The Millennium Link is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken by

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotla ...

. The Union Canal and the

Forth & Clyde Canal The Forth and Clyde Canal is a canal opened in 1790, crossing central Scotland; it provided a route for the seagoing vessels of the day between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde at the narrowest part of the Scottish Lowlands. This allowe ...

were originally joined by a flight of locks. The Millennium Link project replaced the locks with a

boat lift A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock. It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, like ...

, the

Falkirk Wheel The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It reconnects the two canals for the first time since the 1930s. It opened in 2002 as part ...

. The project launch was in October 1994, and it received a grant of £32 million from the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

; the total cost of the project was £78 million. Work started in 1999.

Partners in the Millennium Link project

City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

East Dunbartonshire Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Falkirk Council Falkirk (; sco, Fawkirk; gd, An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one ...

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of th ...

North Lanarkshire Council North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

West Dunbartonshire Council West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

West Lothian Council West Lothian Council is the local authority for the council area of West Lothian in Scotland. History West Lothian District Council was created in 1975 as one of four districts within the Lothian region. The West Lothian district took its name ...

Millennium Forest for Scotland The Millennium Forest for Scotland project was an initiative created by the Millennium Commission and funded by the National Lottery of the United Kingdom to celebrate the turn of the New Millennium. Conceived in 1994, the project's ambition was ...

Scottish Natural Heritage NatureScot ( gd, NàdarAlba), which was formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, is an Scottish public bodies#Executive NDPBs, executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for the country's natural heritage, ...

* Central Scotland Countryside Trust *

East of Scotland European Partnership East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

* Strathclyde European Partnership *

Scottish Enterprise Scottish Enterprise is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government which encourages economic development, enterprise, innovation and investment in business. The body covers the eastern and central parts of Scotland whilst simil ...

Edinburgh Canal Society The Edinburgh Union Canal Society is a charitable canal society on the Union Canal in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Society's main base is Ashley Terrace Boathouse at Lockhart Bridge, near Harrison Park in the Polwarth area of Edinburgh. The society ...

*Ratho Union Canal Society Association - now defunct *

Falkirk and District Canal Society Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

based at

Camelon Camelon (; sco, Caimlan, gd, Camlann)
is a large set ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Paisley Canal and Waterways Society Paisley may refer to: *Paisley (design), an ornamental Persian pattern or motif commonly identified with the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west Scotland People *Paisley (name), including a list of people with the name *Lord Paisley, in the p ...

Scottish Inland Waterways Association The Scottish Inland Waterways Association (SIWA) was a registered charity and association of canal societies and individual canal enthusiasts in Scotland. The Association was founded in 1970 by canal enthusiasts who, after the closure of the ...

* Forth and Clyde Canal Society *

Linlithgow Union Canal Society The Linlithgow Union Canal Society is a waterway society and a Scottish registered charity based at Linlithgow Canal Centre on the Union Canal at Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland. Also known as "LUCS", it was founded in 1975 by Melville Gray t ...

Seagull Trust Seagull Trust Cruises (formerly Seagull Trust) is a waterway society and Scottish charity. The Trust was formed in 1978 and offers free canal cruising for disabled and disadvantaged persons and groups. The Seagull Trust was awarded the Queen' ...

List of waterway societies in the United Kingdom This List of waterway societies in the United Kingdom is a list of links to waterway societies, charities, trusts, associations, clubs and other non-governmental waterway organisations, concerned with the restoration, regeneration and use ...

References

External links

British Waterways Scotland page on the Millennium Link

Official website, now defunct, but archived by James Gentles

Official site of the Falkirk Wheel

Falkirk Helix official website
{{Coord, 56, 0, 0, N, 3, 50, 26, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Canals in Scotland Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium

Partners in the Millennium Link project

See also

References

External links