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
Geography
Start point	River Falloch
End point	Drovers Inn

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.

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 David Napier and Mr John McMurrick 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.

Ransom states that the canal was dug at the expense of the Marquis of Breadalbane who also improved facilities at the inn and leased the land from Campbell of Glenfalloch.

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.

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. The turning basin at New Garabal had a short landing stage and was only around 300 yards or 274 metres south of the inn. 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. Brick work is mentioned as being in good condition on the embankments, although these are no longer visible (datum 2016). It is not clear whether ships were charged for the using the canal.

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Wikipedia