by Meryl Marshall (NOSAS)
Aultgowrie, west of Muir of Ord, is a favourite area for short walks and I have been aware of a hydro scheme at Orrin Falls for many years but never given it much thought. However when I was browsing the Fairburn Estate website looking for something else I came across a photograph c1900 (below) and the following comment:
John Stirling used estate workmen to build a turbine house at the Orrin Falls and one further up river under the supervision of Mr Bagot from Glasgow and electric light was installed (in Fairburn House) in 1898.
The hydro-scheme was much older than I had thought and was worthy of more attention! For many years it had been overgrown with rhododendrons and overhung with trees however a few years ago the estate had carried out a programme of clearing these and it was more accessible. The site is marked on the current OS map as “weir” but there was obviously much more to it than that. It was unrecorded on the Local database http://her.highland.gov.uk/ and on the National database https://canmore.org.uk/. So 18 months ago I set about gathering more information.
The Orrin Falls, GR NH 469517, are (or were) a series of attractive waterfalls (see painting above) within a gorge of the River Orrin. The natural rock is conglomerate and the total height drop from top to bottom of the gorge is roughly 15m. The hydro scheme is on the south bank of the gorge and comprises
- A dam
- The remains of an earlier dam
- A lade or channel
- A generator house.
And several other features;
- A rock-cut channel (on the north bank) probably intended as a salmon ladder
- The abutments of a footbridge
The early photograph of the dam circa 1900 – reproduced with the permission of Fairburn Estate
NOSAS Archaeology Blog 