Kirkintilloch Canal Basin. On the Forth & Clyde Canal a basin was opened just west of Kirkintilloch in 1835, to accommodate the loading of coal arriving along the Monkland & Kirkintilloch Railway on to canal boats, mostly bound for Edinburgh. The basin was enlarged to form a ‘double basin’ in 1841. It replaced a wharf at the terminus of the M&K Railway in Southbank Road nearby.
Shipbuilding at Kirkintilloch Basin. During the later years of the nineteenth century Peter McGregor, a Kirkintilloch timber merchant, seems to have developed the practice of building vessels for his own use in his timber yard beside Kirkintilloch Basin. No doubt happy with the result he began to build vessels for other boat-owners, beginning with the puffers Scout and Sentry for Coasting Steamships Ltd in 1902 and the Forth & Clyde Canal pleasure vessel May Queen for James Aitken in 1903. McGregor built for owners around the world until 1921, when the last vessels left his yard. Thereafter little use was made of Kirkintilloch Canal Basin and it was drained and filled in soon after World War II.
Kirkintilloch Marina. As a result of the ‘Millennium Link’ project and the reopening of the Forth & Clyde Canal there was impetus for redevelopment along its length. When it was decided to lay out a marina at Kirkintilloch, re-excavation of the former basin for the purpose seemed an obvious move. Eventually, in the summer of 2008 the Kirkintilloch Marina came into use along with an adjacent footbridge over the canal, just in time for the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival of that year. Soon afterwards a boathouse was opened for the Seagull Trust and an office for the Forth & Clyde Canal Society nearby. More recently, a new headquarters for East Dunbartonshire Council has opened beside the marina, replacing Tom Johnston House at Whitegates.
Further Reading
D.Martin, The Monkland & Kirkintilloch and Associated Railways (1995).
A.I.Bowman, Kirkintilloch Shipbuilding (1983). Forth & Clyde Canal Society, Canal News, Issue 133 (November 2008)
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