Aerial photograph showing Laggan Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal, at south west end of Lochy Oich Digital image of A 36809

Description Aerial photograph showing Laggan Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal, at south west end of Lochy Oich Digital image of A 36809

Date 1985

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 801479

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 36809

Scope and Content Aerial view, Laggan Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from north-east This shows the swing bridge, built in 1932 by Sir William Arrol & Company, with a pier extending into Loch Oich in the foreground. The bridge-keeper would have occupied the cottage (left of pier) which had a good view of the bridge and loch. The basin (centre) was probably formed out of a small natural loch unlike the semicircular basin to the left which is man-made. Originally, a drawbridge spanned the canal at this point but was replaced by this swing bridge when the main road through the Great Glen was upgraded in the 1930s. The advantage of this new bridge is that it has a stronger and wider span for road traffic. 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/801479

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap