The historic canal that winds through the town – once a working artery, now a place to wander.
The Forth & Clyde Canal slips quietly through Clydebank today, but in its day it was one of the great engineering feats of the age. Opened in 1790, it cut clean across the waist of Scotland to link the Firth of Forth in the east with the River Clyde in the west – a watery motorway carrying cargo, coal and passengers long before the railways arrived.
For Clydebank the canal was a working artery, busy with barges and the steady comings and goings of trade. As the industrial age moved on, the water fell quiet and the canal eventually closed to through traffic, its locks and bridges left stranded and its towpaths overgrown.
As part of the same project that revived the canal, the Forth & Clyde was reconnected to the Union Canal by the Falkirk Wheel – the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world.
Reborn for a new century
At the turn of the millennium the canal was given a remarkable second life. The Millennium Link, completed in 2001, reopened the Forth & Clyde from coast to coast – restoring the locks, raising and lowering bridges, and turning a forgotten waterway back into a place to walk, cycle, paddle and unwind.
Today the towpath through Clydebank is one of the nicest ways to see the town – a green ribbon of calm right on our doorstep, and a reminder that the best of the past can be brought back to life.
- Opened in 1790, linking the Forth and the Clyde coast to coast
- A working waterway for cargo, coal and passengers
- Reopened in 2001 as part of the Millennium Link
- A towpath for walking and cycling through Clydebank
A walk by the water?
The canal is one of Clydebank's quiet pleasures – and we are a short stroll away. Come and see us while you are in town. Visit our showroom.
More Clydebank stories · See the timeline
Paul James Home, inside the Co-op Department Store, Clydebank. Monday to Saturday 9 to 5. 0141 266 0400.