View of Muirtown Locks, lock gates from NE Digital image of A 57636

Description View of Muirtown Locks, lock gates from NE Digital image of A 57636

Date 1983

Catalogue Number SC 804772

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 57636

Scope and Content Muirtown Locks, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from north-east This shows a pair of lock gates (centre) at the entrance to one of the locks of Muirtown Locks. There are five pairs of lock gates for the series of four locks which were finished in 1809. In the foreground (right) there is a white-painted pedestrian walkway which surmounts a lock gate for the adjacent lock. The bollard (left foreground) would have been used to secure boats in this lock. 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/804772

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap