 By the 1930s these had fallen into disuse , and the locks were dismantled in 1933 . The Forth and Clyde canal closed at the end of 1962 , and by the mid @-@ 1970s the Union canal was filled in at both ends , rendered impassable by culverts in two places and run in pipes under a housing estate . The British Waterways Board ( BWB ) came into existence on 1 January 1963 , the day the Forth and Clyde was closed , with the objective of finding a broad strategy for the future of canals in the United Kingdom . 
