Old travel Blog photograph of the Fairy Queen passenger steamer, built in 1897, on the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland. The Fairy Queen, which had accommodation for 200 passengers, made the return journey between Kirkintilloch and Port Dundas twice daily, and operated evening cruises from Kirkintilloch to Craigmarloch and back to Port Dundas. Kirkintilloch is a town and former royal burgh in East Dunbartonshire. It is located on the Forth and Clyde Canal, about 8 miles north east of central Glasgow. Following the Scottish victory in the wars of independence and the subsequent decline of Clan Cumming, the baronies of Kirkintilloch, Lenzie, and Cumbernauld were granted by Robert The Bruce to Sir Malcolm Fleming, Sheriff of Dumbarton and a supporter of the Bruce faction in the war. Hitherto part of Stirlingshire, the area subsequently became a detached part of the county of Dumbarton, in which it remains today. On 3 January 1746, the retreating Jacobite army of Bonnie Prince Charlie made its way through Kirkintilloch, on its way back from Derby, England, and on the march to Falkirk and ultimately Culloden. The town was one of the hotbeds of the Industrial Revolution in Scotland, beginning with the emergence of a booming textile industry in the area. There were 185 weavers in Kirkintilloch by 1790, and in 1867 James Slimon's cotton mill at Kelvinside employed 200 women. With the construction of the Forth and Clyde Canal through the town in 1773, and the establishment of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 1826, Kirkintilloch developed further as an important transportation hub, inland port and production centre for iron, coal, nickel and even small ships. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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