Scottish Canals lists visitor moorings and facilities. Check the services you need and remain in public areas. Boats, pontoons and the dry dock are not freely open to visitors.
Check the official visitor information ↗ · checked 2026-09-13
Use public paths and visitor areas. Do not enter unstaffed tunnels, shafts, railway land or restricted property.
Advice before you visitInformation checked 2026-09-13. We checked published records and visitor information. No site visit or direct confirmation from the operator.
The story of this place
The official place record identifies a basin and dry dock at Ratho. Scottish Canals lists visitor moorings and facilities, showing that the site continues to support boats using the waterway.
The basin gives boats room away from the main channel. A dry dock has a different job: it allows work on a boat without it floating in the usual way. Both features help explain how a canal needs places for stopping and maintenance as well as travel.
- Historic Environment Scotland — Ratho Canal Basin ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
- Scottish Canals — Union Canal facilities ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
What you can see
Public areas beside the canal offer views of the basin and its relationship to the through route. Boats, moorings and working spaces may change over time, so the historical record is not a list of everything present today.
The published facilities are for visiting boaters. They do not give pedestrians permission to enter pontoons, boats or the dry dock. Check the operator for any particular service or visit. We have not established a construction date for the individual basin.
- Historic Environment Scotland — Ratho Canal Basin ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
- Scottish Canals — Union Canal facilities ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
What we still need to check
Entry to the dry dock and individual working areas has not been confirmed. We have not established a construction date for the basin.
Sources for the visiting information
- Scottish Canals — Union Canal facilities ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
About the original record
This place is recorded by Historic Environment Scotland — NRHE. The details below include the original description of its building or site type.
Place details
- Category
- Industrial relics
- Building or site type (original wording)
- CANAL BASIN (PERIOD UNASSIGNED), DRY DOCK (PERIOD UNASSIGNED)
- Period or date
- Date not recorded
- Current condition
- Not checked in person
- Heritage protection
- Not given in this record
- Date protection was granted
- Not given
- Nearby town
- Livingston (approximate)
- County named in the original record
- MIDLOTHIAN
- Current county or council area
- City of Edinburgh
- Nation
- Scotland
- Original record number
- 106012
- Coordinates
- 55.922993, -3.379365 (reference point, not an entrance)
- Heritage data checked
- 2026-09-13
- Source last updated
- 2001-02-22
- Visitor information checked
- 2026-09-13
We checked the downloaded heritage record on 2026-09-13. We have not visited or inspected the site. The map point may refer to a whole site, one structure or a location where little remains.