These images from the Edinburgh Room's collection give us a unique insight into the Union Canal and the surrounding Fountainbridge area of the city. One of the earliest photographic images of the area is included by Thomas Begbie, who photographed Port Hopetoun in 1858. This is contrasted by the modern images of recent developments on the canal as captured by Kevin McLean, the library's resident photographer. Most of the images however date from the 1920s, taken by Francis M Chrystal, which present the bleak industrial landscape of the canal and rundown housing of Fountainbridge.
The Union Canal was opened in 1822. It ran from Tollcross in Edinburgh to meet the Forth and Clyde Canal at Falkirk, thus linking the capital to Glasgow (in fact it was originally known as the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal). The canal was built to transport coal, but competition from the railways forced it to close to commercial use in the 1930s. The Edinburgh end of the canal no longer reaches Port Hopetoun and Port Hamilton as it once did as this section was filled in after the canal closed.
After extensive renovation in the 1990's however the Canal became a popular area for recreation, with non-commercial craft using the waterway and many cyclists, walkers and runners using the towpath. Parts of the Edinburgh section of the canal are currently being redeveloped for commercial and residential use, starting with Edinburgh Quay. Since 2008 British Waterways have been marketing the area between Edinburgh Quay and Ashley Terrace Bridge as the Edinburgh Canal Quarter.
Fountainbridge is an area in the south-west of central Edinburgh, to the west of Tollcross. The area is centred on the western section of a road also called Fountainbridge. The Union Canal now begins in this area having originally extended a little further east.
The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries