The Kelpies

Andy Scott's sculptures were completed in 2013 at the eastern entrance to the Forth and Clyde Canal, each thirty metres tall and around three hundred tonnes of structural steel clad in stainless plate. They are horse heads, and the reference is double: the kelpie is a shape-shifting water spirit of Scottish folklore that takes equine form, and the heavy horse was the animal that pulled barges, ploughs and wagons through this industrial landscape. Scott modelled them on two living Clydesdales, Duke and Baron, and their names are used for the two heads. One head is bowed and one raised. They are lit at night in changing colours. Tours go inside the structure to see the steel frame. The Helix park around them was built as part of the same project on former industrial ground.

What you actually see

• The thirty-metre heads - three hundred tonnes of steel each, one bowed and one raised.
• The Clydesdale models - Duke and Baron, the living horses they were cast from.
• The night lighting - colour-changing illumination after dark.
• The interior tour - the steel frame seen from inside the head.

When to go

Year-round; free to walk up to at any hour and lit after dark, which is the more dramatic version. Interior tours run to a timetable and book ahead. Sunrise and sunset light the steel best.

Honest expectations

They stand beside a motorway junction, so traffic noise is constant. There is little else at the site beyond a visitor centre and cafe. Parking is charged. The interior tour is short and mostly about engineering.

Nearby

The Falkirk Wheel is a short drive west; Falkirk town lies south.