Merkinch (island/ meadow of the horses in Gaidhlig) was originally an estuarine island; the east bank of the canal follows the old shoreline. The Roy map of 1747-55 see http://www.nls.uk/maps/ shows this outflow to the Beauly Firth had been filled in. Previously the Ness had a secondary channel that flowed into an estuary down what is now Abban Street. It is difficult to say if this was a main channel or just one that ran at times of high water. At this time there were unenclosed strips of cultivation shown on the map but little in the way of buildings apart from the ferry cottage, Carnarc Point didn’t exist.

The building of the canal (opened in 1822) created the seawall that runs from the canal to the old ferry slipway, enclosing the mini-estuary.

By the Ordnance Survey map of 1870 Carnarc Point, a breakwater had been built and enclosed (presumably drained) field systems had been created. No open water was mapped but the lagoon area was noted as “liable to flood”. In the 1900 OS map a lagoon was noted behind the sea wall and the remaining area behind the sea wall is mapped as wetland.

Sluices in the sea wall allowed some tidal flow allowing the salt marsh and mudflat to remain, though these were no doubt made to allow water flowing from the wetlands out to sea. The building of the railway (opened in 1862) finally cut off the area to the south east of the line from the sea and creates the freshwater lagoon to the north of the railway embankment. A burn still flows parallel with the canal at the bottom of the southern embankment, where this flows from is unclear as it disappears from view under Telford Street.

The impetus for designating this area came from Merkinch Greenspace (formerly known as South Kessock Environment Company), a voluntary organisation with charitable status. It consists primarily of local volunteers. This activity fits in very well with one of the recommendations for this area in the Inverness Greenspace Audit, which says, “The site could be viewed as a semi-natural reserve”.