View looking east of lock gates Digital image of A 57643

Description View looking east of lock gates Digital image of A 57643

Date 1983

Catalogue Number SC 799701

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 57643

Scope and Content Lock gates, Fort Augustus Locks, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from west This shows a pair of lock gates which control the water levels of the five locks which were rebuilt in 1837. The steel lock gates are topped by a pedestrian walkway, and boats would have been secured onto the white-painted mooring rings on each side of the channel. The buildings (right background) mainly contained shops which sold souvenirs to passengers on the canal. The boat would move into the centre of the lock and water would either be added or drained till the water level corresponded with the next level, so that the boat could continue its journey. Unfortunately the steamer 'Rockabill' failed this manoeuvre and collided with a lock gate causing the canal to close for eight days in 1882. 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/799701

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap