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The Glasgow, Paisley And Johnstone Canal, Ralston Square Tunnel, Paisley

Tunnel (Period Unassigned)

Site Name The Glasgow, Paisley And Johnstone Canal, Ralston Square Tunnel, Paisley

Classification Tunnel (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) Glasgow, Paisley And Ardrossan Canal

Canmore ID 213295

Site Number NS46SE 492.24

NGR NS 4750 6361

NGR Description NS 4753 6362 to NS 4748 6361

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/213295

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Renfrewshire
  • Parish Paisley (Renfrew)
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Renfrew
  • Former County Renfrewshire

Archaeology Notes

NS46SE 492.24 4753 6362 to 4748 6361.

This tunnel, 210 feet in length, took the canal under Ralston Square.

J Lindsay 1968.

This tunnel, taking the canal under Ralston Square, is clearly marked on the 1st edition of the OS 1:2500 map (Renfrewshire 1864, sheet xii.2).

Information from RCAHMS (MD) 11 April 2002.

Activities

Linear Account

Lin 25. The Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal. NS 5852 6400 to NS 4310 6296.

History.

In 1791 the 12th Earl of Eglinton, owner of substantial estates in the Ardrossan-Kilwinning-Saltcoats district, conceived the notion of constructing a canal from Saltcoats to Glasgow. The purpose was to furnish Glasgow with a port on the Ayrshire coast, as the Clyde was too shallow for shipping to reach the city. Following the formation of a committee to consider the matter, surveys were undertaken by Rennie in 1800 and by John Ainslie in 1804 and costs were estimated for taking a waterway through this mineral-rich area with 'many extensive manufactories.' A subscription of #20,000 was raised at a meeting of 'noblemen and gentlemen' in Glasgow, but a new terminal was proposed for Ardrossan Bay.

Telford produced a new report in 1805, modifying the route between Glasgow and Johnstone in order to avoid the necessity of having locks, which would delay passage-boats in the densely populated area. It was believed that the journey would take about one and a half hours between Glasgow and Paisley and a further six and a half hours to Ardrossan, with locks just west of Johnstone raising the canal to its summit level. In 1805 a meeting in Paisley adopted Telford's plan and in June 1806 an Act establishing the Canal Company was passed. The Earl of Eglinton and some of the partners in the Govan Coal Company were included in the list of proprietors of the canal, among the envisaged uses of which were the export of Scottish coal to Ireland, the import of Irish grain for the people of Glasgow and Paisley, and a cheap method of transporting goods between those towns. Tolls were also fixed.

Further capital was raised and in 1807 work commenced on the populous east secion of this long proposed canal, as it was believed that this would raise considerable revenues while the rest of the canal was being completed. On 31 October 1810 the stretch between Paisley and Johnstone was opened, a passenger boat being immediately put into service, and on 4 October 1811, the section from Paisley to Glasgow was declared open. The dimensions of the waterway were as follows: four feet in depth, twenty five feet in width at the surface and thirteen feet in width at the bottom. A headroom of eleven feet was furnished by the height of the bridges. Later the depth was increased to four and a half feet and the surface width to thirty feet. Although there were no locks, much cutting and embankment had been involved in the construction.

By 1816 three passage-boats were in operation, each carrying one hundred and twenty passengers. The journey between Glasgow and Paisley took up to about one and a half hours, the time estimated before construction began. Fund-raising continued but government aid was refused on the grounds that the canal had been rendered unnecessary due to an Act of 1809 for deepening the Clyde. Subscriptions and loans were slow in coming forward.

Tonnage carried by the canal in 1815, 1816 and 1817 was 22,570, 21,089 and 22,865 respectively, but as there was stiff competition from road carriage, discounts on increased tolls were offered to users in the 1820s.

