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Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 578100
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578100
The Water of Fleet between Gatehouse of Fleet and the sea was navigable before the canal era, but a small canal scheme was constructed from June to October 1824 to improve the navigation and reclaim land previously covered at high tide. The canal straightened out river meanders and was 1400 yd long. It accommodated the passage of vessels of up to 160 tons and is now used for leisure pursuits.
The landowner Alexander Murray’s factor, Alexander Craig, showed innate engineering acumen in forming the
canal by directing 200 Irish labourers to dig a trench along its line of nearly the depth to which it was to be
excavated and then turning the river into the trench. This procedure scoured by tidal action a channel of the exact width and depth required in only two days at a cost of £2204 3s 5d, a big saving on the estimate by ‘an eminent engineer at about £5000’. The natural occurring rock abutments of a former canal swing bridge can be seen just north of the present A75 bridge.
Some 600 yd below Fleet Bridge in Gatehouse of Fleet, a quay was built by David McAdam, a local ship agent who in April 1838 had obtained permission from Murray to erect it and levy a tonnage charge. It became known as Port McAdam and was profitable by the mid-century but now no longer exists.
Fleet Bridge is of historical interest in having been rebuilt at least twice and widened three times. It existed as a
timber bridge in the 16th century, was rebuilt in timber ca.1661, and washed away in 1721. In 1730 it was replaced by the present stone bridge with two 29 ft span arches, which was widened in 1779, 1811 and again in 1964 as shown in the cross-section.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
