stirling-1963-vol-1/05_090

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER
in Glen Gyle is noted under No. 374, and it is recorded ¹ that Black Rig, three miles nearly due
south of Gartmore, was on the course of a drove road. The second of the western routes, again
coming from Loch Fyne, made its way by Arrochar and the west side of Loch Lomond either
to Balloch or Bonhill, and reached the Endrick valley by Gartocharn in the former case or by
Cameron Muir in the latter for its final stage to Falkirk. Something is said about these routes
under Nos. 519, 520, 528 and 529. The main route from the north led over Sheriff Muir
(No. 508), which was a favourite stance-ground until the division of the common land there
in 1771, and crossed the Forth by Stirling Bridge (No. 455); it was partly duplicated by an
alternative route through the Ochils to the Kincardine-Higginsneuk ferry. The droves from
Skye and the Outer Islands converged on Doune, and likewise crossed the Forth at Stirling
or, if conditions were suitable, by the Fords of Frew (No. 524). What may be a branch of this
route, connecting the Fords of Frew with the Carron valley, is noted under No. 525.
From the Trysts the southbound droves headed for the pass through the Pentland Hills
that is known as the Cauldstane Slap. crossing the river Avon out of Stirlingshire at
Dalquhairn ² (Avonbridge) or Linlithgow. Only one short length of drove road (No. 535) has
been identified south of Falkirk, but the main routes followed through the Borders have been
or will be described in other Inventories. ³

CANALS AND WATERWAYS
The Forth and Clyde Canal (No. 552) has its eastern terminal at Grangemouth, and runs
through Stirlingshire for approximately a quarter of its length. Begun in 1768, under John
Smeaton's direction, but not opened from sea to sea until 1790, it was an ambitious under-
taking for its time and well deserved to be called "the Great Canal". There is a terminal basin
at Grangemouth and nineteen locks within Stirlingshire, but no bridges or other points of
architectural interest as roads were carried across the waterway by movable bridges of timber.
The Union Canal (No. 553), on the other hand, which was projected in 1818 and opened in
1822, and which links the Great Canal with Edinburgh, is carried over the Avon by an
aqueduct-bridge (No. 474) which combines a distinguished appearance with some interesting
structural features (Pl. 228 A and B); while the road-bridges spanning it, which are of
stone construction, are plain and dignified. The tunnel that carries the canal through the
ridge of high ground between Glen village and the upper part of Falkirk also deserves to be
noticed; being earlier than the railway tunnels, and larger than the haulage-ways constructed
in mines at that time, it possesses a certain pioneering quality, at any rate for Scotland. All
the eleven locks on this canal were concentrated in a single series, which raised the waterway
directly from its western terminal at Camelon to the elevation required for a level course to
Edinburgh; these locks have been demolished, and the canal is no longer in use. In their
heyday both these canals provided a remarkably good service for passengers. About 1816 the
"swift boats" of the Forth and Clyde Canal covered the distance from Port Dundas (Glasgow)
to Camelon in three hours and a half; they were drawn by two horses, harnessed tandem, which
galloped all the way and were changed every two miles. ⁴ The Union Canal advertised three

1 Ordnance Survey Name Book, Drymen parish, 49.
2 Geogr. Collections, i, 317.
3 Inventory of Roxburghshire, App. C; Inventory of Selkirkshire, No. 92; Inventory of Peeblesshire (in preparation).
4 Pratt, E. A., Scottish Canals and Waterways, 120 f.

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