Description

The monument is a massive dam and associated works including a lade built in 1847 to form a new loch.

The dam was built to divert the headwaters of the Kilmory River through a rock-cut lade into the Kinloch River. It is a curving structure formed by two battered drystone walls enclosing an earth core. It is 10.5m thick at the base and about 5.8m in height. Its original length was about 60m, of which 45m survives. There are two contemporary stone buttresses on the front face of the dam.

The dam was breached and abandoned a only a few days after the reservoir was filled. The lade measures about 300m in length and includes a rock-cut section up to 7m wide and 4m deep. The footings of a rectangular building are situated by the lade 190m ENE of the dam. On the channel upstream of the building are the remains of a bridge, of which the NNW abutment is particularly well preserved.

The area to be scheduled measures 390m WSW-ENE by a maximum of 65m, to include the dam, lade, building, bridge and an area around these in which traces of activities associated with the construction of the dam may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance for its potential contribution to an understanding of estate management on 19th-century Rum, and by inference throughout Highland Scotland. The scale of the undertaking well illustrates the number of potential workers occupying what is now virtually a depopulated area. It is a particularly massive structure and is very well preserved.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM 39 NE 27.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland