Inverarnan Canal
| Inverarnan Canal | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Locks | 0 |
| Status | Mostly intact |
| History | |
| Principal engineer | Mr Ferrier |
| Date of first use | 1843-4 |
| Date closed | Circa 1866 or 1870s[1] |
The Inverarnan Canal was a short length of canal terminating at Garbal, close to the hamlet of Inverarnan, Scotland. This waterway once linked the old coaching inn, now the Drovers Inn, at Inverarnan, on the Allt Arnan Burn (a tributary of the Falloch) to the River Falloch and passengers could continue southward to Loch Lomond and finally to Balloch. From Inverarnan stagecoaches ran to various destinations in the north of Scotland.
History
The hamlet of Inverarnan with its 300-year-old inn lies in the council area of Stirling, Scotland, on the A82 road, 2.5 km north of the hamlet of Ardlui, Argyll and Bute at the head of Loch Lomond (into which the River Falloch flows), and about 10 km SW of Crianlarich.
The canal was privately built with the support of steamship owners Mr Napier and Mr McMurrick[2] in order to permit steamers to avoid the sometimes shallow water, gravel banks and bends of the River Falloch's course to the head of Loch Lomond and also to allow convenient travel directly to Inverarnan, which was a stagecoach stop and had a drovers' inn which provided refreshments, accommodation, etc.[3][4]
Mails, goods and passengers were transported and stagecoaches ran at first from Inverarnan to Killin and Ballachulish, later also running to Inverness, Aberfeldy, Oban and Crieff.[5]
Construction and infrastructure
Construction started in 1842; however due to very wet weather and severe winters with heavy snows, the canal was not completed until 1844, despite being only 530 yards or 485 metres long with no locks.[6] The turning basin had a short landing stage and was only around 300 yards or 274 metres south of the inn.[7] A lade or channel from the Allt Arnan Burn is shown supplying the turning basin and the more recent incursion of this burn into the canal area is in this general area.[8] Brick work is mentioned as being in good condition on the embankments.[9] It is not clear whether ships were charged for the using the canal.
Steamers
The Loch Lomond was the first steamboat to navigate the River Falloch and the Inverarnan Canal, and in 1844 Inverarnan and the canal were fully advertised and the regular services to the pier[where?] were fully established. The steamer Water Witch is recorded to have used the canal.[10][11] It was possible at the time to reach Glasgow from Oban in a day by coach, steamer and train.[12]
Decline
The canal water levels were too low at times, and the Garbal basin and entrance from the River Falloch were prone to the accumulation of gravel. Competition between steamer companies had always been a problem; however the opening in 1870 of the Callander and Oban Railway as far as Killin ended the through services to the north via Loch Lomond, as it was more convenient for passengers to board stagecoaches there[where?].[13] It is unclear when steamers finally ceased to travel as far as Inverarnan Harbour basin, as the general term "Head of Loch Lomond" was often used in published timetables.[14]
Remnants
The canal itself remains intact and water filled although overhung by trees. The harbour and turning basin have been filled in with gravel deposits carried in by the Allt Arnan Burn that has broken through into it.
Route
The Inverarnan terminus (NN319181) was a boat turning circle at Garabal, close to the Inverarnan Inn, now the Drovers Inn. From the basin the canal followed a near-straight north to south course between the twisting course of the Allt Arnan Burn on the western side and the bends of the Falloch to the east. Steamers could reach the old Garabal landing via the River Falloch when the water levels were high enough and other conditions were appropriate.[15]
Points of interest
In 1856 the Inspector of Steam Vessels decreed that an 'on site' dry dock or slip was required for the appropriate maintenance of Loch Lomond's steamers[16] and a start was made the same year on a dry dock at the canal basin on the Inverarnan Canal.[17] Land at the right price and at a suitable location may have influenced this unlikely choice however after a month or two's work the plan was scrapped and Luss was chosen instead.[18]
Micro-history
The only canal ever built in the historic Breadalbane area.[19]
In 1880 – 81 a bridge across the River Falloch near Ardlui was planned and construction started however a group led by the Earl of Breadalbane and others were able to stop the work on the grounds that it would prevent the Loch Lomond Steamboat Companies vessels from travelling up the Falloch to Inverarnan even though regular services had ceased a decade or so before. The unfinished bridge is still recognisable as two large stone pillars.[20]
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ Many a Slip ..., p.3
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ Secret Scotland - Lost Canals
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ Canmore Inverarnan Canal site
- ^ Secret Scotland - Lost Canals
- ^ Canmore Inverarnan Canal site
- ^ Graham, p.35
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ The Loch Lomond Steamers
- ^ Thomas
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- ^ Many a Slip ..., p.2
- ^ Many a Slip ..., p.3
- ^ Many a Slip ..., p.4
- ^ Canmore Inverarnan Canal site
- ^ Arrochar & Tarbert Heritage Site
- Sources
- Graham, Duncan (2011). Sunset on the Clyde. Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd.
- Many a Slip... The Balloch Steam Slipway. Pub. by The Loch Lomond Steamship Company.
- Thomas, David St John (1984). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 6, Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders'Newton Abbot : David and Charles. ISBN 0-946537-12-7.
