Building record MHG31718 - Hydro-electric power-generating station - Ascoile

Hydro-Electric Power-Generating Station.
E corner of rectangular, brick-built, former hydro-electric power-generating station on the E bank of Allt a’Mhuilinn (see Plate 10), which supplied electricity to part of the Gordonbush Estate between the 1920s and 1950s (R Rowantree, pers. Com.). It measures 7.1m along the NE long side, which trends 296 degrees from here, and 5.0m along the perpendicular, shorter SE side. The walls stand 3.5m high and are capped by an intact, apexed slate roof.

Along the SW side of the building from the S corner, there is a single door, a window, a double-door and another window. The wooden doors are 0.9m and 1.3m wide respectively, and the windows are 0.9m wide and 1.1m high, and 0.9m above ground level. They comprise a 3x3 arrangement of individual panes, the top row acting as an inward-opening transom window, and each has concrete sills below, and lintels above. A single, centrally placed window on the SE side is 0.6m above ground level and is 1.3m wide, comprising 3 horizontal rows of 4 panes each, with the top row being an inward-opening transom window. The 2nd pane from the right on the middle row is missing. A single window, of similar design to those on the front elevation, is found on the NE side, 2.3m along from the E corner.

A single, centrally placed skylight exists in the SW-facing side of the roof and there are cast-iron roans and roan pipes and wooden eaves. The power-generating engine gear is still visible inside.

The NW end of the building is built out into the Allt a’Mhuilinn and is supported by concrete walls from river level, into which a door has been made, indicating that there may be a lower level to this building. <1>