Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

MONKLAND
iron-mining, its staple industry, is loss than a century
old. The increase in mining since the iron began to be
worked has been almost magical, changing the face of
the whole district, chequering it everywhere with towns
and villages, rendering it all a teeming scene of popula-
tion and industry, drawing through it a network of
communications in road aud railway and canal, and
giving it, through its iron furnaces aud coal-pits, a con-
spicuous or almost distinctive character for streams of
flame and clouds of smoke. Its population rose from
8619 in ISOl to 65,139 in 1881. Its economic condition
has, in consequence, become peculiar ; presenting a
medium character between that of an open country and
that of a manufacturing city. The following official
report upon it, drawn up in 1S50, is still interesting : —
' The large mining villages now no longer exhibit the
aspect of extreme filth and neglect for which they were
formerly conspicuous. It requires time to bring a
population, not yet accustomed to habits of cleanliness,
to regard it for its own sake ; the masters are, therefore,
obliged to employ men and carts expressly to keep the
spaces about the houses free from accumulations of
refuse, and to look to the drainage, etc. The eifect
has been salutarj' in many respects. The agents also
occasionally inspect the houses themselves, prevent
over-crowding, and fine or dismiss dirty and disorderly
families. In many places proper drains have been
made, either covered or laid with stone or brick, and
hard and dry road-ways have taken the place of the
natural soil, which in wet weather was often deep with
mud. Much, therefore, has been done towards placing
the population in circumstances in which the decencies
and comforts of domestic life are possible ; though the
original arrangement of the majority of the mining
villages in large squares or long unbroken rows must
still remain an obstacle ; and it has been so far recog-
nised as such, that in most of the more recent works it
has been abandoned, and the cottages have been built
fewer together, larger, and with more rooms, and with
garden-ground and all proper conveniences nearest hand.
The number of schools, formerly so inadequate, is now
increasing yearlj', and there is every disposition to make
them efficient, by appointing and paying well-qualified
masters and mistresses. The Messrs Baird of Gart-
sherrie, who began these salutary measures some years
ago, for their own immediate neighbourhood, by build-
ing a church and a magnificent establishment for all the
branches of elementary education, have followed it up
by opening other schools in some of the mining villages ;
and they speak with satisfaction of the good effects pro-
duced upon the habits of the population, and especially
of the children, by the frequent supervision, advice, and
instruction of resident clergymen and able teachers. Mr
Wilson of Dundy van also has entered very cordiallj' into
the improvement of the education at the four schools he
has now established in connection with his extensive
works ; lending-libraries likewise are to be set on foot ;
and much has been done in the neighbourhood, and at
his works especially, by the zeal of the minister of the
Episcopal chapel at Coatbridge, to diminish excessive
drinking. The excellent schools at the works of Mr
Murray, Mr Stewart, and elsewhere, are increasing in
numbers. A haudsome [school, with a master's house
attached, is now being built at Airdrie by Mr Alexander,
the proprietor of a large portion of the mineral dues of the
district. An act of parliament was obtained two years ago
for establishing a rural police in the mining portion of
the county, the effect of which has been to produce much
more general quiet and order and respect for the law in the
mining villages. The administration of justice has been
rendered more complete by the appointment of the proper
staff of law officers to reside and hold their courts iu the dis-
trict. A water-company, which procured an act of parlia-
ment last year, has made good progress with their arrange-
ments for supplying the town of Airdrie with water, the
deficiency of which was great, and in all probability it
will, before long, extend its supply to some of the large
villages around, and to the great collections of houses
near the principal works.' — Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
MONKLAND CANAL
Monkland Canal, an artificial navigable communica-
tion between the city of Glasgow and the district of
Monkland in Lanarkshire. It commences in the northern
suburbs of Glasgow, or rather is prolonged westward
there into junction at Port-Dundas w-ith the Glasgow
branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal ; and it proceeds
east-south-eastward, through the Barony parish of Glas-
gow, and the parish of Old Monkland, to North
Calder Water, at the boundary with Bothwell parish.
It sends ofi' four branches, one about a mile in length, to
Calder Ironworks, near Airdrie, in the parish of New
Monkland ; one, about a mile in length, to Gartsherrie
Ironworks ; one, about J mile in length, to Dundyvan
Ironworks ; and one, also about J mile in length, to
Langloan Ironworks — the three last all in the parish of
Old Monkland.
The project of the Monkland Canal was suggested in
1769, as a measure for securing to the inhabitants of
Glasgow, at all times, a plentiful supply of coals. The
corporation of the citj' immediately adopted the project,
employed the celebrated James Watt to survey the
ground, obtained an Act of Parliament for carrying out
the measure, and subscribed a number of shares to the
stock. The work was begun in 1761 ; and the opera-
tions were carried on till about 10 miles of the canal
were formed. The first 2 of these miles, extending from
the basin to the bottom of Blackhill, are upon the level
of the upper reach of the Forth and Clyde Canal ; the
other 8 miles, beginning at the top of the Blackhill, are
upon a level 96 feet higher. The communication between
these levels was at that early time carried on by means
of an inclined plane, upon which the coals were lowered
down in boxes, and re-shipped on the lower level. The
capital which had been declared necessary to complete
the undertaking was £10,000, divided into 100 shares ;
but this sum was found to be altogether insufficient ;
for, in addition to expending it, a debt of some amount
was contracted in executing the above part only of the
operations. The concern, in this unfinished state, pro-
duced no revenue, and the creditors naturally became
pressing. A number of the stockholders, too, refused to
make advances either for the liquidation of the debt, or
for the completion of the plan. Tlie whole stock of the
company was consequently brought to sale, and pur-
chased, in 1789, by Messrs William Stirling &. Sons of
Glasgow. These gentlemen, immediately after acquiring
the property, proceeded to complete the canal ; and, in
1790, having, in conjunction with the proprietors of the
Forth and Clyde Canal, procured a second Act of Par-
liament, empowering the latter to make a junction
between the navigations, by a cut from their basin at
Port-Dundas in Glasgow to the Monkland Canal basin,
they built locks at Blackhill, and extended the Monk-
land Canal to the river Calder. On these operations
the Messrs Stirling are understood to have expended
£100,000.
The Monkland Canal is 35 feet broad at the top and
24 at the bottom. The depth of water upon the lock-
sills is 5J feet. To connect the upper and lower levels,
at Blackhill, there are two sets of four double locks of
two chambers. Each chamber is 71 feet long from the
gates to the sill, and 14 feet broad ; the ascent in each
being 12 feet. The level at the top of the Blackhill is
continued to Sheepford, 8 miles, where there are two
single locks of llj feet each, after which the canal goes
on upon the level it has then gained to the river Calder.
The supplies of water for it are derived from the con-
tiguous streams, from the river Calder, and from the
reservoir at Hillend, beyond Airdrie, which covers
300 acres of ground near the source of that river, and
was formed at the expense of the proprietors of the
Forth and Clyde navigation. From the advantage
which the canal offers of easy communication with both
the eastern and western seas, and from its unlimited
command of coal, the vicinity of it has always been con-
sidered favourable for the establishment of manu-
factures, especially of a bulky nature. For a long series
of years the revenue of the canal was wholly absorbed
by the expenses of its extension and improvement. In
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