Camelon Aqueduct, site of
Camelon, Falkirk, Scotland
associated engineer
John Smeaton
date 1771
era Georgian |
category Aqueduct |
OS grid reference NS875802
Camelon Aqueduct, designed by John Smeaton, carried the Forth & Clyde Canal over a road west of Falkirk. It was in use for some 40 years but was replaced, first by a bascule bridge and later by a swing bridge.
The aqueduct was constructed in masonry and bridged the road in a sinlge arch, 4.9m wide and 3.4m high. The rise on the arch was only 600mm. While visiting the area in 1819, Thomas Telford and Robert Southey (poet laureate 1813-43) remarked that it was “so dangerously low that it might easily prove fatal to a traveller on the outside of a stage coach”.
To prevent leaks, it was customary to place a layer of clay up to 900mm thick beneath the canal bed. However, Smeaton chose not to use any clay over the crown of the arch here.
Research: ECPK
Location
Camelon Aqueduct, site of
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