The structure, known as Maggie’s Bridge, is attributed to Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist James Watt who achieved fame for his contribution to the invention of the steam engine. It was originally built in 1794 as a waggonway bridge taking horse-drawn waggons to transfer coal from the nearby Woodhall estate to barges on the canalside for transport to Glasgow’s growing industries.

The repairs required include masonry for its abutments and wingwalls and concrete below the waterline. In 2021 the cost the work using a Scottish Canals approved contractor was £200,000. The conservation group, a registered charity, has set up a ‘Save Maggie’s Bridge!’ funding and awareness-raising drive on petition platform change.org.

The group’s Ann Glen told NCE the organisation, “has worked tirelessly over the past five years” to explore funding sources and to make applications – so far without success – to finance repairs of quality. The National Heritage Lottery Fund (NHLF) had also been considered as a funding source, she said.

“NHLF prefers that Scottish Canals make an application, but the latter is pressed for resources. Meantime, Maggie’s Bridge is closed and in decline.”

The bridge’s current decline is preventing use of an all-abilities path on the canal’s north side.

The Monkland Canal, also attributed to Watt, is Scotland’s oldest industrial waterway and the only one that made profits for its owners. The canal closed in 1954 and only two stretches are now open water; most is now piped to the Port Dundas Branch of the Forth & Clyde Canal in Glasgow.

“Maggie’s Bridge stands on the eastern open stretch and has fallen into neglect, despite being a Listed Structure with (HES) Historic Environment Scotland,” Glen told NCE.

“Its owner is Scottish Canals, an organisation that claims to have ‘no money’ for a heritage structure that does not produce revenue,” she said.

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