The Pow of Inchaffray (also known as the Pow Water) is a drainage ditch in

Strathearn Strathearn or Strath Earn (), also the Earn Valley, is the strath of the River Earn, which flows from Loch Earn to meet the River Tay in the east of Scotland. The area covers the stretch of the river, containing a number of settlements in ...

, Scotland. It is approximately long and drains of fertile agricultural land. The Pow dates back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and was dug on the orders of the canons of the nearby

Inchaffray Abbey Inchaffray Abbey was situated by the village of Madderty, midway between Perth and Crieff in Strathearn, Scotland. The only traces now visible are an earth mound and some walls on rising ground which once (before drainage) formed an island whe ...

; it was expanded under permissions granted by

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

. A drainage commission became responsible for the Pow in 1696 under an act of the

Parliament of Scotland In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. This body, the only local drainage commission in Scotland, continues to maintain the Pow and collect revenue from local landowners. A modernised act to govern the commission was passed in 2018.

Description

The Pow starts at Methven Moss and runs in a south-westerly direction for until it meets the

River Earn The River Earn () in Scotland leaves Loch Earn at St Fillans and runs east through Strathearn, then east and south, joining the River Tay near Abernethy. The Earn is about long. It passes by Comrie, Crieff (where it is joined by the Pow ...

near to

Innerpeffray Innerpeffray is a hamlet in Perthshire, Scotland, southeast of Crieff. It is located on a raised promontory among beech woodland above the River Earn. A fording point across the river can still be used, on what is the line of a Roman Road. Th ...

, about to the south-east of

Crieff Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...

. The Pow's

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is which includes 79 residential properties, 21 agricultural properties and 2 commercial properties. It has ten major tributaries which total approximately of watercourse. The Pow's purpose is disputed with some claiming it to be for the drainage of groundwater and others that it is a flood prevention measure.

History

Pow is a Scots language term that dates to the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

and means an artificial ditch. The Pow was first dug on the orders of the canons of the Augustinian

. The abbey, one of the largest in Scotland at the time, was located on an island in marshland and the Pow was intended to help drain the surroundings. Abbot

Maurice of Inchaffray Maurice ( or ''Muireadhach'') was a 14th-century Scottish cleric who became Prior of Inchmahome, Abbot of Inchaffray and then Bishop of Dunblane. He was Prior (ecclesiastical), Prior of Inchmahome Priory in Menteith after 1297. He became abbot o ...

was chaplain to

and prior to the 1314

Battle of Bannockburn The Battle of Bannockburn ( or ) was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence. It was a decisive victory for Ro ...

claimed to have witnessed a miracle whereby the arm bone of Saint Fillan appeared in a previously empty

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...

. Robert the Bruce credited the miracle with providing his subsequent victory on the battlefield. In thanks to Maurice he granted the abbey permission to extend the Pow. The abbey went into decline after the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process whereby Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church, and established the Protestant Church of Scotland. It forms part of the wider European 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Fr ...

and was gradually abandoned. Despite this the Pow remained in use.

Management

In 1696 the Pow was brought under the formal management of a drainage commission (similar to the

internal drainage board An internal drainage board (IDB) is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management wit ...

s of

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

) by the "Act in favour of Sir Robert Murray of Abercairney and other heritors upon the Pow of Inchaffray" passed by the

. The commission was empowered by the act to tax

heritor A heritor was a privileged person in a parish in Scots law. In its original acceptation, it signified the proprietor of a heritable subject, but, in the law relating to parish government, the term was confined to such proprietors of lands or house ...

s, those landowners that benefited from the Pow, for the maintenance and improvement of the ditch. It noted that "the grass and corns of several heritors of the said lands are frequently lost and rendered useless". This act was repealed and replaced by an 1846 act (the "Pow of Inchaffray Drainage Act 1846") of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

which included measures for the construction of new flood defences. A

private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or are ...

, aimed at establishing the commissioners as a

body corporate In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''legal'' person" is t ...

to take into account changes in the size of the drainage basin and to the number of heritors, was submitted to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

by the drainage commissioners in March 2017 to replace the 1846 act. It received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

as the "Pow of Inchaffray Drainage Commission (Scotland) Act 2019" on 17 January 2019. The Pow drainage commission is the only local drainage commission in Scotland. It is responsible for some of the country's most fertile agricultural land and has also worked to allow residential development to take place on part of the drainage basin. The Pow has a population of non-native

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

s and the commissioners have been in discussion with

Scottish Natural Heritage NatureScot () is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for Scotland’s natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and scenic diversity. It advises the Scottish Government on nature conservati ...

to carry out a trial of beaver-proof fencing and water-gates.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Perth and Kinross Tay catchment