Aerial photograph showing Gairlochy East and West Locks and Gairlochy Lighthouse, Caledonian Canal

Description Aerial photograph showing Gairlochy East and West Locks and Gairlochy Lighthouse, Caledonian Canal

Date 1985

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number A 36781

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 801345, SC 1676133

Scope and Content Aerial view, Gairlochy Regulating Lock, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from north-east This shows Gairlochy Lighthouse (foreground) which signals the entrance into the Caledonian Canal (right) from Loch Lochy. Mucomir Cut (left) leads from the loch into the River Lochy which flows parallel with the canal up to Loch Linnhe in the background. The regulating lock (bottom) was completed in 1813 and the west lock (centre) was built in 1844. The River Lochy originally flowed into the loch along part of the route which is now occupied by the canal at the locks. This meant that a new channel (Mucomir Cut) was created in order to link the river with the loch. This channel proved inadequate in 1834 when the river burst its banks and flooded the lock. The regulating lock, already rebuilt in 1826, was rebuilt again in 1843 with the 1844 lock being constructed to the west. 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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