Every Picture Tells A Story - Exhibition Maryhill Burgh Halls

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Every Picture Tells A Story – Exhibition Maryhill Burgh Halls

every picture tells a story maryhill burgh halls

Thursday 13th August until Sunday 11th October, 2026

Maryhill Burgh Halls, 10 – 24 Garbraid Avenue, Glasgow G20 8YE

Maryhill exhibition brings the story of a 240-year-old canal to life

A new exhibition exploring Maryhill’s remarkable canal heritage and its continuing role in the future of Glasgow opens at Maryhill Burgh Halls.

Every Picture Tells a Story is a joint exhibition between Maryhill Burgh Halls and Scottish Canals.

The exhibition traces the story of the Forth & Clyde Canal through Maryhill: from the excavation of the Maryhill Locks and Kelvin Aqueduct in the late 18th century, through the industries, families, and working lives the canal supported, to the engineering shaping its future today.

At the exhibition’s heart is The Canal Locks Maryhill (1879), a painting by Linlithgow-born artist Andrew Maclaren Law, showing the lockkeeper’s cottage, a boatman at work, canal traffic passing through Lock 22 near the Kelvin Aqueduct, and the wider infrastructure of the growing Burgh. What looks, at first, like a quiet Victorian canal scene has turned out to hold far more. Maryhill Burgh Halls has traced the lockkeeper who lived and worked at this stretch of the canal, and his family’s working lives across the boatyard, the sawmill, and the paper mill nearby while the painting itself disappeared from the record for 138 years before resurfacing at auction in 2018.

The Whitehouse, believed to be the oldest building still standing in Maryhill, sits quietly in the background of the painting. Maryhill Burgh Halls recently took the building on lease from Scottish Canals, and the exhibition touches upon some of its history including a named landlord recorded living there in 1879, the very year of the painting.

The exhibition expands outward from the painting into the wider story of the canal: the engineering of the Maryhill Locks and Kelvin Aqueduct, the industries and boatbuilders that grew up alongside the water, and, thanks to Scottish Canals’ contribution, a look at the engineering that keeps the canal working today, including current works at the Kelvin Aqueduct and the installation of a bypass at Lock 21, part of the ongoing development of the Glasgow Smart Canal.

The Smart Canal uses weather forecasting and automated water controls to lower canal levels ahead of heavy rainfall, creating extra capacity for surface water and supporting new housing and regeneration across north Glasgow. It’s a fitting way to close an exhibition that begins in 1879: a reminder that this stretch of water has never stopped adapting to what the city around it needs.

Aurora Segnan , Heritage Coordinator at Maryhill Burgh Halls, said:
‘’We’re proud custodians of this painting for the people of Maryhill, and on its own, it’s a fantastic piece. But the moment we started looking closely, it became something bigger: a painting that vanished from the record for 138 years before turning up at auction, and, with good timing, a chance to dig into the history of The Whitehouse and its surroundings. Our own volunteers put in a huge amount of work researching and writing alongside us. This is exactly the kind of story we want to keep telling, using our local heritage to bring people together and build something new for Maryhill’s future.’’

Richard Millar, Chief Operating Officer at Scottish Canals, added:
“Maryhill has been at the centre of canal engineering for more than two centuries. The Maryhill Locks and Kelvin Aqueduct were exceptional feats of eighteenth-century engineering and remain vital parts of the canal network today.

“This exhibition allows us to celebrate that history while explaining why we continue to invest in the canal and how it is being adapted to support modern needs, including climate resilience, economic regeneration, ecology and active travel.”

Free Exhibition

As part of Glasgow Doors Open Days, Maryhill Burgh Halls and Scottish Canals will also host a programme of activities from Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th September, including a guided history walk led by Chris O’Connell, Scottish Canals’ Heritage Manager, drawing on findings from recent excavations at the Kelvin Aqueduct, and a community listening day gathering local stories and connections to the canal.