|
The two hour cruise goes east from the boathouse, under Walkers Bridge, past Swans Nest and through a deep cut into the tunnel under Prospect Hill. This tunnel is the first canal tunnel dug in Scotland. It was built because William Forbes of Callendar Estate (the owner of Callendar House which sits in the shadow of Prospect Hill) refused to allow the canal to follow the contour around the Hill within sight of Callendar House and its gardens. The canal engineers were therefore forced to dig a tunnel through the Hill. The tunnel, 690 yards (631m) long and at least 12 feet (3.6m) high was cut through the solid limestone, coal bearing rock and millstone grit of Prospect Hill and, like the rest of the canal, was cut by the brute force of the navvies with picks, shovels and using gunpowder to blast the rock into small pieces. Many of the “shot holes” can still be seen in the walls today. The tunnel was built by digging down through the rock from above, then through these shafts and working outwards towards the ends, the navvies met the others tunnelling inwards. These shafts can still be seen in the tunnel roof. The tunnel is well lit during the trip by floodlights fitted to the Govan Seagull and permanent lights throughout the length of the tunnel. Passengers are able to see the calcite deposits which in places look like bony skeletal hands, (dead mens fingers), and the stalactites that have formed over the years by water filtering through the rock and leaving the minerals deposited on the stonework. It is interesting to note that two of the labourers working on the tunnel were the infamous Burke and Hare, the Edinburgh body snatchers. It is not thought that they knew each other at this time, however, Hare’s common law wife came from Grangemouth and they later used the canal to secretly transport the bodies from Falkirk, Polmont and Linlithgow to Edinburgh. The towpath continues through the tunnel, although it is fenced off from the water. It is a popular walk for locals and visitors alike.
|
