Former Canal Aqueduct over Bucks Burn

Former Canal Aqueduct over Bucks Burn

This former canal aqueduct was constructed between 1798 and 1805 and designed by John Rennie to carry the Aberdeenshire Canal and its traffic over the Bucks Burn as a navigable aqueduct. It was adapted in the late 19th century to be used as a road bridge.

The surviving structure is oriented north-south and measures 17.6 metres long by 7.5 metres high from ground level on the burn side. The aqueduct is composed primarily of light grey granite with a high stone arch or "bridge-hole" of 21 voussoirs. Through this arch on the western side, a cut-water with concrete walls and stone-lined bed funnels the Bucks Burn under the aqueduct. On the eastern side adjacent to the burn, two large wing walls set at a 90-degree angle to the former canal aqueduct support the banks of the Bucks Burn. Above the arch are 11 courses of ashlar stone blocks, capped by a course of flat coping stones slightly wider than those beneath. The voussoirs have a rough tooled surface while the remaining courses have a rubbed finish.

The eastern wall of the aqueduct retains its original wing shape built to accommodate the earthen banks of the canal. The western wall has been removed and replaced or built over by a later retaining wall. The wing walls of the northern and southern approach adjacent to the road have been partially clipped and their ends replaced with a metal fence and a wooden fence respectively.

The Aberdeenshire Canal Navigation began following the passing of an Act of Parliament in 1798. Construction continued for seven years until the canal opened on 31 May 1805. The canal ran from Waterloo Quay to Port Elphinstone near Inverurie. Originally 5.18 metres wide by 0.91 metres deep, the canal was eventually increased to 7 metres by 1.17 metres and was built for £50,000. The canal first appears on James Robertson's Topographical and Military Map of the Counties of Aberdeenshire, Banff and Kincardine (North East Section) of 1822, showing the crossing over Bucks Burn at this location.

The canal's construction was funded mainly by landholders along its route. By the 1830s these subscribers had still made no interest on their investment, and the canal was purchased that same year by the Great North of Scotland Railway, which started construction of the line in 1849. Parts of the canal continued to be used until it was finally closed in 1854. Alexander Gibb's map of 1858 shows that the railway largely followed the original canal line, but when reaching the Bucks Burn chose a crossing further to the east. It was at this stage that the canal aqueduct was converted into a road bridge.

The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, surveyed between 1865 and 1867, provides a detailed view of the crossing arrangement showing two distinct road crossings over the burn: a larger and more substantial bridge to the west and the former canal bridge carrying a sinuous road over the Bucks Burn before heading north-east and under the railway. Between these roads, "Aberdeenshire Canal Bridge – remains of" is marked. By the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map surveyed in 1899, the land to the east of the former canal aqueduct had been built on, and the retaining wall will have been constructed between 1865 and 1899. In the 20th century the former canal aqueduct continued in use as a road bridge.