Old Photograph Sluices Loch Leven Perthshire Scotland

Old photograph of the sluices at Loch Leven by Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland. By the 18th century the River Leven, which has its source at Loch Leven, was one of Scotland’s most intensively harnessed rivers as a source of water power. It was reported in 1810 that the surface of the loch could safely be lowered 2 1/2 feet to reclaim more than 500 acres of land and, by canalising and regulating the winding river at its outlet, it would still be of advantage to mill owners. In 1813, 40 mills down to the sea were valued at £176,220. In all they had about 360 feet of falls, but it was not until 1827 that the Leven Improvement Act eventually enabled the water level of the loch to be lowered 4 1/2 feet, and an additional 4 1/2 feet, in effect a reservoir under the control of the mill owners, providing a regular supply of 5000 cubic feet per minute. Regulation was achieved by means of powerful sluices at the outlet of the loch at the head of a new, straight, ‘ cut ’, 32 feet wide and nearly four miles long, replacing the river to Auchmuirbridge. The engineer initially was James Brown. In 1828 the value of the water power of each of the mills on the Leven was reassessed by Robert Thom of Rothesay and George Moon of Russel Mill at a total of more than £2,200 per year. Fife contractors Walker and Burns started excavating the cut on 1 July 1828 using workers from Ireland. Wet weather adversely affected work and the final cost of the cut was just under £10,250 with a further £4,350 to Robert Hutchison for masonry work on the sluices and New Gullet bridges. From October 1830 Edinburgh consulting engineer James Jardine superintended the delicate task of removing the coffer dam in front of the spillway and sluices at Loch Leven and successfully introduced its water to the ‘ cut ’ on 25 December 1830. The eventual total cost of about £40,000 had so much exceeded Brown’s estimates that it took Jardine, who in 1831 had become Commissioner to the Improvement Trustees, until 1849, and with further acts of parliament, to close the books. The surface area of the loch was reduced from about 4506 to 3406 acres.



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