Inverness, Clachnaharry Railway Swing Bridge View from the bottom gates of Clachnaharry Lock looking towards the railway swing bridge, swung into the open position allowing for the free movement of bo ...

Description Inverness, Clachnaharry Railway Swing Bridge View from the bottom gates of Clachnaharry Lock looking towards the railway swing bridge, swung into the open position allowing for the free movement of boat traffic up and down the Caledonian Canal. Visible beyond is Beauly Firth. Digital image of D 64065 CN

Date 30/3/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 804829

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64065 CN

Scope and Content Clachnaharry Railway Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from south-east This view looking north-west from Clachnaharry Lock shows the swing bridge with the sea lock basin to the left of the embankment (background) and the Beauly Firth on the right. The 38.4m-long swing bridge was built in 1909 and carried the Highland Railway across the canal. It has been opened to allow boats to travel into or out of the basin in the background. This swing bridge replaces another movable bridge, built in 1862, which spanned the canal at this point. The older bridge had probably become too out-dated or weak for the amount of railway traffic travelling over it. A fixed bridge at this point would have needed to be very tall to allow sea-going vessels to pass underneath. 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/804829

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap