Paisley and Johnstone Canal

The canal was first proposed by Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton in 1791. He wanted to connect the booming industrial towns of Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone to his new deep sea port at Ardrossan and his Ayrshire coal fields. His fellow shareholders included William Dixon of Govan who wished to export coal from his Govan colliery. The Earl had spent £100,000 on creating Ardrossan's harbour and intended to make it the principal port for Glasgow. This bill allowed for funding to be raised by the sale of two thousand eight hundred shares of £50 each, a total of £140,000, of which the proprietors, the Earl of Eglinton, Lord Montgomerie and Lady Jane Montgomerie subscribed £30,000.…

In the 1820s the canal company planned to build a railway between Johnstone and Ardrossan to finish the link. They raised further capital and started building the railway from Ardrossan; reaching Kilwinning before running out of money. In the 1830s they planned to turn their canal into a railway and complete the link from Kilwinning to Johnstone; but allowed the scheme to fold. In the 1840s they split off their railway, by the Ardrossan and Johnston Railway Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. civ) to form a separate company, the Ardrossan Railway, and transferred their debt to the new company.