Monkland Canal

The Monkland Canal is a former waterway in Scotland. The 19 -kilometer-long canal linked Sheep Ford in Airdrie with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas north of Glasgow. The channel name is derived from the earlier Old Monkland Parish and New Monkland, which are part of the unitary authority of North Lanarkshire today.

The construction of the canal began in 1770 under the supervision of James Watt and lasted until 1792. A Smuggling has been carried out with the then novel technique of rolling mountain, the inclined elevator of Black Hill. The Monkland Canal developed in the 19th century became an important transport route for coal to Glasgow. In the 20th century it was unprofitable and 1935 the traffic was stopped. In the 1970s was poured to the western part of the channel and erected on top of a part of the M8 motorway. In the city Coatbridge some water-filled channel sections have been preserved.