Nov 23, 2009 – The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk, Scotland, Great Britain – HUFTON + CROW / Photolibrary
Posted In: Falkirk, Great Britain, Scotland, Wheel
Comments: No Responses
- Why did invading Romans build a wall here in 142 AD?
They dug a 12-foot-deep ditch next to it - Want to see it from another angle?
Take a look around - This miracle of engineering takes its inspiration from the Celtic double-headed axe.
That’s nice—what is it? - The Scots like this thing so much they put a picture of it on their £50 note.
Where is it?
The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It is named after the nearby town of Falkirk in central Scotland. The two canals were previously connected by a series of 11 locks, but by the 1930s these had fallen into disuse, were filled in and the land built upon.
The Millennium Commission decided to regenerate the canals of central Scotland to connect Glasgow with Edinburgh once more. Designs were submitted for a lock to link the canals, with the Falkirk Wheel design winning. As with many Millennium Commission projects the site includes a visitors’ centre containing a shop, café and exhibition centre.
The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres (79 ft), roughly equivalent to the height of an eight storey building. However the Union Canal is 11m higher than the aqueduct which meets the wheel, and boats must pass through a pair of locks to descend from this canal onto the aqueduct at the top of the wheel. The aqueduct could not have been positioned higher due to conflicts with the historically important Antonine Wall.
The structure is located near the Rough Castle Fort and the closest village is Tamfourhill. On 24 May 2002, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Falkirk Wheel as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations. The opening had been delayed by a month due to flooding caused by vandals who forced open the Wheel’s gates.