As only 46,000 passengers were carried in 1817, experiments with swifter boats were instituted and one of these went into operation in 1822. By 1830 a 'gig-shaped' passenger boat was tried. As it cut journey time to less than an hour, this was immediately brought into service, the Company being recognised as a 'pioneer in the field of passenger traffic.' Consequently, by 1831 the service on the canal had been accelerated and made more frequent. Horses were changed regularly for their welfare, and additional stables built. Passenger traffic reached its peak in the 1830s, the numbers being carried rising from 79,455 in 1831 to 373,290 in 1835. Despite a level of competition from coaches, it was not until the advent of challenge from railways in 1840 and 1841 that competition became serious. In 1836 eight boats plied between Glasgow and Johnstone daily and in 1840 there were seven daily sailings between Paisley and Johnstone and thirteen between Glasgow and Paisley. Unfortunately steam-powered vessels and those with screw-propulsion could not be used due to the shallowness of the canal.

After 1820 the plan to continue the canal to Ardrossan was dropped, although discussions took place in 1825 and 1826 on the subject of continuing the route as a horse railway. Despite the fact that the Canal Company received the necessary powers, insufficient funding prevented the work, commenced at Ardrossan, from progressing further than Kilwinning, a mere five and a half miles. In 1840 an Act separated the Railway Company from the still financially troubled Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal Company.

The first serious threat of railway competition manifested itself in 1836 in the shape of the proposed Ayrshire and Greenock railways. Despite the presentation of a petition opposing them in 1837, both lines were authorised in that year, the Glasgow to Ayr via Paisley opening in 1840 and the Glasgow to Greenock via Paisley in 1841. Following 'ruinous competition', in July 1843 the Canal Company, in return for an annual payment of #1,367, relinquished its previously successful passenger and parcel business and canal horses were put up for sale. Freight traffic did, however, continue.

Numerous proposals for railways cutting across the canal were put forward, as its line blocked the most sensible routes into Glasgow from the South West. In November 1845 the possibility of selling the canal to the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway Company was seriously considered. Nonetheless, although the Railway Company contended that the united companies would enable the public to receive a cheaper and better service, defeat of the bill authorising the sale was followed by a further twenty years of independence for the canal. However, the above railway company was taken over in 1850 by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company and in 1869 the canal company was dissolved by Act of Parliament and vested in this newer railway company. Although this company undertook to keep the canal open and navigable and to pay an annual sum of #3,471 out of revenue to defray canal debts, this revenue continued to decline under its management.

In 1881, finding only a limited number of basins and wharfs still in use, a bill was put forward to close the canal, which was in a poor financial and sanitary condition. The Act was passed without serious opposition and immediately a relief railway was constructed on its winding bed to furnish connections with existing lines between Paisley and Johnstone and near Port Eglinton. By 1968 there were no traces of the Glasgow and Johnstone canal basins, although a stretch of the canal had been retained in the grounds of the Ferguslie Thread Works in Paisley and the Blackhall Aqueduct had survived as a railway bridge.

J Lindsay 1968; P J G Ransom 1999.

The Glasgow, Paisley, Ardrossan Canal project of 1806 had only reached as far as Johnstone by 1811 when the funding ran out. It was eventually overtaken by Clyde navigation and railway developments. A railway from the harbour to Byers near Kilwinning was opened in 1831, which was connected with Glasgow in 1840. In 1832 Telford remarked, no doubt with the Caledonian Canal also in mind, that the scheme ‘was a striking instance of the risk which exists in an active nation of undertaking any new work which requires time in completion’.

In later years the harbour was developed to serve shipping interests on the Clyde and is in use today by the oil industry and other shipping, including the Arran ferry, and as a marina.

R Paxton and J Shipway 2007

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.

SUMMARY.

(Map sheets NS56SE, NS56SW, NS46SE and NS46SW).

As the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal is no longer in existence, with only one short stretch still containing water, the sites created are to be found on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1865, sheet vi, Renfrewshire 1865, sheet xiii, Renfrewshire 1864, sheet xii and Renfrewshire 1863, sheet xi). Although written sources refer to it as the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal, Johnstone being the furthest W point that it reached, it should be noted that it is labelled the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal on the 1st edition maps.

