Loch Thom

Loch Thom
Loch Thom
	Loch Thom, with Hillside Hill to the right.
	Loch Thom
Location	Inverclyde
Coordinates	55°54′40″N4°47′10″W / 55.91111°N 4.78611°W Coordinates: 55°54′40″N4°47′10″W / 55.91111°N 4.78611°W
Type	reservoir, Scotland
Basin countries	United Kingdom
Max. length	2.4 km (1.5 mi)
Surface elevation	195 m (640 ft)

Last updated April 12, 2022

View from Hillside Hill down to compensation reservoir and Cornalees, with Loch Thom itself further back. Loch-Thom-hills-220510d.jpg — View from Hillside Hill down to compensation reservoir and Cornalees, with Loch Thom itself further back.

Loch Thom is a reservoir which since 1827 has provided a water supply to the town of Greenock in Inverclyde, Scotland. It is named after the civil engineer Robert Thom who designed the scheme which created the reservoir and delivered water via a long aqueduct known as The Cut. Today, as well as providing a water supply, the loch is used for sport fishing and forms part of the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park with several attractive walks and a centre at Cornalees Bridge providing nature study facilities.

The loch is about 2.4 km from north to south, curving to the east in a rough C-shape, and is at an elevation of about 195 m above sea level. From the northern arm an outlet feeds southwest a short distance to a compensation reservoir at the centre of the "C", which then connects at Cornalees Bridge to the start of The Cut.

History

In the late 18th century Greenock was a rapidly expanding seaport with industries developing as the industrial revolution gathered pace. Its location on the north slopes of hills sweeping down to the south bank of the Firth of Clyde meant that several fast flowing streams provided supplies, and a number of wells provided clean water for domestic use. This was supplemented in 1773 by a piped water system designed by James Watt supplying some areas, but there was increasing demand for water powered mills.

On the far side of the hills to the south of the town a natural dip held a freshwater lake known as Shaws Water at a level high above the town. The civil engineer Robert Thom from Rothesay prepared a scheme to turn this into a reservoir and create the aqueduct which became known as The Cut.

The Shaws Water Joint Stock Company named by Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, 5th Baronet ^[1] and friends, which was incorporated on 10 June 1825 with capital of £30,000. The scheme was officially opened on 16 April 1827. On that day a grain mill, paper mill, power loom manufactory and a sugar refinery made use of the power from the water running north down to the sea for a vertical height of around 170 m, at a rate of about 21,000 cubic feet (590 m³) of water per day. In 1845 The Kelly Cut was constructed to bring more water to Loch Thom from the south. Numerous other mills were added in Greenock to make use of the supply, including what became The Merino Mills weaving woollen cloth, and a mill grinding clay for a local pottery works. A drought caused the reservoir to run dry in 1852 stopping work at the factories that relied on it.^[2]

The water supply proved inadequate for growing domestic demand, and in 1872 another reservoir was created immediately to the east of Loch Thom at Gryffe Reservoir. Together with thirteen smaller reservoirs nearby they provide almost 650,000,000 cubic feet (18,000,000 m³) of water supply in total

Greenock Cut Centre

Loch Thom forms part of Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, a public organisation aimed at providing countryside access and education. Several nature trails are provided, and the Greenock Cut Centre adjacent to Cornalees Bridge provides educational facilities at a ranger base, along with car parking, refreshments and public toilets. Location: grid reference NS247721 .

The Cut

From Cornalees Bridge The Cut runs west then turns northward following along the contour of Dunrod Hill which it follows round until running eastwards directly above the town of Greenock at Overton, having come a distance of 9 km (5.6 mi). On the way it collects some of the water from streams that cross its path, and a series of sluice gates incorporated an ingenious automatic way of releasing surplus water. As shown in the picture of a restored mechanism, when the aqueduct is over full, water flows down the pipe in the foreground and fills the bucket, which then pulls the chain down over the pulley wheel and lifts the counterweight and the lever opening the sluice gate. Small holes in the bucket allow the water to drain slowly out, so when the inflow stops the counterweight eventually pulls the sluice gate lever down and lifts the empty bucket.

The cut provided a water flow to a series of falls running through water wheels powering various industrial processes, including a papermill, woollen and cotton mills, ropeworks, several sugar refineries, an iron foundry and shipbuilding works including production of steam engines and boilers.

From its opening, the nearly level footpath formed on the embankment to the downhill side of the aqueduct proved a great attraction, and "walking the Cut" continues to be popular.

Literature

The poet W. S. Graham's later work powerfully evokes his childhood in and around Greenock. In "Loch Thom", included in Implements in their Places, published in 1977, the loch becomes the focus of his memories:

The curlew's cry travelling still
Kills me fairly. In front of me
The grouse flurry and settle. GOBACK
GOBACK GOBACK FAREWELL LOCH THOM.

^[3]

Related Research Articles

A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Other common uses for leats include delivery of water for hydraulic mining and mineral concentration, for irrigation, to serve a dye works or other industrial plant, and provision of drinking water to a farm or household or as a catchment cut-off to improve the yield of a reservoir.

Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which currently exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area – located in the west central Lowlands. It borders the North Ayrshire and Renfrewshire council areas, and is otherwise surrounded by the Firth of Clyde.

