Description

The monument comprises the remains of a stretch of the Aberdeenshire Canal Navigation, or Aberdeen-Inverurie Canal.

This canal ran from Port Elphinstone, just south of Inverurie, to Aberdeen harbour, following a course 18.25 miles (29km) in length above the right-hand bank of the River Don. The Act of Parliament that sanctioned its construction in 1796 declared its purpose as being to promote the improvement and better cultivation of the inland parts of the country.

Construction was carried out by various contractors, with John Rennie as consulting engineer and George Fletcher as resident engineer. The canal opened in 1805. It operated until 1854, when it was replaced by the Aberdeen to Inverness line of the Great North of Scotland Railway, which was built along roughly the same alignment, obliterating much of its course.

The section of the canal that survives north-west of Brae of Kintore farm runs for some 440m in a west-north-westerly direction as far as Rosebank House. The remains consist of a heavy earthen bank about 3m wide at the top, which stands up to 1.4m above the bottom of the channel, itself some 5.5-6m wide.

The south side has been formed by the scarping of a natural slope. The bank carried the towpath, and at a point 55m SE of Rosebank the fourteenth milestone still stands in situ. It is rounded with a rounded top and with the digits "14" inscribed on a circular chamfered plane facing the canal.

The area to be scheduled includes the remains of the canal and the milestone and extends some 440m NW-SE and a maximum of 25m N-S, specifically excluding a 40m stretch at roughly the mid point which has been obliterated by the garden and driveway of Carler House. Its boundary is defined on the north by the edge of the road, on the south by the northern edge of the track between Brae of Kintore farm and Carler House and by the field boundary W of Carler House as far as Rosebank House, and on the W by the fence of Rosebank House, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as representing one of only a handful of surviving sections from what was at one time a significant economic artery, serving the agricultural hinterland of the city of Aberdeen. Its importance is further enhanced by the documentary evidence that also exists regarding the legal and commercial history of the canal during its period of use. It retains the potential to provide further information about civil engineering and canal construction in the early nineteenth century.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NJ 81 NW 51.00 and

References:

Eadem, 1964, in Journal of Transport History, 6.2.

Graham, A, 1967-8, 'Two canals in Aberdeenshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 100, 170-78.

Lindsay, J, 1968, The Canals of Scotland (Newton Abbot), 99-112.

Milne, J, 1911, Aberdeen, 252f, 264f, 344f, 390f.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland