Forestmill (or Forest Mill) is a small hamlet in the county of

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; ; ), or the County of Clackmannan, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, Council areas of Scotland, council area, registration counties, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is situated on the A977 road between Kincardine and

Kinross Kinross (, ) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth, Scotland, Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinro ...

, about 3 miles from the Kincardine end. The Black Devon river runs through it towards the town of

Clackmannan Clackmannan ( ; , perhaps meaning "Stone of Manau"), is a small town and civil parish set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated within the Forth Valley, Clackmannan is south-east of Alloa and south of Tillicoultry. The town is within ...

. A notable feature on the river within Forestmill is a horseshoe weir. This was built in 1711 by

George Sorocold George Sorocold ( – c. 1738) was an English civil engineer notable for pioneering work on water supplies and hydraulic power systems around Great Britain. Biography Sorocold was born in Lancashire in 1666, the son of James Sorocold and El ...

to direct water from the river through a sluice into the

mill lade A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a m ...

that fed the Gartmorn Dam reservoir. The weir was added to the schedule of British listed monuments in 1972. The nearby

Forest Mill railway station Forest Mill railway station served the hamlet of Forestmill, Clackmannanshire, Scotland from 1850 to 1930 on the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway. History The station opened as Kincardine on 28 August 1850 by the North British Railway ...

served the hamlet from 1850 to 1930. The Scottish poet Michael Bruce taught at the primary school for several months before his death in 1767. The Clackmannanshire Council website shows the hamlet with a population of 55 in 2009, making it the smallest settlement in the county. However, in 2009, initial planning permission was granted for a significant expansion of the village by the Muir Group. A proposal to build over 1,200 houses, shops, hotel and golf course has been agreed by the council, despite some opposition by local residents.

References

Clacksweb Population Statistics

British Listed Buildings website
{{coord, 56, 7, 30, N, 3, 41, 12, W, display=title, region:GB_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Hamlets in Scotland

See also

References