River Eachaig
River Eachaig | |
---|---|
![]() The River Eachaig at Benmore Botanic Garden | |
Etymology | place of horses[1] |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Loch Eck |
• location | Cowal |
• coordinates | 56°02′20″N 4°59′05″W / 56.038795°N 4.9847063°WCoordinates: 56°02′20″N 4°59′05″W / 56.038795°N 4.9847063°W |
• elevation | 24 m (79 ft) |
Mouth | Holy Loch |
• location | Cowal |
• coordinates | 55°59′54″N 4°57′06″W / 55.998381°N 4.9517269°W |
• elevation | Sea level |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | , |
• right |
The River Eachaig is a river on the Cowal peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in western Scotland.
The river flows from Loch Eck to the Holy Loch, passing Benmore Botanic Garden, Rashfield and . It is joined by the and the . The joins the River Eachaig immediately before it empties into the Holy Loch.[2][3]
The old route from Inveraray to the Firth of Clyde involved travelling down Loch Eck, then crossing the River Eachaig to get to Dunoon – Mary Queen of Scots went this way in 1563. A small boat or punt called a coite carried passengers over the river, and the thatched house of the ferryman became known as the Cot House, eventually the Cot House Inn.[4]
Around 1835 David Napier built a road from Kilmun pier to Loch Eck as part of the "new route to Inveraray", and at this time the ferry was replaced by a wooden bridge. This in time needed replaced, and around the end of 1884 the Trustees of the Dunoon District of Roads, Argyllshire, arranged for engineers and contractors to construct a new malleable iron girder bridge spanning 70 feet (21 m) over the river; this bridge was completed in May 1885.[4] It is a single-span wrought iron double warren lattice truss bridge, spanning between abutments at each end with splayed stone parapets.[5]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Old_road_bridge_over_the_River_Eachaig._-_geograph.org.uk_-_1373753.jpg/220px-Old_road_bridge_over_the_River_Eachaig._-_geograph.org.uk_-_1373753.jpg)
This route was still shown in the Ordnance Survey 7th series one-inch map published in 1960, in following decades the A815 main road was realigned with a curve crossing the river on a new bridge to the north of the old bridge, and the A880 side road from Kilmun extended to join this as a side road.[6] The old bridge is still in place, and is a listed building as a rare example of an unaltered wrought iron bridge.[5]
References[]
- ^ Gilles, H.Cameron (1906). The Place-Names of Argyll (PDF). London: D.Nutt. p. 52. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "FishPal - Scotland - Clyde - Eachaig".
- ^ "The Annual Close Time (River Eachaig Salmon Fishery District) Order 1995".
- ^ a b c McKillop, Tom. "The Eachaig Bridge". Historic Kilmun. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Kilmun, Eachaig Bridge Including Stone Parapets (LB50433)". Historic Environment Scotland. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- ^ "Explore georeferenced maps - OS one-inch map 7th series, see OpenTopoMap background for road realignment". National Library of Scotland. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2019. (OS map published 1960)
External links[]
- River Eachaig, fishing closed season
- "River Eachaig circuit". Walkhighlands. Retrieved 23 April 2017. – description of 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) walk, includes pronunciation of "Eachaig".
- Benmore Botanic Garden
- Rivers of Argyll and Bute
- Cowal
- Highlands and Islands of Scotland
- Argyll and Bute geography stubs
- Scotland river stubs