Avon Aqueduct

The Avon Aqueduct carries the Union Canal high over the River Avon and its steep, wooded valley, on the boundary of Falkirk a couple of miles south-west of Linlithgow. It is the longest and tallest aqueduct in Scotland — around 810 feet from end to end and some 86 feet above the river — and, after Telford’s Pontcysyllte in Wales, the largest in Britain. The canal itself runs across in an iron trough hidden inside the masonry, carried on twelve tall, slender arches that look remarkably graceful from the valley floor.

It was designed by the canal’s engineer Hugh Baird, with advice from Thomas Telford, and built between 1818 and 1822. It was one of three aqueducts of the same design on the Union Canal, the others crossing the Almond and the Water of Leith nearer Edinburgh. The canal was cut to link Edinburgh to the Forth & Clyde at Falkirk, and stayed on a single level along its whole length precisely so that structures like this could avoid the delay of locks.

The aqueduct is free and open at any time; the towpath crosses it, so walkers and cyclists go straight over, though the parapets are low. The best views are from below, in the gorge, reached through the wooded paths of Muiravonside Country Park on the west bank. The park has parking and marked trails, and the canal towpath links the aqueduct to Linlithgow in an easy few miles.