Loch Of Strathbeg, Canal

NK06SE 5 0651 5975 to 0614 6219.

The area of the Loch of Strathbeg was increased after a storm about 1720 had cut off its navigable outlet to the sea. This led to an attempt, at the end of the 18th century, to drain it by cutting a canal between the ranges of sandhills northward to Inzie Head (NK 06 62), the only safe outlet.

The enterprise was abandoned on the death of the proprietor.

J Milne 1900.

Although the recorded evidence indicates that this was a drainage canal, local tradition asserts that it was also for shipping. The stretch from the loch, at NK 0651 5975, to the first bend, at NK 0653 6030, is c. 12.0m wide and in good condition but from here to the next bend, at NK 0661 6050, there is a slight fall in the terrain and the banks have been eroded almost totally, leaving no trace of any locks or sluices that may have existed. The remainder, from the second bend to NK 0614 6219, where there is no evidence of its having gone any further, is well defined as a marshy hollow c. 10.0m wide. A subsidiary arm, from the loch, at NK 0635 5985, to the main canal NK 0652 6010, is defined as a marshy hollow about 5.0m across, incorporating at NK 0641 5993 two parallel stone walls each c.13.0m long and c.5.0m apart.

Visited by OS (RL) 15 January 1969