Archaeology Notes

Event ID 683545

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/683545

NX76SW 40 7322 6460

For road bridge to the S (at NX 7320 6451), see NX76SW 41.

Set at the S end of Loch Ken, this barrage ('control work') regulates the outflow from the loch, raising its maximum height by 6ft (1.83m) so as to allow storage of 2000 million gallons (9.1 million cubic metres) of water within a height band of 144ft (43.9m) and 148ft (45.1m) OD. This barrage is the major regulator of the water supply to Tongland Power Station (NX65SE 86.00), the lowest in the development, as the reservoir (NX75NW 78) immediately above the power station has insufficient capacity to accommodate fluctuations of output.

Built in about 1932, this structure is designed to provide unrestricted passage for heavy floods. Its length (measured between the inner sides of the two outermost piers) is 326ft (99.4m), and it comprises two sets of three Glenfield and Kennedy free roller sluice gates, each 45ft (13.7m) wide, separated by a fish pass opening 20ft (6.1m) wide. To suit the bed of the river, three of the gates have sills at elevation 140ft (42.68m) and are 10ft (3.05m) deep, the other three being 9ft (2.5m) and at elevation 141ft (43m); the sills are formed of steel beams embedded in concrete. Downstream from the sills, the bed of the river is protected by a lipped concrete apron and stone pitching. The fish pass is formed to two large pools within concrete walls, the passages for fish being through submerged openings in the transverse walls.

The operating machinery for the gates is mounted on the deck of a steel overbridge. They can be operated by hand, electrically from the headstocks on the bridge, or electrically from a small switch-house on the W bank. Provision is also being made for remote operation from Tongland Power Station.

The contractor was John Howard and Co. Ltd.

Anon. 1934 ['Galloway water Power Scheme'].

This barrage is remotely controlled from Tongland Power Station (NX65SE 86.00).

Anon. 1938 ['Galloway Hydro-Electric Development'].

This barrage spans the River Dee (also known as the Water of Ken) at the S end of Loch Ken (NX76NW 107). The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Balmaghie and Crossmichael. It forms a major element of Stage I of the Galloway Hydro-Electric Scheme.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 29 November 2001.