Stevenston Canal

The canal was built by the coal owners to avoid the tolls charged on the road leading to Saltcoats harbour and also because the soft sandy ground made it difficult for horses to haul heavy coal waggons.

The cut was 2+1/4 mi long, 13 ft wide at the top and 12 ft wide at the bottom and 4 ft deep generally, but deeper and wider in places because of the lie of the land as shown on Andrew Armstrong's map of 1747; the sides were angled at 45 degrees. The canal was fed by the Stevenston Burn where a spill dam controlled the level and also by water pumped from the various coal pits, such as the Dip Pit and the Raise Pit in what is now Ardeer Park. Eight barges were built for use on the canal, each boat being able to carry between 12 and of coal along the canal, as much as fifty horses and carts could haul on the road. and practiced elsewhere later, puddled clay was used to seal the canal; it…