Aerial view of Bona Lighthouse

Description Aerial view of Bona Lighthouse

Date 1985

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number A 36830

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 804801, SC 1675837

Scope and Content Aerial view, Bona Lighthouse, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from north This aerial view from the north shows the lighthouse, probably built in the early 19th century, which works the entrance into Loch Dochfour from Loch Ness (top right). The light-keeper would have occupied the site and operated the light which was located in the octagonal-roofed building. There has always been a crossing at this point which would have been lost with the construction of the canal if piers had not been added to either side of the water channel (left of lighthouse) by the Canal Commissioners. Paraffin and carbide were the fuels originally used in the light, which is now automatically controlled and converted to use electricity. The light-keeper's post is now redundant and his living accommodation has been converted into a private dwelling house. The narrow channel into Loch Dochfour is also buoyed and lit by additional lights. 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.

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