The Allt Graad (: Ugly Stream) or River Glass is a river in

Easter Ross Easter Ross ( gd, Ros an Ear) is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland. The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constitu ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, Scotland. It is named on Ordnance Survey maps variously as Allt Graad and River Glass. It has also been known as the "Allt Grande", and the archaic

Anglicization Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

, "Aultgraad". As of 2011, a hydro-electric scheme is under construction on the Allt Graad. This

run-of-the-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amo ...

scheme is on the lower catchment of the river, next to the Black Rock Gorge. It will be operated by

RWE Npower Npower Limited is a British supplier of gas and electricity to businesses. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON UK since January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent o ...

, and have a capacity of 3.5MW.

Course

The Allt Graad flows 9 km (5½ miles) from Loch Glass through Glen Glass past

Evanton Evanton ( gd, Baile Eòghainn or gd, Am Baile Ùr) is a small village in Easter Ross, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It lies between the River Sgitheach and the Allt Graad, is north of Inverness, some south-west of Alness, an ...

into the

Cromarty Firth The Cromarty Firth (; gd, Caolas Chrombaidh ; literally "kyles /nowiki>straits">strait.html" ;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straitsof Cromarty") is an arm of the Moray Firth in Scotland. Geography The entrance to the Cromarty Firth is gu ...

. Between Glen Glass and Evanton it flows through the

Black Rock Gorge Black Rock Gorge is a deep and narrow cleft in Old Red Sandstone conglomerate through which the Allt Graad (also known as the 'River Glass') flows in Easter Ross, Scotland. It was caused by rapids heavily burdened with sediment being carried upwar ...

, associated in local tradition with the Lady of Balconie. It meets the sea about a mile from the mouth of the River Sgitheach.

References

Graad, Allt Allt Graad {{Scotland-river-stub