Lock flight in 1930 (c) Falkirk Archives & Museums

Originally the Union Canal joined with the Forth & Clyde Canal through a flight of eleven locks. The junction with the Forth & Clyde started at Lock 16, the basin was called Port Downie and was just to the east of where the Union Inn still stands. From there the locks and their basins covered a distance of about half a mile and rose to bridge the height difference between the canals of 110 ft (33.5m). It could take most of a day to travel right through the locks to get from one canal to the other.

The 200 year-old lock flight, off Greenbank Road, lay buried from view since 1933 but was excavated in 2013 to show the original route. You can walk through the locks on a specially created footpath.

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