Union Canal Museum, Manse Road, Linlithgow, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Description

Hugh Baird, engineer. Circa 1820. Single storey, 6-bay rectangular plan simple vernacular building, originally two stables at the west end and cottage at east, now the Union Canal Museum and tearoom. Snecked cream squared rubble sandstone. Set against the garden wall of the villa of Rockville to the south and overlooking the Canal Basin to the north. Segmental arched openings to stables. Timber doors to stables and timber shutters to windows.

Small pane timber glazing in sash and case windows. Mono-pitched roof with grey slates, ashlar coped skews, single rendered stack

Statement of Interest

The cottage and stables at this basin are important surviving parts of the infrastructure of Scotland's last major canal. They were probably built just after 1820, as they are not shown on John Wood's map which was published in 1820 (although probably surveyed before this). The building is clearly shown on the 1832 Reform Act plan of the town. It would seem from the 1856 First Edition Ordnance Survey that the footprint of the building remains unchanged. This unaltered footprint combined with their early date give this group of buildings significance.

The canal widens into a basin at this point in Linlithgow. Basins were to facilitate passing, turning and off-loading of barges. In the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1856 a crane is marked beside the building which is further evidence of these functions. The stables show that this was also a place for changing horses. The cottage and stables were functional buildings with little ornamentation but with their setting at the canal basin make a good contribution to the townscape in this part of Linlithgow. The original interiors have not survived.

As examples of the structures built for servicing the canal they have historical importance. They are perhaps given more significance by the proximity a little to the west of what has traditionally been thought of as the house of Hugh Baird, the engineer who masterminded the canal. Canal House must have been built at the same time as this section of the canal and was perhaps his residence when supervising construction here. Since Baird died in 1827 the house must date from the 1820s (not 1835 as is given in some sources). During much of the 19th century it was the home of John Greig who was the collector of canal dues. It is not yet clear who occupied the cottage when it was first built, though census records from the 1840s onwards indicate that canal labourers and their families were the occupants and it can be assumed that this was the case before 1841.

The canal was the brainchild of the surveyor and civil engineer, Hugh Baird, with advice from the eminent Thomas Telford. Hugh Baird (1770-1827) succeeded his father as surveyor to the Forth & Clyde Canal in 1807 and in 1812 was appointed

resident engineer to the Forth & Clyde Canal Company. He was involved with schemes as early as the 1790s for a canal which would link Edinburgh with Glasgow but these were not carried out. In 1813 he was commissioned to draw up plans for a canal linking Edinburgh to the Forth & Clyde Canal. At a meeting of the subscribers at the Star Inn, Glasgow on 21 September 1813, the plans were 'highly approven of'. Although he had worked on the Ulverston Canal in Cumbria and the Forth & Clyde Canal, his major work was the Union Canal. He is credited with the design of the structures along the canal including the three major aqueducts as well as the technical engineering work such as the canal feeder system.

The canal system in the United Kingdom was developed in the late 18th and early 19th century to satisfy the demand by industrialists for an economic and reliable way to transport goods and commodities in large quantities. The canals played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution at a time when goods carried by sea were subject to a duty thus making them very expensive and bad roads hampered the hundreds of pack horses and carts that trundled into the industrial centres each day.

The Union Canal was authorised through Act of Parliament of 1817 and completed in 1822. It is therefore the last of Scotland's great canals to be built and benefitted from the experience gained from building the other canals. Its purpose was to bring principally coal but also limestone, ironstone and sandstone into Edinburgh from the rich deposits of these minerals in Falkirk and West Lothian. It was also hoped that the canal would also attract passenger traffic. It was funded through a combination of subscriptions collected before the project began and shares sold afterwards. The eventual cost was almost double Baird's original estimate. It is Scotland's only contour canal following the ground at a height of 240 feet above sea level for its entire 31½ miles until it reaches the west end where there was a series of (now buried) locks near Port Downie on the Forth & Clyde Canal. A year after its completion the canal was extended westwards to reduce the distance passengers were required to walk between the two canals. (The locks were replaced by the Falkirk Wheel in 2000). The canal was a commercial venture but it struggled to pay its way.

Because of its relatively late date, the Union was barely 20 years old when the railways took away much of the passenger traffic and other functions and by 1849 it was in the ownership of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company.

The category changed from B to C, statutory address and listed building record updated as part of the Scottish Canals review, (2013-14).

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing
Wikidata IDs Q17851942 Q56643687

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