Inverness, Muirtown Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal Oblique view from south east along east side of bridge Digital image of D 64091.

Description Inverness, Muirtown Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal Oblique view from south east along east side of bridge Digital image of D 64091.

Date 30/3/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 804769

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64091

Scope and Content Muirtown Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from south-east This shows the east side of the swing bridge which was built in the 1930s by Sir William Arrol & Company. A bridge-keeper would operate controls in the cabin (right) to open the bridge which would be supported on the adjacent pier. The winch in the foreground would have been used to move boats in the channel. Increases in vehicle usage from the 1930s onwards meant that stronger and wider swing bridges replaced almost all the original drawbridges over the canal. The only 19th-century drawbridge remaining is Moy Swing Bridge, near Loch Lochy. The close proximity of this crossing to Inverness necessitated the replacement of the original drawbridge spanning the canal. 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/804769

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap