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Hugh Baird (engineer)
Hugh Baird (10 September 1770 – 24 September 1827) was a Scottish civil engineer, who designed and oversaw the building of the Union Canal. Life Born at Westertown, Bothkennar, Stirlingshire, he was the son of Nicol Baird, surveyor to the Forth and Clyde Canal, and was a younger brother of engineer Charles Baird. In 1799 he was a Burgess of Glasgow town council and is listed with his brother as "H & R Baird Enginners" at Hamilton Hill on the Old Canal Basin. His father, Nicol Baird died in 1807, and Hugh Baird succeeded him as surveyor to the canal. In 1810 he put forward designs for extending Grangemouth docks, although nothing was built. Baird was appointed resident engineer to the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1812, on a salary of £250 a year. In 1813, Baird was commissioned to prepare a scheme for linking Edinburgh to the Forth and Clyde Canal, via an "arm", or branch canal, between Falkirk and Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Alternative designs included schemes by John ...
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Lock (water Transport)
A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself (usually then called a caisson) that rises and falls. Locks are used to make a river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a more direct route to be taken. Pound lock A ''pound lock'' is most commonly used on canals and rivers today. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound. In contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as a flash lock. Pound locks were first used in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), having been pioneered by the Song politician and naval en ...
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Ratho
Ratho ( gd, Ràthach) is a village in the Rural West Edinburgh area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,634 based on the 2010 definition of the locality. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian. Ratho Station, Newbridge and Kirkliston are other villages in the area. The Union Canal passes through Ratho. Edinburgh Airport is situated only 4 miles (7 km) away. The village has a high ratio of its older houses built from whin stone due to a whin quarry nearby. The older, historical, part of the village was designated a Conservation Area in 1971 by Midlothian County Council. Origins Ratho appears in written records from 1243 with various spellings such as Rath (ewe, eu, ew, ow, au) but most consistently, from 1292, with its present name Ratho. Other places nearby having "Ratho" in their names include Ratho Byres, Ratho Park and Ratho Bank (now named Ashley). It is believed that the name Ratho comes from ''Rath'', Scottish Gaelic, for a p ...
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Kilsyth
Kilsyth (; Scottish Gaelic ''Cill Saidhe'') is a town and civil parish in North Lanarkshire, roughly halfway between Glasgow and Stirling in Scotland. The estimated population is 9,860. The town is famous for the Battle of Kilsyth and the religious revivals of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The town now has links with Cumbernauld at one time being part of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District Council. The towns also have the same members of parliament at Holyrood and Westminster. Location Historically part of Stirlingshire, Kilsyth is at an elevation of above sea level and occupies a narrow strip of land between the Kilsyth Hills to the north and the River Kelvin to the south. To the east and west it is bordered by marshland and bogs. The centre of the town is close to the confluence of the Garrell and Ebroch burns. From earliest recorded times Kilsyth was one of the main routes between Glasgow, Falkirk and Edinburgh, and is very close to the Roman Antonine Wall, the Forth ...
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Kelvinhead
Kelvinhead is a small hamlet in the vicinity of the village of Banton in Scotland. Located close to the source of the River Kelvin, it is little more than a collection of a few houses along the A803 road between Kilsyth and Banknock. Kelvinhead is reputedly the site where the first crop of potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...es was grown in Scotland. Kelvinhead is uniquely situated providing access to the Core Footpath Network in the Kelvin Valley. The Forth and Clyde canal is easily accessible which provides walking, cycling and angling. To the north there is a path to Banton Loch and the Kilsyth Hills. References Hamlets in Scotland {{NorthLanarkshire-geo-stub ...
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Ulverston Canal
The Ulverston Canal is a ship canal that connects the town of Ulverston, Cumbria, England with Morecambe Bay. The waterway, which is entirely straight and on a single level, is isolated from the rest of the UK canal network. It was built so that maritime trading vessels could use the town's port. Ulverston Canal was built in the late 18th century. Wharves were built in the town to handle the cargo and goods being loaded and unloaded from seagoing vessels. The canal promoted the industrial development of Ulverston. Despite its loss of economic importance with the construction of the Furness Railway in the mid 19th century, the canal remained in commercial operation until the 1940s when it was eventually abandoned. The canal's preservation is now managed by a property management company that receives funding from GlaxoSmithKline, which has a plant adjacent to the canal. The canal runs between its former sea entrance, known as Canal Foot, at Hammerside Point on Morecambe Bay an ...
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List Of Canal Tunnels In Great Britain
This is a list of canal tunnels in the United Kingdom. Listed by name Navigatable adits and mine levels An adit is a horizontal entrance to a mine: Listed by canal Grand Union Canal * Blisworth Tunnel, Northamptonshire * Braunston Tunnel, Northamptonshire * Crick Tunnel, Northamptonshire *Husbands Bosworth Tunnel, Leicestershire *Saddington Tunnel, Leicestershire *Shrewley Tunnel, Warwickshire Peak Forest Canal * Hyde Bank Tunnel * Woodley Tunnel Regent's Canal *Islington Tunnel * Lisson Grove Tunnel *Maida Hill Tunnel Union Canal (Scotland) * Falkirk Tunnel, Falkirk * Roughcastle Tunnel, Falkirk. Part of the Falkirk Wheel complex; leads to Locks 1 & 2 and South Basin See also *Canals of Ireland *Canals of the United Kingdom *History of the British canal system *Legging (canals) *List of canals *List of canal aqueducts in the United Kingdom *List of canal basins in Great Britain *List of canal junctions in the United Kingdom * List of canal locks in the United Kingdom ...
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Ellesmere Canal
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. However, the canal was never completed as intended because of its rising costs and failure to generate the expected commercial traffic. The Ellesmere Canal, which was first proposed in 1791, would have created a waterway between Netherpool, Cheshire, and Shrewsbury. However, only certain sections were completed; these were eventually incorporated into the Chester Canal, Montgomery Canal and Shropshire Union Canal. Although several major civil engineering feats were accomplished, major building work ceased following the completion of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805. The northern end of the navigation's mainline ended from Chester at Trevor Basin near Ruabon and its southern end was at We ...
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Chirk Aqueduct
Chirk Aqueduct is a high and long navigable aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk, on the England-Wales border, spanning the two countries. History The aqueduct was designed by civil engineer Thomas Telford for the Ellesmere Canal. The resident engineer was M. Davidson who also acted as resident engineer on a number of Telford's other works. The foundation stone was laid on 17 June 1796 and it was completed in 1801. It has a cast iron trough within which the water is contained. The masonry walls hide the cast iron interior. The aqueduct followed Telford's innovative Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct on the Shrewsbury Canal, and was a forerunner of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, also on the Llangollen Canal. The aqueduct was briefly the tallest navigable one ever built, and it now is Grade II* listed in both England and Wales. It forms part of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site. Description The aqueduct consists of ten arches ...
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Slateford Aqueduct
The Slateford Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Union Canal over the Water of Leith at Slateford, Edinburgh, Scotland. Completed in 1822, it has eight arches and spans a length of . History It was designed by Hugh Baird with advice from Thomas Telford and is modelled on Telford's Chirk Aqueduct. Different parts of the canal were tendered to contractors at different times, and the masonry for the Slateford Aqueduct was advertised to builders on 2 March 1818. Baird wrote to Telford regarding the ironwork, as he had received a visit from James Thomson, representing the company of William Hazledine, who had worked on the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Baird was unsure about using a contractor based so far away, and also as to whether the contract should just be for the delivery of the plates or the delivery and assembly. On 3 April 1818, Hugh McIntosh was chosen to construct the aqueduct, as he was the contractor for the east end of the canal. After Thomson sent an estimat ...
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Almond Aqueduct
The Almond Aqueduct, also known as the Lin's Mill Aqueduct, is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Union Canal over the River Almond in Scotland, west of Ratho, Edinburgh. History The aqueduct was built to a design by Hugh Baird, with advice from Thomas Telford, in tandem with the Slateford Aqueduct and Avon Aqueduct, with which it shares its design. Baird had originally proposed to have only a single span, with embankments carrying the canal the rest of the way, but eventually decided to use the same design as the other two aqueducts. Telford was not convinced that the stone arches were necessary in conjunction with the iron trough, but Baird used both on all three major aqueducts. Construction was carried out by Messrs. Craven, Whitaker and Nowell between 1819 and 1821, their success in building a stone bridge over the River Ouse making their tender for the contract "by far the most eligible." In 1970 it was designated as a scheduled monument and in 1971 it was given Cat ...
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