Corra Linn
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Falls of Clyde are a series of linns or waterfalls on the
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
, near
Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...
, Scotland. They are renowned for their beauty and have frequently been painted by artists. There are four in total: Bonnington Linn, Corra Linn, and Dundaff Linn, all above Lanark, and Stonebyres Linn, some distance below the town. The highest and most impressive of the four is Corra Linn, with a fall of .


History

The area has long been a popular destination for visitors. The Wordsworths, Coleridge and Sir Walter Scott all visited the Falls. In 1802,
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
immortalised Corra Linn, the largest of the waterfalls, in verse. Corra Linn has also been painted by a number of artists, including
J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...
. The name comes from the Gaelic ''currach'', a marshy place. A legend gives "Cora" as a daughter of King Malcolm II, who leapt to her death here whilst trying to escape imagined danger. Near Corra Linn is the Pavilion, built by Sir John Carmichael of Bonnington, probably in 1708. The
Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
had mirrors on its back wall, and when the doors were opened visitors had the illusion of standing beneath the falls. The 15th-century Corra Castle is next to Corra Linn. It is now home to a good number of Daubenton's bat and of some Natterer's and whiskered bats. Corra is Gaelic for "weir", and as Corra Castle's early history is vague, some historians believe it was an early possession of the Weirs, the principal landowning family in the county after the Dukes of Hamilton from the 13th to 19th centuries. Corehouse, built in 1844, the home of the Cranstoun family, is nearby.


Falls of Clyde Site of Special Scientific Interest

The Falls of Clyde Site of Special Scientific Interest (formerly the Corehouse Nature Reserve), a part of the Clyde Valley Woodlands National Nature Reserve, is an area of mixed woodland, including semi-natural native oakwoods and some areas of conifer plantation. It provides suitable habitat for
badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...
s, roe deer, and over 100 species of bird. The site is well known for its resident breeding pair of
peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...
s, which are protected during the breeding season by Operation Peregrine, providing security for the birds and a chance for the public to view the birds through scopes and CCTV. On 22 October 2011 at 1500 GMT a very rare
pine marten The European pine marten (''Martes martes''), also known as the pine marten, is a mustelid native to and widespread in most of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and parts of Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red Lis ...
was spotted within the reserve and was photographed. Within the reserve the Clyde River is suitable habitat for
otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the Rank (zoology), subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic animal, aquatic, or Marine ecology, marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae Family (biology), family, whi ...
and
kingfishers Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
as well as the protected
brook lamprey The brook lamprey (''Lampetra planeri''), also known as the European brook lamprey and the western brook lamprey is a small European lamprey species that exclusively inhabits freshwater environments. The species is related to, but distinct from, ...
. The Falls of Clyde Visitor Centre, operated by the
Scottish Wildlife Trust The Scottish Wildlife Trust () is a registered charity dedicated to conserving the wildlife and natural environment of Scotland. Description The Scottish Wildlife Trust has well over 46,000 members. The Scottish Wildlife Trust acquired its fi ...
, features exhibits about the waterfalls, the woodland and the area animals, including a special
bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...
display.


Hydro-electric power

The
Lanark Hydro Electric Scheme The Lanark Hydro Electric Scheme consists of two hydroelectric plants in the Clydesdale (district), Clydesdale area of South Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are run-of-the-river power stations, using water from the River Clyde near to the Falls of ...
is situated between Corra Linn and Dundaff Linn, with a water inlet at Bonnington Linn, and is considered the oldest of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The scheme was conceived in 1925 under the chairmanship of Sir Edward MacCollDictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Lorimer and was completed in 1927 as the first hydro-electric power station in Scotland designed for public supply, rather than industry. The power station at
Stonebyres Stonebyres was an estate and country house in Lanarkshire, Scotland, belonging to the Weir, or de Vere, family from earliest recorded history. The Weir-de Veres were a cadet branch of the Weir family of Blackwood but were a powerful and sometimes ...
was designed by Sir
Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...
(who also acted as design advisor to the committee looking at the overall concept). The plant generates approximately eleven megawatts of power. Another hydro-electric power station is situated near Stonebyres Linn, about three miles south of Corra Linn. This generates approximately six megawatts of power. Both stations are owned and operated by
Scottish Power Scottish Power Limited, trading as ScottishPower, is a vertically integrated energy company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of Spanish utility firm Iberdrola. ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central an ...
.


See also

*
List of waterfalls This list of notable waterfalls of the world is sorted by continent, then country, then province, state or territory. A waterfall is included if it is at least tall and has an existing Wikipedia article, or it is considered historically sig ...
*
List of waterfalls in the United Kingdom This is a links page to the named waterfalls found in the UK and includes a list of the highest waterfalls. Highest waterfalls in the UK The list of highest waterfalls is often controversial, due to the ambiguity of whether to measure the sin ...


References

Historical Tours in the Clyde Valley. Published by the Clyde Valley Tourist Association and the Lanark & District Archaeological Association. Printed by Robert MacLehose and Company Limited, Renfrew, Scotland. 1982.


External links


Falls of Clyde Wildlife Reserve

Visitor Centre


*
Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve
{{authority control River Clyde Clyde Clyde Valley Woodlands National Nature Reserve Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Clydesdale and South East Glasgow Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes Nature centres in Scotland