Aerial view of Muirtown Locks, locks and swing bridge Digital image of A 36836

Description Aerial view of Muirtown Locks, locks and swing bridge Digital image of A 36836

Date 1985

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 804778

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 36836

Scope and Content Aerial view, Muirtown Locks, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from south-west This aerial view from the south-west shows Muirtown Locks, completed in 1809, with part of Muirtown Basin (top left). Muirtown Swing Bridge (top) spans the canal and the large collection of industrial buildings (top centre) is Glenalbyn Distillery. If the basin had been more successful in attracting trade, then it is likely that warehouses would have been constructed on this site. The construction of these locks was a difficult engineering task which involved the lowest lock being constructed first and the highest two being constructed last. Stone used in the construction was brought by horse-drawn wagons from a quarry in Clachnaharry. The construction of Muirtown Basin was also extremely hard work for the workmen as they had to dig out a large area of ground covering eight hectares. 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/804778

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap