Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016687
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016687
This early aluminium refinery is built on a terrace above the shore of Loch Ness, and was powered by the first major commercial hydro-electrical scheme in Britain. The fine stone building has a row of eight tall gable ends to the front, with crowsteps so designed as to give a distinctly castellated
appearance. Most of the interior is open-plan, with rows of cast-iron columns and girders supporting the roof, but the range at the back of the building is partly floored over, with access by a somewhat 'art nouveau' iron spiral staircase. Here was the old hydro-electric plant, where nine Swiss-made turbines were powered by water piped from the River Foyers and augmented from a reservoir in Loch Mhor in the hills above. Lord Kelvin was electrical consultant during the station's construction. One of the old turbines and generators has been kept in the factory, and these,together with another turbine kept in the new power station, are certainly the oldest of their kind still in existence in Britain.
The factory was built by the British Aluminium Company in 1896 as its first aluminium reduction works. By 1908 it employed some 600 people. At first local bauxite was processed at Lame in Northern Ireland, and the alumina brought by sea and canal to Foyers, but later the bauxite came from Ghana and was processed at Burntisland in Fife. From Foyers, aluminium ingots and rolling slabs were sent to rolling-mills in Cheshire. Sadly the works, which for long provided employment in the area, are now closed down and the building belongs to the Hydro Board (group visits can sometimes be arranged; contact the Public Relations Officer, NSHEB, 16 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh 3). A number of cottages in Foyers were built for the British Aluminium Company, including rows of single-storey cottages at NH 496209 and 499201, all harled and painted white, some with dormer windows.
A new hydro-electric pumped-storage scheme was begun in 1969, and a new power station built on the shore of Loch Ness east of the old works. It makes use of the old Loch Mhor reservoir with an enlarged catchment area. When generating, water flows from Loch Mhor through more than 3km of tunnels and shafts to the new power station. At other times, off-peak energy from the Highland Grid is used to drive the turbines in the reverse direction and pump water from Loch Ness back up to Loch Mhor. The turbines and generators are housed in huge shafts sunk in the rock below the power station. The old dam and embankment at Loch Mhor (NH 513181; close to the B 862) were retained. The dam has a small castellated structure over its sluice, similar in style to the works.
Foyers was not the earliest hydro-electric scheme on Loch Ness. As far back as 1890 a small water turbine was installed for St Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus, which soon served part of the town as well, and was the first public hydro-electric scheme in Britain. It was supplied by an iron pipeline from a reservoir (NH 370052) on the Connachie Burn and continued until the Hydro Board took over in 1951.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
