Promoting the appreciation of the Union Canal centred on Ashley Terrace Boathouse
Boats will be coming past Harrison Park from 6.30pm
Join us for this the annual Ronnie Rusack Flotilla of Light on the towpath, opp. the Ashley Terrace Boathouse on Saturday 4th November this year; and we’ll have a ‘Cake & Information Stall’ from: 4pm-8pm that afternoon/evening.
Monday 30th October 2023, 7.00 pm; at the Merchiston Tennis & Bowling Club
Join us for the revival of the society’s quiz night! £2 entry per person (suggested team size 4-6). Expect your usual quiz conundrums, with some canal related twists.
The bar will be open serving drinks 🍻 🍷. Show your interest on our facebook event
On Sunday, 17th of September, four friends of EUCS took part in the Wee Wander at the 2023 Edinburgh Kiltwalk. The smiles were before the walk!
So far, we’ve managed to raise a fantastic £1,130. There is still time to donate at Team EUCS fundraising for Edinburgh Union Canal Society (SCIO) on JustGiving.
The money which will go towards the running and eventual renewal of the boathouse. Thanks for all your contributions.
Saturday 23rd September 2023, midday to 4.30 pm; opposite the Ashley Terrace Boathouse
To celebrate the end of our rowing boat hire for 2023 we’ll be hiring TWO of our traditional Rowing Boats at 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm. Each boat will cost £10 to hire, for a 50-minute session, maximum 5-persons per boat. All ten hires will be on a first come first served basis.
As well as the opportunity to hire out the boats we’ll have our usual tented-area, opposite the Boathouse, with tea/coffee/cakes available – and holding a raffle on the day with some fantastic prizes up for grabs. Join the event of Facebook
They’ll be one last opportunity on the Sunday (24th) with the last of our usual slots (2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm), three of which will be available to hire in advance. Please see our Rowing Boats section for more details.
When the Union Canal was first built, bridges were necessary to allow people and goods to cross readily from one side of it to the other. Most of these bridges, many of which are still in use today, were built of stone. But, as time passed, some of the early bridges had to be replaced or widened to cope with increasing traffic. At the Edinburgh end of the Canal, there were originally 5 wooden draw-bridges—including one where the Leamington Lift Bridge now stands—none of which survives today.
In 1865, The North British Railway company became the owners of the canal and, in 1869, replaced the Fountainbridge draw-bridge with a lifting bridge. In 1906, that lifting bridge was in turn replaced with a new steel vertical lift bridge designed and built by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth of Newcastle. The new bridge’s road deck was raised using the latest technology: an electric motor. The power supply for this came from the Electrical Lighting Central Generating Station which had been built in 1895 in nearby Dewar Place. The electric motor drove a winch with two ropes which hauled down the counterweights to lift the bridge deck. The adjacent footbridge allowed pedestrians to continue on their way across the canal when the lift bridge was raised to allow boats to pass beneath it.
By the end of the First World War, traffic on the canal had declined, and in 1922, the decision was taken to close the canal to the east of Fountainbridge and infill the terminal basins of Port Hopetoun and Port Hamilton. A new terminus called the Lochrin Basin was constructed to the south of Fountainbridge. As the lift bridge was no longer needed in Fountainbridge, it was dismantled and rebuilt on its present site, replacing the only remaining original wooden draw-bridge over the Union Canal and being renamed the Leamington Lift Bridge.
The fortunes of the canal continued to decline for almost 60 years until, in the 1980s, canal enthusiasts and local people started campaigning to make the canal navigable once more. In 1986, the Edinburgh Canal Society was formed and in the 1990s, British Waterways submitted a funding bid to the National Lottery to restore the Union and Forth and Clyde canals. This bid resulted in The Millennium Link Project which restored the lowland canals to through-navigation.
As part of The Millennium Link Project, Leamington Lift Bridge was returned to working order, a hydraulic lift system replacing the original electric and winch mechanism. Further work to stabilise the bridge was carried out in 2018/19 and, in July 2021, it was awarded a Red Wheel by the National Transport Trust.
