Princess Royal opens Kelpies

THOUGH the Kelpies—the two horse's heads by the Falkirk Wheel on the Forth & Clyde Canal—have been in existence for some time, they were officially opened yesterday (Wednesday) by Princess Anne.

She arrived by boat along a short distance of the waterway,  arriving at the site of the Kelpies, to unveil a plaque and meet the people involved in their construction, Alan Tilbury tells us.

Centrepiece

The two heads, that were opened to the public in April of last year, and are the centrepiece of the £43m Helix Park, are 98ft tall, and it is stated they boost the economy by £1.5m a year.

The Kelpies are covered by 1,000 steel panels and weigh 600 tonnes in total. We are told they 'pay homage to the tradition of the working horses of Scotland which used to pull barges along Scotland's canals and worked in the fields in the area'.