Firth of Clyde Inlet on the west coast of Scotland

The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles. The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula, which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island – the Isle of Bute. Given its strategic location at the entrance to the middle and upper Clyde, Bute played a vital naval military role during World War II.

Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east.

Kip Water, also known as the River Kip, is a short river in Inverclyde, Scotland which gives the village of Inverkip its name. It originates at Cornalees in the hills between Inverkip and Greenock and runs through Shielhill Glen, Dunrod Glen and the Kip Valley before entering the Firth of Clyde at Kip Marina in Inverkip.

The Gryffe Reservoirs, also spelled 'Gryfe', take their name from the River Gryffe, name deriving from the Gaelic garbh meaning "rough stream". are two reservoirs, known as Gryffe No. 1 and Gryffe No. 2, located in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.

Inverkip is a village and parish in the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Greenock and 8.1 miles (13 km) north of Largs on the A78 trunk road. The village takes its name from the River Kip and is served by Inverkip railway station.

Greenock West railway station is a station in Greenock, Scotland, located on the Inverclyde Line which runs from Gourock to Glasgow Central. The route is currently operated by ScotRail under the auspices of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. Each service to and from Glasgow on the Inverclyde Line stops at this station.

Renfrewshire (historic) Historic county and lieutenancy area of western Scotland

Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It contains the local government council areas of Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, as well as parts of Glasgow and is occasionally named Greater Renfrewshire to distinguish the county from the modern council area.

Lyle Hill at the West End of Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, has scenic viewpoints accessible from Lyle Road which was constructed in 1879–1880 and named after Provost Abram Lyle, well known as a sugar refiner. The hill's highest point is Craigs Top at 426 feet above sea level, and before the road was constructed the hill was known as the Craigs, or as the Bingens.

Inverclyde Council is one of the 32 local authorities of Scotland. Created in 1995, its administrative centre is based in Greenock and its territory covers the area of Inverclyde in the west of Scotland, taking over from the local government district of the same name and area which existed under the larger Strathclyde region, which was established in 1975. Prior to that, the territory was part of the historic county of Renfrewshire.

Overton is an area in the suburbs of Greenock, Inverclyde. Overton offers excellent views across the River Clyde and suburban Greenock.

Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park is the collective name for areas of countryside set aside for conservation and recreation on the South Clyde estuary in Scotland.

Robert Thom was a Scottish civil engineer who worked upon major hydraulic projects on the Isle of Bute and Inverclyde. On Bute, he created aqueducts to increase the flow of water which powered the cotton mills there, so that their capacity was increased. This economic success resulted in him becoming the laird of Ascog. He then created a larger system to supply water power to Greenock. The reservoir is named after him — Loch Thom — and the supply aqueduct is known as the Greenock Cut. In the early 1800s, he designed the first water purification plant in Scotland.

The lands of Finnart to the west of Greenock belonged to the Earl of Douglas in medieval times. Around 1455 they were forfeited to the crown. Finnart was given to the Hamiltons, while the western part of the barony of Finnart went to Stewart of Castlemilk and became the barony of Finnart-Stewart, or Gourock.

The Boothtown Aqueduct is a heritage-listed 19th-century water bridge in Greystanes, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1888, the aqueduct was built to cross a valley to carry water from Prospect Reservoir to residents of Greater Western Sydney.

Glasgow Corporation Water Works and its successors have provided a public water supply and sewerage and sewage treatment services to the Scottish city of Glasgow. There were several schemes in the early part of the 1800s, with the Glasgow Company which was established in 1806 pumping filtered water from the River Clyde into the city. The Gorbals Gravitation Water Company was established in 1846, and brought water from reservoirs to the south-west of the city. However, an outbreak of cholera in 1848/1849, in which 4,000 people died, concentrated the minds of Glasgow Council, and in 1855 a scheme to use water from Loch Katrine, 36 miles (58 km) to the north, was authorised. The work required at Loch Katrine was quite modest, and the major construction work was the building of an aqueduct to carry the water to the city by gravity.

Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, 5th Baronet. Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire between 1822 and 1825.

James Morris Gale M. Inst. C.E. was a Scottish civil engineer for the Glasgow Corporation Water Works. He is most famous for his work building the Milngavie water treatment works. The project directed water from Loch Katrine, 36 miles to the north, which required the building of an aqueduct to carry the water to the city of Glasgow by gravity.

References

↑ From Royal Stewart to Shaw Stewart: Their Story by J.S. Bolton 1989 p.49
↑ Binnie, G M. Early dam builders in Britain. London: Thomas Telford. p. 59. ISBN 0727703951.
↑ Graham, W.S. (2004) New Collected Poems, Faber.

Monteith, Joy (2004). Old Greenock. Stenlake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-84033-314-6.

External links

Clyde Muirsheil, includes sections on Cornalees and Greenock Cut
Inverclyde Council – Walking, Parks and Outdoor Attractions
Mountain bike routes at Loch Thom
Loch Thom Documentary. A short documentary looking into the history of Loch Thom

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] From Royal Stewart to Shaw Stewart: Their Story by J.S. Bolton 1989 p.49

[Binnie-2] Binnie, G M. Early dam builders in Britain. London: Thomas Telford. p. 59. ISBN 0727703951.

[3] Graham, W.S. (2004) New Collected Poems, Faber.

[1]

[2]

[3]