Aerial view of Kyltra Lock

Description Aerial view of Kyltra Lock

Date 1985

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 1675824

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 36817

Scope and Content Aerial view, Kyltra Lock, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from north-east This aerial view from the north-east shows the Kyltra Lock and the cottage (right) which was occupied by the lock-keeper and his family. Boats waiting to travel through the lock could be secured onto the T-shaped mooring points on the north side of the channel. The River Oich (top right) flows parallel with the canal between Loch Oich and Loch Ness. This lock is very isolated, with the nearest village being Fort Augustus about 3km away. This isolation did not deter Andrew Bain and his father who operated the lock all their working lives. The advantages of the job for them were a rent-free house with land. Other locks along the canal were also operated by generations of the same family. The Caledonian Canal was designed by Thomas Telford (1757-1834) and built between 1803 and 1822 at a cost of £840,000. It was the first example of a transport network funded by the government in Great Britain. The 96.5km-long canal provides a route for boats travelling between the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean as it runs from the Beauly Firth at Clachnaharry, Inverness, to Loch Linnhe at Corpach. Only 35.4km of this length is man-made while the other 61km runs through four lochs: Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. Unfortunately, at 4.2m deep, the canal was too small for most sea-going ships which led to it being altered and deepened between 1844 and 1847. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1675824

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap