Depot And Bridge No. 23, Drumshoreland, Union Canal

Heritage listing

Category C Date Added 25/06/1980 Local Authority West Lothian Planning Authority West Lothian Parish Uphall NGR NT 08369 71250 Coordinates 308369, 671250 — Hugh Baird engineer, circa 1820. Segmental arched bridge with central keystone inscribed '23'. Lean-to store-house built into wing wall at north east (with blocked doorway); south side of store with curved and corbelled corner, entrance to east with timber door; oval ventilation holes. Bridge carrying traffic over canal from Broxburn to hamlet of Pumpherston to south with basin alongside. Stugged and droved grey ashlar; slab coping stones to parapets. Similar stonework to storehouse with long and short quoins. Grey slates to mono-pitch roof and stone ridge to storehouse. — The bridge and store were built about 1820 when the canal was under construction. The bridge is number 23 in the series of 62 fixed masonry bridges of plain but elegant design on the Union Canal, numbered from east to west, most carrying minor roads across the water. They were built between 1817 and 1822. Although one of a series it is relatively unusual because while many have iron railings, this bridge has solid masonry parapets. It is also rare because apart from the re-surfacing of the road, it remains largely unaltered. In addition, a storehouse with good simple detailing is built into the wing wall on the north side. By no means every bridge along the canal has an associated building of this sort. The store was possibly for the feed for the horses which pulled the barges, suggested by the presence of oval ventilation openings in the walls. A number of stores for building materials were constructed along the course of other Scottish canals but the small size of this one would have made it impractical for use as such. The Ordnance Survey 1st ed

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.