The canal (NS56SE 1579.00) commences in the E on map sheet NS56SE at Port Eglinton Basin (NS56SE 1579.01). By the basin is an inn (NS56SE 1579.02) and a little further W a small aqueduct (NS56SE 1579.03) carries the canal over a branch railway line. Continuing in a SW direction out of the city towards the village of Polloksheilds, the waterway reaches Sheilds Bridge (NS56SE 1412), which appears to be a double feature, a bridge carrying a road over the canal, which in turn is carried over the Caledonian Railway at the same location. A short distance to the W two small basins (NS56SE 1579.04 and NS56SE 1579.05) open out on the S side of the canal, and just N of the village of Polloksheilds is a milestone (NS56SE 1579.09) stating Glasgow 1, Johnstone 10. There is another basin (NS56SE 1579.06) situated to the W of Polloksheilds, as the canal turns SW again. Continuing in this direction, the waterway passes over a minor road on a small aqueduct (NS56SE 1579.07) and then a bridge (NS56SE 1579.08) carries a minor road over the canal.

The waterway (NS56SW 174.00) then passes into map sheet NS56SW, turning in a NW direction. It passes a milestone (NS56SW 174.11), stating Glasgow 3, Johnstone 8, flows under a bridge (NS56SW 174.01) carrying a minor road, then describes a brief curve to the S, where a small basin (NS56SW 174.02) opens out on its S bank. Continuing NW there is a milestone (NS56SW 174.03), stating Glasgow 4, Johnstone 7 and then another bridge (NS56SW 174.04) carrying a minor road. As the canal heads W and then S again, two minor roads are taken across the canal on bridges (NS56SW 174.05 and NS56SW 174.06), with a small basin (NS56SW 174.12) in between, located on the S side of the canal, near Cardonald Mill. Again heading in a SW direction, the canal passes another milestone (NS56SW 174.07), stating Glasgow 5, Johnstone 6 and then, turning NW, it flows under a bridge (NS56SW 174.08) carrying a road from Hawkhead Mains to the S. As it heads W again on its winding course, it passes under a bridge (NS56SW 174.09) carrying a minor road or track and then flows past another milestone (NS56SW 174.10), stating Glasgow 6, Johnstone 5.

The canal (NS46SE 492.00) then heads W into the town of Paisley on map sheet NS46SE, which contains a plethora of sites. The first feature is a bridge (NS46SE 492.01) carrying a substantial road over the canal from the E end of Paisley to the N, then, as the waterway bends SSW, there are two aqueducts, the first (NS46SE 130) taking the canal over a minor road and the second (NS46SE 50) being a more substantial structure straggling the White Cart Water. As the canal loops round towards the W the Blackhall Reservoir (NS46SE 492.02) is situated close to its SE bank and as it turns NW there is a small basin (NS46SE 492.03) on the S side, to the W of which is a bridge (NS46SE 492.04) carrying a fairly major road over the waterway. A short distance to the NW, on the SW bank of the canal, is another milestone (NS46SE 492.05) stating Johnstone 4, Glasgow 7 and close to this is a bridge (NS46SE 492.06) carrying a minor road. As the canal sweeps round to the W it passes under Saucelhill Bridge (NS46SE 492.07), to the W of which is a small dry dock (NS46SE 492.08) on the S side of the waterway, with a ship carpenter's work shop (NS46SE 492.15) located at its S extremity.

