Fort Augustus, Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal An elevated distant view looking east-north-east down towards the swing bridge, with the first pair of lock gates visible immediately before the bridg ...

Description Fort Augustus, Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal An elevated distant view looking east-north-east down towards the swing bridge, with the first pair of lock gates visible immediately before the bridge. Digital image of D 64040 CN

Date 29/3/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 799657

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64040 CN

Scope and Content Fort Augustus Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from west-south-west This view taken from steps to the side of the lock nearest Loch Ness shows two lock gates with the swing bridge built in 1932 by Sir William Arrol & Company in the background. The tapering windows of the bridge's control cabin are shown on the right, and the lock gates are surmounted by a pedestrian walkway. To the left of the channel there is a topiary model in the shape of 'Nessie' (the Loch Ness monster) looking towards Loch Ness. 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 onwards. 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/799657

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap