Aerial view showing Clachnaharry Locks, Workshops, Railway Swing Bridge

Description Aerial view showing Clachnaharry Locks, Workshops, Railway Swing Bridge

Date 1985

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 1675847

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 36840

Scope and Content Aerial view, Clachnaharry Lock, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from north-east This aerial view from the north-east shows the lock, built around 1807 by John Simpson and John Cargill, and the adjacent hip-roofed canal workshops (centre). The 1909 railway swing bridge spans the entrance to the sea lock basin on the right with part of Muirtown Basin on the left. Houses of Clachnaharry, Inverness, are visible in the background. The original lock gates and the replacement lock gates, built between 1890 and 1906, were probably constructed in the workshop. The 37.5m-long swing bridge replaces an 1862 structure and carries the road which connects Inverness to Thurso and Wick. 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/1675847

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap