Monument record MHG28460 - Blarich Power Station

NC60SE 58 6925 0475, 6933 0460 and 6947 0422

The remains of a hydro-electric scheme can be seen on the banks of the Abhainn Leataidh, running downstream for 600m from a point about 550m N of Blarich House. The remains consist of a sluice gate, a surge chamber and a generator house, linked by the remains of an iron pipe. The sluice is situated on the W (left) bank of the river at NC 6925 0475, immediately above the slight remains of the dam. It consists of a rectangular chamber measuring about 2m in height and built of mortared masonry, with a mesh-covered water inlet in its W side and an iron sluice gate in its S end covering the end of the pipe; a second pipe set into the S end leads back to the river below the dam. From there the main pipe, buried underground for much of its length, runs down the W bank of the burn for about 180m to NC 6933 0460, where there is a concrete surge chamber, standing 3m high and measuring 1.8m by 1.7m externally and 1m square internally, with an inlet and an outlet at the base of its NW and SE sides respectively. Below this chamber the line of the pipe crosses the river, supported by two mortared piers (one of which is broken), and continues downstream to NC 6947 0422, where there is a slate-roofed generator house, built of mortared granite, within which there are two concrete plinths.
According to a local shepherd, the scheme produced electricity until about 1950.
(ROG95 925-7)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 22 June 1995