View of front elevation Digital image of IN 1159

Description View of front elevation Digital image of IN 1159

Date 27/4/1946

Collection Records of Ian Gordon Lindsay and Partners, architects, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 804862

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of IN 1159

Scope and Content Lock-keeper's house, Banavie Locks, Caledonian Canal, Highland This shows the three-bayed lock-keeper's house which is adjacent to the canal. The bowed central bay provided a view along the canal for the lock-keeper, who could see any traffic approaching the series of eight locks at Banavie (there are a total of 29), nicknamed 'Neptune's Staircase'. Ships had to be raised a vertical height of almost 19m over a distance of 450m at this point. Prior to the locks being mechanised in the mid-20th century, 12 men were responsible for opening lock gates by rotating capstans by hand. This was a time-consuming process and queues of boats often formed. In 1870 there were at least 512 east coast fishing boats using the locks because fishermen were trying to reach exceptionally large herring shoals which had been spotted in The Minch. 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/804862

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap