Forth and Cart Canal - The Forth and Cart Canal

The Forth and Cart Canal

The idea of a direct connection between the Cart Navigation and the Forth and Clyde Canal had first been suggested by Hugh Baird in 1799, but no further action had been taken. When the Forth and Cart Canal was promoted in the 1830s, it essentially revived Baird's plan, in the hope that it would provide a better route between Paisley and the Firth of Forth than the alternative which went via Port Eglinton and Port Dundas. Port Dundas was on the north bank of the Clyde, at the end of the Glasgow Branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal, where it joined the Monkland Canal, while Port Eglinton was only a short distance away on the south bank, and was the teminus of the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal. There was no waterway between them and so goods had to be transferred by road.

It was also expected that coal from Coatbridge would reach Paisley via the Monkland Canal, the Forth and Clyde, the proposed new canal and the Cart Navigation. It would save water on the Forth and Clyde, as smaller boats could pass down the link, rather than using the larger locks to the west, where the Forth and Clyde joined the River Clyde.

The Forth and Cart canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in May 1836 and was completed in 1840. It joined the River Clyde almost opposite the mouth of the River Cart and joined the Forth and Clyde Canal at Whitecrook. It had three locks which were 67 feet (20 m) long and 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, limiting vessels to that size.

Although the Forth and Clyde Canal obtained an Act of Parliament to allow it to take over the Forth and Cart in 1842, the transfer did not take place for another 13 years. By then, revenue was only £325 per year, and costs, which included interest on the debts from the construction of the canal, exceeded this amount by £17. The canal was in a poor state, and it was estimated that £3,100 needed to be spent on it to return it to good order. The annual traffic was around 40,000 tons, as the railways now supplied the coal that Paisley used. The Forth and Clyde estimated that they made £739 per year from trade which passed from the Forth and Cart to their canal, and therefore offered to buy it for £6,400. If traffic exceeded 90,000 tons, the original proprietors would receive an extra penny (0.4p) per ton. Although the payment would not clear the debts, and the likelihood of traffic increasing sufficiently to generate the tonnage payments was slight, the committee had little option but to accept. It was taken over by the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1855; and, together with the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Monkland Canal, was taken over by the Caledonian Railway in 1867. The Forth and Cart Canal was closed in 1893 as it was unprofitable.