The Cart Navigation
An Act of Parliament obtained in 1753 authorised improvements to the White Cart Water, to make it navigable, and so assist the developing cotton industry in Paisley. The works included making the channel straighter and deeper. A new road bridge had been built at Inchinnan in 1787, after which Paisley Town Council obtained a second Act of Parliament, to authorise the construction of a new navigable cut, which would pass under the Turn Pike road (now the A8). Work started on 23 August 1787, and was expected to be completed within a year. With the anticipated building of the Forth and Cart Canal, further work was carried out in 1835 to improve the harbour facilities at Paisley. There were plans to make it much deeper and wider in the 1880s, so that ocean-going ships could reach Paisley, but although the work was declared complete on 25 May 1891, the first ship to attempt to use the river ran aground on the opening day, and the scheme was later abandoned.
The River Cart and the White Cart Water provided a navigable waterway between the River Clyde and the centre of Paisley.
Read more about this topic: Forth And Cart Canal
Famous quotes containing the word cart:
“When the boat comes to the bridge, it will go through; when the cart gets to the mountains, there will be a way to get over them.”
—Chinese proverb.