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Clatteringshaws Loch, Dam
Dam (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Clatteringshaws Loch, Dam
Classification Dam (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Clatteringshaws Reservoir; Galloway Hydroelectric Scheme
Canmore ID 207135
Site Number NX57NW 41.01
NGR NX 54511 75348
NGR Description NX 5438 7517 to NX 5467 7550
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/207135
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Minnigaff
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Wigtown
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
NX57NW 41.01 5438 7517 to 5467 7550
For High Bridge of Dee (situated immediately downstream), see NX57NW 13.
Clatteringshaws dam and aqueduct: contractors, Shanks and McEwan Ltd.
Anon. 1934 ['Galloway Water Power Scheme'].
Clatteringshaws Dam
Purpose: seasonal storage
Type: gravity
Maximum height of footway above river-bed: 78ft (23.8m)
Total length along crest: 1470ft (448.2m)
Spillway level: 585ft (178.4m) OD
Normal maximum depth over crest: 3ft (0.9m)
Overfall spillway length: 350ft (106.7m)
Normal maximum spillway capacity: 6700 cusecs
Anon. 1938 ['Galloway Hydro-Electric Development'].
Clatteringshaws dam is perhaps the major work among those in the Galloway Scheme. Construction work started in August 1932 and was substantially completed by June 1934, when the reservoir was already partially filled.
The dam is a gravity structure built of mass concrete, 1500 ft [457m] long and about 75ft [22.9m] above the original ground level at its highest point. It has been built on a slight curve, rather than straight, for aesthetic reasons. Across the central 400ft [122m] of the dam, the space below the arches is void the concrete being shaped to the form of a spillway.
At the centre of the dam, there has been built across the footway a small valve house, from which access is gained (by means of a flight of steps down the face of the dam) to a hand-operated 5ft [1.5m] diameter disperser needle valve situated beneath a reinforced concrete shelter at the downstream base of the dam. The operating gear of the valve is located on the roof of the shelter.
Water from the reservoir reaches the valve through a 6ft [1.8m] diameter steel pipe embedded in the concrete, having a cast iron bellmouth at the upstream end, which can be closed when necessary by an emergency fee roller gate operated from the valve house above. Besides the known disperser valve, there is a smaller subsidiary valve connected to the body of the main valve for the occasional supply of compensation water to the river downstream.
The dam was constructed using heavy steam jib cranes, of up to 15 tons capacity, which ran on rails behind the dam and were supplied with concrete from a crushing and mixing plant near the E end. Two temporary openings, each measuring 15ft [4.5m] wide by 10ft [3m] high, were left void in the base of the dam, steel reinforcing bars being inserted in the concrete around them. The dam was initially built up in sections about 50ft [15m] long, with closing spaces about 6ft [1.8m] wide between them. These were infilled after the concrete of the main blocks had cooled and contracted.
Anon 1934 ('The Galloway Water Power Scheme').
Clatteringshaws Dam, 1936, by Merz and McLellan, and Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners. A gravity structure 476m long, this is the largest dam in the Galloway Hydro-Electric Scheme.
J R Hume 2000.
This structure dams the River Dee or Black Water of Dee, and crosses the boundary between the parishes of Minnigaff and Kells. It forms a major element of stage I of the Galloway Hydro-Electric Scheme, supplying water through the Glenlee tunnel to Glenlee Power Station (NX68SW 68).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 12 October 2005.
Project (2007)
This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Publication Account (2007)
This dam is of the concrete gravity type with a maximum height 78 ft from river bed to the crest footway. It is
1470 ft long and slightly curved in plan. The footway is carried on a series of arches and the central spillway has an effective length of 350 ft. It is easily viewed from the adjacent A712 public road.
The dam occupies almost an ideal site for a work of this kind, being founded on sound granite, practically free from significant fissures, at a shallow depth. The reservoir formed above the dam is 1.6 square miles
in extent. The draw-off tower for the tunnel aqueduct to the Glenlee power station is located about 112
miles from the dam at the east side of the reservoir. The dam was completed in 1934 and the reservoir
formed by 1938. The consulting engineer was Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners and the main contractor was
Shanks McEwan Ltd.
Beside the A712, near the damisHigh or Clatteringshaws Bridge over theDee built by John McCraken for theCommissioners of Supply of the Stewartry in 1789 on the New Galloway to Newton Stewart road, bypassing a bridge of ca.1703 about a mile upstream, the site of which is now in the reservoir. This bridge built with two 40 ft arch spans and 18 ft wide overall, has squared granite in the arch rings and pier and affords a good example of contemporary local practice on a main road. It is now closed and without parapets, but worthy of preservation.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
Field Visit (2010)
This dam is a large concrete gravity dam of some 1500 feet long and 75 feet high. It was one of the most significant works in the Galloway scheme. Clatteringshaws Dam created a storage reservoir in Clatteringshaws Loch which provides water for the Glenlee station. This dam is a large scale gravity dam with a wide battered profile and central turret making a significant landscape contribution. The gentle curve of the plan form was a deliberate design feature included for aesthetic reasons in direct response to concerns expressed by amenity groups over the impact of the scheme on the landscape of the area. The dam remains relatively unaltered apart from an additional shutter covering the door of the control turret. P L Payne, 1988; E Wood, 2002; G Hill, 1984.
