Fort Augustus, Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal View looking NNW along the roadway of the swing bridge Digital image of D 64035 CN

Description Fort Augustus, Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal View looking NNW along the roadway of the swing bridge Digital image of D 64035 CN

Date 29/3/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 799654

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64035 CN

Scope and Content Fort Augustus Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from south-south-east This shows the deck of the swing bridge which was built in 1932 by Sir William Arrol & Company. There is a narrow path to the left of the deck but a safer pedestrian walkway has been created to the right of the control cabin. A sign which shows that the bridge is maintained by British Waterways Scotland surmounts the cabin. Originally another swing bridge spanned the canal at this point but was replaced by this bridge when it became too small for increased vehicle usage in the 1930s. The mechanism for moving the bridge is located underneath the cabin which is an addition to the original design. The bridge keeper probably had to operate the controls for the bridge in the open air before this shelter was built. 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/799654

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap