View of horse drawn barge heading east from the Almond aqueduct on the Union Canal. The tow horse is probably out of the picture to the right. The canal feeder enters from the left. In the foreground, a female agricultural worker holds the reins of a pair of draught horses, probably Clydesdales, hitched to a plough. On the bank is a canal worker's cottage.
To maintain the canal level in times of drought, Cobbinshaw reservoir was constructed 15 kilometres to the south. The water was fed by a burn into the Almond and then by a weir and iron aqueduct to the canal.
The Union Canal opened in 1822 to allow coal to be shipped cheaply into Edinburgh. As a barge canal its bridges did not need to open. The only locks were where it descended to join the Forth and Clyde Canal at Falkirk.
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