The Crinan Canal
‘Britain’s most beautiful shortcut’, the Crinan Canal runs from Loch Fyne across the Kintyre peninsula to Crinan on Scotland’s west coast, saving both distance and the treacherous waters of the Mull of Kintyre.
Opened after a fashion, and a long gestation period, in 1801 but never the commercial success anticipated, the canal remains open today for pleasure craft in the main, but also commercial vessels which can fit its restricted dimensions.
Included in this good history of the undertaking, and its construction are such luminaries as James Watt (senior), James Watt (junior) and John Rennie, as well as a host of the nobility of Scotland, and the lesser folk.
245 text pages. 30 B&W illustrations, largely archive. Paperback