a water feature, investigation had shown that there were no substantial remains of the canal left, and the planning restrictions that protected the line of the canal were rescinded.