The Aberdeenshire Canal

Previous: Kinaldie

Dalwearie is a farm about a mile south of the town of Kintore, and marked a significant point on the canal, one where the horses that pulled the barges were changed. The road turns down the hill and heads towards the route of the canal and railway, and just as it meets them, the canal pullls away from the railway, crosses the road and heads round a slope, sharply changing direction and heading back toards the railway and then crossing both it and the road.

At Dalwearie, the canal and the railway part company. The railway can be seen in the background, with the canal towpath in the centre of the picture, and the boulder strewn bed on the right. This looks toward Aberdeen.

This section is a good example of why so much of the canal was not used as a course for the railway, as the bend in the middle of this section would have been awkward for railway locomotives to negotiate at speed.

The canal curves round the base of a hill at Dalwearie. The stables would have been in the foreground right.

The photo below was taken whilst stood in the middle of the canal bed. This section has escaped the plough or choking undergrowth, and gives an idea of what the canal would have been like over 150 years ago, although even then, erosion and neglect have worn it down somewhat.

The canal comes in from the left background, and then turns sharply.

This section is also notable for the surviving culvert part way along it. Unlke most of the masonry structures on the canal, this one has survived demolition and still carries the canal over a tiny burn.

The north face of the Dalwearie culvert, surrounded by chunks of discarded masonry from the superstructure of the canal.

The culvert still carries the canal over the burn, long after it became redundant.

The south side. The higher water level of the burn here suggests a blockage or collapse within the culvert.

The point where the canal crosses the railway, indicated by the dip either side of the railway track.

Next: Kintore