Still some of the canal basin out at Caderbank where once Axles where transported from The Albion Motor Works factory in Calderbank. Nowadays a Tyre and Exhaust Centre. This section runs down to Sykeside In Airdrie. Linking sections filled in as a cycle path towards Summerlee where there is another small section of the Canal and the Vulcan iron Boat. All in the heart of Monklands, Lanarkshire.
Great channel. The Monklands canal is actually maintained by Transport Scotland and it feeds water from a still open section in Drumpellier Park and golf course through two pipes all the way to Pinkston basin. You may have missed a small brick building beside the sports area in the basin, it's no bigger than a small shed . That's where the Monklands close into the Forth and Clyde Canal.
I lived at at Haliburton facing on to the canal, house knocked down due to the morotrway coming through. I remember them using a sort of paddle boat to cut the reeds on the canal (the area bewtween Ware Road and Wardie Road, Also when they were going to drain the canal they dug shafts into the ground and from which which they would dig tunnels to the next shaft, a sort of mini railway was laid to take the spoil out and put the pipes in.
I lived in the east end and remember when the canal was filled in. Having left Glasgow about 30 years, it was amazing to see all the changes. Places I knew so well and now barely recognise. Thanks, I really enjoyed seeing the old and the new.
That's my old school the other side of the tunnel, I can't believe the rope marks on the corners, we did everything under here dog school, get drunk and take our burds, jeeso we just thought it was an underpass , bravo big man your videos are great 👍 👌
Cheers. That was great. When I was a kid, I remember walking over the old canal footbridge going from Riddrie into Blackhill. I remember the motorway being built and they put in a new footbridge over the M8. Thank you for the video.
I grew up in Ruchazie and remember in the mid-70's seeing part of the motorway being constructed or re-built maybe. I was on the road between Cranhill and Ruchazie on the left and with Garthamlock on the right.
Great stuff. Thanks for explaining what happened to the Monklands canal. Would be good to know more about the canal at Coatbridge and onwards to the forth and Clyde beyond. Also the mills which were once in Mearns and Renton.
Nice to see the childhood area ,definitely a lot of history around it , never knew that about the horses on the canal towpath under the bridge at Castle St , can remember as kids running along it , ....the telephone box , although a rare sight these days , and I presume out of use , has always been located there back in the /80’s it was the old red type and when I was at Secondary school which is adjacent to the location, its area was a meeting point or where the schools fights after 4 ‘o’clock were settled 🤭.The motorway is such a feature of the area , like most people you never think of the Canal that went before , but it made so much sense to use it as a template for the route, at the Port Dundas basin that area was really rundown and industrial during the 1980s , the canal was filthy , there was a large grassy area next to it now getting built on, which everyone referred to as “ The Cuddies ” there was always an eggy sort of smell in the air from things that were buried in the ground from the former ICI plant that had been pulled down , good to see now it’s been cleaned up and things have improved with the water based activities centre and the new bridge and homes being built . Interesting video as always.
Thanks for getting in touch and sharing all that detail. Its not an area I know very well so imagining how it used to look is quite difficult for me so thanks for filling in some detail. On the phone box. If you look at the picture from the motorway archive you can see the red phone box where the BT one stands today. I wanted to make a point of this in the video but im not that good at editing yet. Glad you found the video interesting and I have loads more to come, just need the time to make them.
0:58 - There was no lock there originally, though there was a bascule bridge. The canal continued at that level east into the basins at Port Dundas, and the Monkland Canal joined to the basin at the southern corner. It still does to this day - there's a small building pumping the water into the basin at that location. You can see the water flowing in when you stand there.
Very interesting video ! Who knows, maybe in the future the Monklands Canal will exist in yet another form ? As in Venice, we'll use gondolas to visit Glasgow ;)
Here is an interesting story about gondolas. In 1901, Glasgow hosted an international exhibition to celebrate the opening of the Kelvingrove museum (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LxXIsNRFSNU.html ) One of the attractions were a pair of gondoliers from Venice who gave gondola rides on the river Kelvin. Glasgow folk nick named them Senior Hokey and Senior Pokey. A councillor at the time suggested that rather than 2 male gondoliers they should have brought over a male and a female gondolier so that they could breed their own for the future :-D
There are apparently remains of locks at the side of the motorway. I've never found them because it is impossible to get a good look while driving, but I am assured that there are remains of the stonework visible from the motorway if you know where to look.The locks were later supplemented by an inclined plane because the canal was so busy. I think it all was just east of the gasworks.
I will need to see if I can track down any remains. My Dad worked in the Royal mail office on Baird street and could see the canal wall at the back entrance so there are bits of it out there. The boat incline ran parallel and under the Blochairn off slip at junction 13 of the M8. I would love to tell its story but there are no remains on site and very little recorded evidence.
Thanks very much Billy, I am glad you enjoyed it and remember to check out my other videos. I have a long list of subjects to get through and I am sure I will get to the Molendinar at some point.
Brilliant. Your videos are fantastic for amateur Glasgow historians. Have you done one for the female prison on Duke Street or the Royal Mail, Railway Depot across the road.
Do you know the Monkllands canal was the only canal in Scotland to make money, fact,with all the iron foundries in Coatbridge the canal would boil with water off the foundries, Coatbridge in the late to early 19th to twentieth centuries was the most polluted town in Scotland. Instances of lung disease was prevalent, it took years to clean up,now it's a memory....
Amazing. I'd heard about the Monklands Canal / M8 story before but never knew all the details or seen half of what was presented. As for ideas for the future... Something something Pollok Park. I dunno, there's a lot to pick from there, but something to do with Pollok Park :)
Thanks Lee, Im really glad you are enjoying the videos. I would love to do some more about the trams and the trolly busses. Im gutted that I didnt start making videos earlier and I could have included pictures of the trolly bus depot on Aikenhead road and the tram depots that have been demolished in the last few years.
If you went slightly east from your last shot you would see the old incline at Blackhill, superseded by a flight of locks. The locks are long gone but you can still see the line of the incline on the hillside. If you're going east on the M8 it's just before the Riddrie cut off on your right.
I know exactly where you mean and I thought about making it an episode but there are so few images of the incline and so few surviving features that it would be very difficult to tell the story in video.
I was born 1952 in the bottom of roystonhill where it meets castle st just at the old Carlton cinema and played around the canal from an early age it was all old tenement buildings then it is quite a desirable area to live now as it is easy walking distance into the city centre my brother has a house on Josephs View where the old peoples home and convent used to be.....in 1952 it was a bit of a dump with horrible single end and room and kitchen private owned tenements much much nicer now
@@AstonishingGlasgow True, many have been bombed or had wars, but Glasgow seems to have been self inflicted and not through growth. There seems to have been a decline with more motorways at the expense of its transport and architecture.
Glasgow was lucky that it had the canal to build on so not much architecture lost there. The area of Anderston was an obvious casualty and the city did lose some amazing buildings as the M8 carved its way towards Charring cross but on the upside it gained freedom from traffic gridlock and the pedestrianisation of Argyle, Buchanan and Sauchiehall streets which could not have happened without the motorway.
@@AstonishingGlasgow Yes, the motorway took away Townhead, Cowcaddens, Palimentary, Springburn, Kingston, Anderston and more. I believe 60% of the city is now gone. Areas like the the Gorbals suffered from bad maintenance and over population like the Glasgow old town. High Street down to the Saltmarket are next on the cards.