The canal continues W through the S part of the town of Paisley, passing next through the Causeyside Tunnel (NS46SE 492.09), under a small bridge (NS46SE 492.10) and into the Paisley Basin (NS46SE 492.11), located on the N side of the waterway. On the SE bank of the basin are stables (NS46SE 492.12), across its N tip is a warehouse (NS46SE 492.13) and on its W side is a coal wharf (NS46SE 492.14). As the canal continues W it passes under another small bridge (NS46SE 492.16) and a short distance further W is a basin (NS46SE 492.17) on the N side, with a coal depot (NS46SE 492.18) at its N tip, then a second basin (NS46SE 492.19) on the N side, another (NS46SE 492.20) on the S side and close by a bridge (NS46SE 492.21) carrying a minor road over the waterway. Just to the W of this bridge is a further small basin (NS46SE 492.22) on the S side of the canal. The waterway then begins to describe a loop to the N, heading NW then W. As it turns W there is another basin (NS46SE 492.23), the Tabernacle Basin, taking the form of a widened stretch on the S side of the canal. A short distance to the W of this basin the canal passes under Ralston Square in another tunnel (NS46SE 492.24). The waterway then heads SW, flowing under a small bridge (NS46SE 492.25), past a milestone (NS46SE 492.26) on its SE bank, stating Glasgow 8, Johnstone 3, under the Corsebar Bridge (NS46SE 492.27) and, turning W again, passes under the Tannahills Bridge (NS46SE 492.28) and then Maxwellton Bridge (NS46SE 492.29).

At this point the canal heads NNW into the area of the Ferguslie Thread Works. As it describes the loop to the N a number of sites, absent on the 1st edition map, appear on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch map (Renfrewshire 1898, sheet xiiNW), in the short section that remained after the closure of the canal in 1881. These comprise a footbridge (NS46SE 492.30) and a small road bridge (NS46SE 492.31) between sections of the Thread Works, a reservoir (NS46SE 492.32) terminating this remnant of the canal, a sluice (NS46SE 492.33) on the N side of the reservoir, a road bridge (NS46SE 492.34) at the narrow neck of the reservoir and two footbridges (NS46SE 492.35 and NS46SE 492.36) crossing from the S side of the W section of the reservoir to an island in its centre.

As the canal bends S again before resuming a course heading W into open country there is a basin (NS46SE 492.37) on its E bank. In its continuing course W it passes under a small bridge (NS46SE 492.38), to the W of which is a milestone (NS46SE 492.39) on the S side of the canal, stating Glasgow 9, Johnstone 2, and then another bridge (NS46SE 492.40) carrying a minor road. The waterway then begins to head NW, passing under a bridge (NS46SE 492.41) carrying the main road from Paisley to Johnstone and a short distance to the N the Glasgow and South Western Railway traverses the canal on another bridge (NS46SE 492.42).

At this point the canal (NS46SW 193.00) passes into map sheet NS46SW, describing a northerly loop initially and passing under a small road bridge (NS46SW 193.01) as it heads SW again. Continuing SW it passes under another bridge (NS46SW 193.02) carrying the Glasgow and South Western Railway. This is situated just to the N of the village of Elderslie. Just W of Elderslie is a minor road bridge (NS46SE 193.03), with a small basin (NS46SW 193.04) close by, on the S side of the canal, and a milestone (NS46SW 193.05) on its W bank, stating Glasgow 10, Johnstone 1. As the canal heads NW again, there is a small aqueduct (NS46SW 193.06) carrying it over the Old Patrick Water, then another raliway bridge (NS46SW 193.07) traverses it, with a minor road bridge (NS46SW 193.08) passing over it just NW of the last feature.

As the canal continues winding generally in a westerly direction before turning SW into the SE corner of Johnstone, it passes under a minor road bridge (NS46SW 193.09) and then flows past a small basin (NS46SW 193.10) on its S side. Heading into Johnstone there is a small basin (NS46SW 193.11) on the E side of the canal and an aqueduct (NS46SW 193.11) conveying it over a road at the same location. Continuing SW a bridge (NS46SW 193.13) carries the E end of Johnstone High Street over the canal, which then flows into the terminal basin (NS46SW 193.14). On the NW side of the basin is a storehouse (NS46SW 193.15) and on its W bank is a wharf (NS46SW 193.16).

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