Detail of Glasgow coat of arms on west face of parapet

Description Detail of Glasgow coat of arms on west face of parapet

Date 15/2/2002

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number E 16473 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 701775

Scope and Content West panel, Union Canal Bridge No 1, Viewforth, Edinburgh This shows a panel with a carved tree and fish on Bridge No 1, which was rebuilt in this form around 1900. The panel is supported on a corbelled plinth which is above the keystone of the arch of the bridge. This panel represents Glasgow and is on the west side of the bridge whereas on the east side there is a panel of a castle which represents Edinburgh. Originally the canal was called the 'Glasgow & Edinburgh Union Canal'. The coat of arms for Glasgow was established in the middle of the 19th century and incorporates four main symbols: a tree, bird, fish and bell. The oak tree represents a hazel branch that St Mungo managed to light by praying after boys had put out a holy fire in St Serf's Monastery. The fish represents a fish that St Mungo cut open in order to retrieve a ring given by the King of Strathclyde to his wife. The queen had given the ring to a knight who had lost it and if the ring had not been found the king may have killed her. The government authorised the construction of the Union Canal in 1817 and appointed Hugh Baird (1770-1827) as the chief engineer. The main purpose of the canal was to provide an economical route for the transportation of coal and lime between Edinburgh and Glasgow via the Forth & Clyde Canal (1768-90). The 51km-long canal was opened in 1822 at a cost of £461,760, almost double the estimate, and it ran from Lock 16 at Camelon, Falkirk to Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Except where the two canals are joined at Falkirk, the canal was built with no locks because it followed the contours of the hills. The Union Canal was closed in 1965, two years after the Forth & Clyde Canal, and the construction of new roads meant that it was impossible for boats to travel along the full length of these watercourses. However, the £84.5m Millennium Link project enabled both canals to reopen in 2002. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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