Inverness, Muirtown Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal Distant view from SSW of bridge, with first of Muirtown Locks in foreground Digital image of D 64101 CN

Description Inverness, Muirtown Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal Distant view from SSW of bridge, with first of Muirtown Locks in foreground Digital image of D 64101 CN

Date 30/3/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 804766

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64101 CN

Scope and Content Muirtown Locks, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from south-south-west This shows a pair of lock gates for the lowest lock of Muirtown Locks with the 1930s swing bridge spanning the canal in the background. There are five pairs of lock gates for this series of four locks, finished in 1809, which raise or lower boats through a height of 9.75m. The white-painted hook (foreground) is used to secure boats in the lock, and pedestrians are able to walk across the lock gates on a walkway. The construction of these locks was a difficult engineering task which involved the lowest lock being constructed first and the highest two being constructed last. Stone used in the construction was shipped to the pier at Clachnaharry and brought by horse-drawn wagons along a tramway from a nearby quarry. The swing bridge replaces an earlier movable bridge which spanned the canal at that point. 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/804766

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap