Falls of Clyde: An historic guide for tourists trail leaflet

The Scottish Wildlife Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland (no. SC040247). It is also a Scottish registered charity (no. SC005792).

Cover image © Paul Watt. Peregrine © Neil Aldridge. Badger © Andrew Mason.

Birthday party © Bobby Gavin. Leaflet is printed on FSC accredited stock.

T 01555 665 262 E fallsofclyde@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk

scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk The Visitor Centre and the Clyde Room are wheelchair friendly.

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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2014

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Falls of Clyde Visitor Centre Please help Falls of Clyde by making a donation today. Text ‘‘Fall13 £2’’ to 70070 to donate now. All texts are free and 100% of your donation goes to helping preserve this amazing wildlife reserve.

Did you enjoy this Victorian trail?

My family, to whom the property belongs,

allows ticketed access, at all hours, to the public, who find tasteful walks kept in the highest order, and seats at every fine viewpoint.

...some parts where the inquisitive may venture, are so close upon the water, that the slightest tremulousness may in a moment be fatal. Such cases have occurred.

In August 1815, Alexander Wilson Burrage, a native of Ipswich, who was a teacher at New Lanark , was on a visit to the Falls, in company with another young man. While exploring some crevices of the rocks, he fell backwards and lost his life.

This written guide will help you discover

the different features we have here and I have attached your ticket below. I hope you will enjoy the Falls of Clyde as much as the famous artists before you; it is such a splendid place.

Yours sincerely,

Lady Geraldine Lockhart Ross

Join us today!

New Lanark • South Lanarkshire • ML11 9DB

down to the river bed; it is steep, can be slippery and water levels can rise without notice.

W.A. Cowan wrote:

You can help to support our vital work protecting Scotland’s wildlife by becoming a member:

T 01555 665 262 E fallsofclyde@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk

We discourage all visitors from heading

• Free entry to all our Visitor Centres and reserves • Subscription to Scottish Wildlife magazine • Free copy of our Exploring Reserves guide • Invitation to exclusive talks and events

How to find us place to take in the fresh Scottish air; it does wonders for one’s health, but please remember that it is dangerous to go down into the gorge.

Visit scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk for more information or call 0131 312 7765.

This picturesque landscape is an excellent

war we were unable to go on the Grand Tour of Europe but I think the ‘petit’ tour of Great Britain allows us to appreciate our own natural wonders. Places such as Snowdonia, the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands have become celebrated destinations including this area we are in today. Did you start your ‘petit’ tour in Edinburgh? Many people do and then end their tour here with us.

The best views of nesting peregrine falcons in Britain.

Visit our viewing station, open Mar-Jun.

@TheFallsOfClyde #FOCVictorian

Open daily 10am-4pm (may vary over the Christmas period, check website for details).

It is unfortunate that during the Napoleonic

Birthday parties

Clyde Room

of Clyde. My name is Lady Geraldine Lockhart Ross and I will be your guide today. You must be tired from your train journey from Glasgow; is it not wonderful that there is now a branch line of the Caledonian Railway to Lanark?

Wildlife-themed birthday parties with our ranger from £10 per child. Ages 3-13 years.

Whether for workshops, classes or birthday parties, this new versatile space is available for group bookings from £40. Call us for details!

I am delighted to welcome you to the Falls

... and our other trails!

An historic guide for tourists

Falls of Clyde

Harbourside House 110 Commercial Street Edinburgh EH6 6NF T 0131 312 7765 E enquiries@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk

For enquiries or bookings, please contact the Visitor Centre:

By Lady Geraldine Lockhart Ross

Dearest V isitor,

Let me introduce my family to you: Sir James Carmichael (c.1690-1727)

Sir James was my great grandfather. He built the hunting lodge that became Bonnington Pavilion.

Admiral Sir John Lockhart Ross (1721-1790)

The estate passed by marriage with Lady Ross Bailie to my grandfather. He built our family home, Bonnington House.

General Sir Charles Lockhart Ross (1763-1814)

My father was a wealthy landowner whose mother had bequeathed him large estates in both Lanarkshire (including Bonnington Estate) and Ross-shire.

Lady Mary Lockhart Ross (1777-1842)

My late mother, Lady Mary, implemented many improvements to the estate including many of the viewpoints and paths that you see today.

And some of my family’s acquaintances: JMW Turner (1775-1851)

Turner was a British Romantic landscape painter and water-colourist. Considered a controversial figure, he was commonly known as ‘the painter of light’.

Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855)

Born in the Lake District, Dorothy was an English author, poet and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth.

George Cranstoun (d.1850)

A lawyer in Edinburgh who inherited Corehouse Estate from distant cousins. He later adopted the title Lord Corehouse and was responsible for the building of the new house. Improvements to the estate were also made and included the creation of a walled garden, lake and an intricate pattern of paths giving views across the river.

I

Archway

Mid Lodge

The Falls of Clyde, Turner, c.1840 - © Courtesy National Museums Liverpool

At an impressive 84ft, the ‘Clyde’s most majestic daughter’ is the highest and most famous of the four waterfalls (Stonebyres Linn can be found further down river by following the Clyde Walkway, three miles north from New Lanark). Turner visited the Falls of Clyde in 1802 and painted a watercolour of Corra Linn. Years later he reworked this subject and created the painting below. He converted a picturesque scene into a profound expression of the elemental forces and primary colours of nature. It shows the river as a dramatic backdrop for bathing by naked young women.

IV Corra Linn

There were three lodges on Bonnington Estate: North Lodge (now demolished), Mid Lodge and East Lodge (outwith the Falls of Clyde). Tickets were bought at North Lodge and taken by the gatekeeper here at Mid Lodge. Carriages were left and the remainder of the journey was by all performed on foot.

III

Here we get our first view of the river and Dundaff Linn (Linn comes from the Gaelic meaning ‘pool’).This waterfall is only 10ft high but roars down with huge ferocity after sudden downpours. There is said to be a small recess in the rocks on the Corehouse side of the river known as Wallace’s Chair; William Wallace is rumoured to have concealed himself here from the English. Dorothy Wordsworth once wrote in remark to the abundance of Wallace landmarks: ‘How Wallace fought for Scotland, left the name of Wallace to be found, like a wild flower all over his dear Country’.

II Dundaff Linn

The archway we just passed under acted as a boundary between New Lanark and Bonnington Estate. The resident workers of New Lanark were not allowed access onto this land, although children from the village often secretly sneaked out after school to play in the woods.

The walk will take one to two hours and is three miles in length. Whilst walking you will need to look out for wooden posts with Roman numerals.

Points of Interest

Corra Castle

VI

Lady Mary’s Well

VII

Bonnington Linn and Island

VIII

Bonnington Walled Garden

IX

Hall of Mirrors

Bonnington Sawmill

A single-storey sawmill which had a saw pit where two sawyers had to push and pull a vertical saw blade to cut wood. Later it became water-powered with the introduction of a pitchback wheel. This sawmill produced fencing materials and supplied logs for the fires in Bonnington House. The house has since been demolished but it was situated north east of the walled garden.

X

Bonnington Pavilion, Alexander Archer, 1837 - SC 866002 © RCAHMS (Alexander Archer Collection). Licensor www.rcahms.gov.uk

Also known as Bonnington Pavilion, it was built in 1708 as a hunting tower. It has also been a tearoom and a viewing platform for Corra Linn. There was a register here in which tourists entered their name and mirrors were placed on the ceiling so that the traveller felt as if Corra Linn were bursting over them.

Dorothy Wordsworth described the reflection as ‘bustling like suds in a wash tub’.

The walled garden was at one time full of life. The west part of the garden closest to us was used as a kitchen garden and at the far end was the orchard. To your left, inside of the north wall there was a glasshouse where they grew delicious fruits in abundance.

In the distance you can see Tinto Hill, the highest point in the county of Lanarkshire.

The painting of Bonnington Linn, Jacob More, 1771 © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Lady Mary commissioned the building of the cast-iron bridge in front of you. It led across to an octagonal, thatched, wooden temple (now demolished). Before the temple there was a corn-drying kiln which was used alongside a cornmill.

The cornmill sadly washed away in a terrible storm. Here you can also see Bonnington Linn, it has a drop of about 30ft and is the widest of the waterfalls.

Dorothy Wordsworth made note of this in her journals: ‘a beautiful spring of clear water, which we could see rise up continually, at the bottom of a round stone basin full to the brim’. One can begin to see signs of erosion though the sculpted fluting is still clearly visible. This feature was chosen by Lady Mary because it is equidistant between Corra Linn and Bonnington Linn.

View of Cory Lin on the River Clyde near Lanark, Paul Sandby, 1778 SC 866003 © Courtesy of RCAHMS: Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Licensor www.rcahms.gov.uk

The Bannatyne family home for 300 years, this 15th Century fortified tower house was sited overlooking the gorge for defensive purposes. The castle opposite contains an oubliette (from the French – ‘a forgotten place’); a dungeon cut into the solid rock floor.

These claustrophobic cells were often used to house prisoners for unlimited periods of time.

V