Monkland Canal

The Monkland Canal was a 12¼ mile (19.6 km) canal, designed to bring coal from the mining areas of Monklands to Glasgow in Scotland. After a long and difficult construction process, it was opened in 1794, at first in two sections with a 96 feet (29 m) vertical interval between them at Blackhill; coal was unloaded and carted to the lower section and loaded onto a fresh barge. Locks were later constructed linking the two sections, and the canal was also connected to the Forth and Clyde Canal, giving additional business potential.

Maintainung an adequate water supply was a problem, and later an inclined plane was built at Blackhill, in which barges were let down and hauled up, floating in caissons that ran on rails. Originally intended as a water-saving measure to be used in summer only, the inclined plane was found to pass barges more quickly than through the locks and was used all the year.

The development of railways reduced the competitiveness of the canal, and eventually it was abandoned for navigation in 1942, but its culverted remains still supply water to the Forth and Clyde Canal. Much of the route now lies beneath the course of the M8 motorway, but two watered sections remain, and are well stocked with fish.