Saint Fergus And North Ugie Water Canal, Rora-hallmoss

NK04NE 13 from 0549 4857 to 0743 4999, from 0773 4999 to 0781 4999 and from 0826 4999 to 0999 4898. LIN 15.

Formerly LIN 536.

The Act under which work was commenced was passed around 1790. The authorized 'terminal points' were Scotstoun of St. Fergus and Pitfour. Admiral Fergusson of Pitfour planned this waterway in order that barges could transport shell-sand from Scotstoun of St. Fergus to his estate. A section of this canal was constructed, and is still visible, although evidence is lacking as to whether it was ever finished or utilised. The plan was for the waterway, which was abandoned about 1800, to have followed the N bank of the river in order to access the sea some distance N of Peterhead.

J Lindsay 1968.

The circuitous course of the canal traverses map sheet between NK 074 500 and NK 077 500 (where it crosses the Crooko Burn) and, again, between NK 078 500 and NK 082 500; for these portions, see NK05SE 10.00.

NK 0548 4852 Point at which canal previously joined the river. No trace of sluice gates etc.

NK 0548 4852 - 0562 4869 Canal visible as a slight grassy depression c.8m wide.

NK 0562 4869 - 0621 4927 Canal well-preserved as a marshy basin c.7-10m wide.

NK 0621 4927 - 0657 4933 N bank of canal ploughed down and virtually obliterated.

NK 0657 4933 - 0730 4978 Disused canal well-preserved as a marshy basin c.7-10m wide.

NK 0730 4978 - 0744 4999 W bank of canal ploughed-down.

NK 0772 4999 - 0781 4999 Disused canal well-preserved as a marshy basin c.7-10m wide.

NK 0821 4999 - 0876 4938 Disused canal well-preserved as a marshy basin c.7-10m wide.

NK 0876 4938 - 0895 4900 NE bank of canal ploughed down and barely visible.

NK 0895 4900 - 0999 4897 Canal well-preserved as a marshy basin c.7-10m wide.

Information from OS (CS) transferred from field sheet dated December 1968.

'The cut appears to have left the North Ugie Water at a point 130 yards NW of its junction with the South Ugie Water (NK 056 485); but there are today no signs of any opening or sluice in the mounded left bank nor remains of a weir in the channel, while the initial stretch of the canal has been narrowed and converted into a ha-ha ditch. Significant remains, however, can be seen where the cut nears the river-bank about 500 yds downstream' (c.NK 058 488) 'and typical features appear clearly on air photographs' [unreferenced] 'NW of the Haughs of Rora' (centred NK 061 489) 'where 'Old Canal' is marked on the OS maps.'

About 120 yards E of the Crooko Burn aqueduct (NK05SE 10.01) the 'canal seems to have been altered to receive a small watercourse which runs more or less parallel to the Crooko Burn; this was presumably done, after the canal had failed for purposes of transportation, to bring water to a small farm-mill, the remains of which stand by the N bank of the canal at Ednie' (NK 084 498), 'and which was once supplied through a sluice inserted in the bank. At this same point a small watercourse runs under the canal in a culvert; the masonry and curving abutments are similar to those of the aqueduct, but the opening is arched not lintelled.' 'The canal is less dilapidated at Ednie than elsewhere, owing no doubt to the fact of having been kept in use as a reservoir for the mill and also, perhaps, for an adjoining brick and tile works.'

'South-east of Ednie, the canal is again a ditch between heavy clay banks, the breadth over both of which is about 55 feet. The ditch itself, where measured, was about 24 ft wide by 3 ft deep.'

'From a point 670 yds SE of the mill' (NK 087 493) 'to one 300 yds SW of Cairnhall' (NK 091 489) 'the OS map suggests a gap in the line of the remains; but their existence here was verified, and it was found that in the next section, S and SE of Cairnhall, quite extensive work had been done. The canal here runs as a hollowed terrace along the face of a slope falling steeply to the River Ugie, and rock has frequently had to be cut back or excavated. At a point where the channel was comparatively free of debris it measured 20ft in width by about 4ft in depth; a towpath is marked on the 25-inch OS map of 1870, but the top of the bank on the outer edge of the terrace is irregular and in places obstructed by excavated rock.' At NK 097 488 'the canal swings away from the river, widening for a short distance at the turn, and runs NE to an overgrown pond lying immediately W of Hallmoss farm' (NK 110 489), 'which served as the terminal of the Inverquinzie branch, and then SE through what is now the garden of the farmhouse.'

A Graham 1969.

On the basis of the alignment noted by the OS and accepted by Graham, this portion of the canal has followed the characteristic circuitous course of a contour canal, at an elevation of about 20m OD. No locks, sluices or other water-control devices have been identified.

The first edition of the OS 6-inch map (OS 6-inch map, Aberdeenshire, 1st ed. (1872), sheet xv, surveyed 1869) depicts (but does not note) a basin at the junction of the Inverquinzie branch with the main (Peterhead) line at Hallmoss (NK 0998 4898). No buildings are depicted, and a short length of the Peterhead line was already blocked by that date.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 October 1994.

An archaeological desk-based assessment and rapid field survey was undertaken in March 1997 on the proposed route of a pipeline running from St Fergus Offtake Station to the proposed pressure reducing station at Peterhead Power Station. Five sites situated within the corridor examined were listed in the NMRS. The following are amongst the sites identified in the assessment:

NK 0885 4919 St Fergus and North Ugie Water canal: track (site of).

NK 0874 4932 - NK 0874 4946 Sluice (site of).

NK 0877 4937 - NK 0867 4963 St Fergus and North Ugie Water canal (disused).

Several other enclosures, wells, tracks, field boundaries and dykes were also recorded. Fuller report in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Penspen Ltd.

R Strachan 1997.

Site recorded during a watching brief and excavations undertaken on the route of the pipeline during May and June 1998. The route had previously been assessed (Strachan 1997). The excavation of the pipeline trench through the St Fergus and North Ugie Water Canal (NMRS NK04NE 13) revealed that the canal at this location was excavated entirely out of the subsoil and that the outer bank was not artificially enhanced.

A report has been lodged with NMRS and Aberdeenshire SMR.

Sponsor: Penspen Ltd for Scottish Hydro-Electric plc.

R Strachan 1998

The course of the canal generally heads NE from its commencement at the North Ugie Water, at a point where this burn links with the South Ugie Water to form the River Ugie. The waterway keeps to the N of the river. After passing briefly twice into map sheet it heads S then E, leaving the map sheet just S of Hallmoss Cottage. On the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1872) the canal, marked as 'Disused' passes through sheets xxii, xiv and xv. The course is still visible on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973), marked as canal (disused).

Information from RCAHMS (MD) 30 May 2002.