Our story
starts here in 1694.
No. Wait.
Over a bit. There, that’s better.
Alloa Tower. erstwhile home of Sir John
Erskine, who “entertained” Mary Queen of Scots here. (nudge, nudge). Now, as
some of you may be aware, entertaining young queens doesn’t come cheap and Sir
John was skint. One day, while out serf-hunting with the dogs, he noticed Mr.
and Mrs. McBaldrick scraping black shiny stones out of the ground and setting
fire to them to amuse their 28 children.
Soon the
estate’s entire peasantry was busy 28 hours a day digging the black shiny
stones out of the ground and transporting them to the nearby Alloa docks for
onward shipment to people who had a use for them.
As the holes
got deeper, so they filled with water and children were being drowned at a
faster rate than their parents could replace them. Sir John called in a Welsh
mining engineer who decided that the best way to deal with the water was
…….with water ! A local burn was dammed and a system of water driven pumps was
set up. When more effective drainage systems became available, the water from the
dam was still used by several local mills (including a snuff mill) and a distillery.
The outflow ended up at Alloa docks where, at one time, it was collected in
large cisterns and released at low tide to flush the silt out of the harbour.
The dam wall
was raised several times and a weir was built on the river Black Devon with a
lade supplying top up water. At one time it was said to be the largest man-made
water feature in Europe.
Overgrown
lade
At various
times it has been used as a hydro-electric scheme and as a drinking water
reservoir. Currently it’s a country park and recreation facility.
The line of
the old railway to Alloa.
I believe
that, in a previous post, I told you ‘bout the swans (that they live in the
park)
Good walk –
about 4 miles bus stop to bus stop – negligible up. A stroll in the park,
really
