Projects - Canals - 2008

Our Canal topic is going well and we are learning more about the local canals. The Union starts at Falkirk and goes to Edinburgh and the Forth and Clyde which starts at Glasgow runs to Grangemouth.
It was a lot easier to travel across Scotland by canal that to sail all the way around the north of Scotland in a boat. It meant that goods could be transported much quicker.

The maps of the Forth and Clyde Canal (above) and the Union Canal (below).

We have been making canal boats and learning about the Rose and Castle design that many canal folk used to decorate their boats. Whole families lived on the boats which travelled all over to deliver goods to factories and industries. The children couldn't attend school (we would hate that!).

The Carron Iron Works was established near Falkirk in 1759 and thanks to a new iron making process it went on to make lots of famous products including the Carronade Canon which was ideal for the navies of the time. The success of the iron works and the need to transport its goods lead to the building of the canal.
The people who built the canals were called Navigators or Navvies for short. Did you know that Burke and Hare, the infamous Edinburgh murderers used to work on the Union Canal?

There used to be 16 locks connecting the Union and Forth and Clyde canals but now of course we have the famous Falkirk Wheel, the only rotating boat lift in the world.