Aberdeenshire Canal

The Aberdeenshire Canal once ran some 18 miles (29 km) between Aberdeen Harbour and Inverurie. John Rennie (1761 - 1821) designed the canal with 17 locks and it was intended to bring agricultural produce, timber and stone into the city and the port, while taking manure and lime out to the hinterland. Work began in 1796 and the canal was opened in 1805, having cost £40,000 to build.

Never a great economic success, the canal was sold with some relief to its investors to the Great North of Scotland Railway Company in 1853 for £36,000 and abandoned such that a railway line could be built along the route. Today little can be seen, but it is perhaps most obvious just to the southeast of Hatton of Fintray, where the railway deviates from the circuitous route of the old canal. It can also be seen next to the railway near Dyce Old Parish Church. Port Elphinstone, built as the basin at the northern termination of the canal, remains as a settlement immediately to the south of Inverurie.


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