Scheduled Monument
Aberdeenshire Canal, remains of, NW of Brae of KintoreSM7674
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 23/02/1998
- Supplementary Information Updated
- 16/07/2018
- Type
- Industrial: inland water; milestone, guide plate, direction post
- Local Authority
- Aberdeenshire
- Parish
- Kintore
- NGR
- NJ 80056 15573
- Coordinates
- 380056, 815573
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.
Statement of National Importance
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.
References
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.
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.
Images
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