THE world’s largest pair of equine sculptures are being given their first health check as they approach their third birthday.
The Kelpies, located between Falkirk and Grangemouth, have been inspected by a unique high-wire team, who have the task of grooming their coats and checking their teeth.
The Andy Scott-designed sculptures are now undergoing a full internal and external inspection as part of an eight-week project.
Tours inside the 30-metre steel horses, which tower over the Forth & Clyde Canal, will continue throughout the high-flying health check.
Richard Millar, director of infrastructure at Scottish Canals, said: “As the Kelpies approach their third birthday, the maintenance work as part of this important health check will ensure these global waterway icons are here, delivering for Scotland over the next century and beyond, continuing to capture the imaginations of people all over the planet and helping to put Falkirk and Grangemouth on tourists’ must-see lists.”
The Kelpies form the centrepiece of the £43 million Helix park project, beside the Forth & Clyde canal and M9, where they are estimated to be seen by 50 million people a year.
They were inspired by the horses that pulled boats and cargo along the canal towpaths and named after mythical Celtic water horses.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here