Inverness, Muirtown Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal Distant view from south west of bridge, with several of the Muirtown Locks in foreground Digital image of D 64103

Description Inverness, Muirtown Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal Distant view from south west of bridge, with several of the Muirtown Locks in foreground Digital image of D 64103

Date 30/3/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 804771

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64103

Scope and Content Muirtown Locks, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from south-south-west This view looking north-north-east from a lock gate shows part of a series of four locks with a 1930s swing bridge spanning the canal in the background. There are five pairs of lock gates for the series of four locks, finished in 1809, which are known as Muirtown Locks. Each lock gate is topped by a white-painted walkway and there are bollards for securing boats spaced along the length of the locks. The original lock gates, probably constructed with salt water-resistant Welsh oak, were replaced with oak and steel gates between 1890 and 1906. The locks were hand-operated by lock-keepers until 1963 when the lock gates were mechanised. 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/804771

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap