Nine miles long, it connects Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne with the Sound of Jura, providing a navigable route between the Clyde and the Inner Hebrides, without the need for a long diversion around the Kintyre peninsula.
It was designed by civil engineer John Rennie and work started in 1794, but the canal was not completed until 1801 (two years later than planned). Problems, particularly with the locks, meant that some parts of the canal had to be redesigned - a task that fell to Thomas Telford in 1816.