Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Rob Brownfield

It's amazing when you find out that your house used to look out over a 250 acre loch that contained "Pike of unusual size and weight", but frustrating to learn that the loch was drained in 1806.

Maybe I should reinstate the Loch of Auchlossan. If only I can find a plug big enough to fit the plug hole ;)

Looking through the records of witch trials in the area from the 1500's, the loch and a crannog/burial mound are mentioned, as well as "the Devil", summoned by the witches is a macabre dance.

I may be clutching at straws, but the Devil was described as being of a green mottled colour, with a large mouth full of teeth, dead, cold eyes, and "having been summoned by the witches to the shore of the loch, the Devil himself grabbed a duck and disappeared back into the waters".

Does that not describe a Pike?

Mike Barrio

Re: Things you find out when you ask the right people.
« Reply #1 on: 05/12/2019 at 14:31 »
I thought your house was a crannog Rob ...... or have you managed to stop the water flowing round it?  :z4

Cheers
Mike

Hamish Young

Re: Things you find out when you ask the right people.
« Reply #2 on: 08/12/2019 at 10:31 »
There was a distinct period post-Jacobean uprising that saw serious land management occuring across Scotland, in particular the draining of lochs to provide additionaI agricultural land which really got into gear in the mid 19th century.
I recalled from other conversations with an archaeologist/local historians that this move to land drainage largely occured (in Aberdeenshire at least) from around 1850 on, so I wondered about the Loch of Auchlossan were a very early example.  However, I suspect it's more likely that it was drained in 1860 rather than 1806, which is more in keeping with the dates of draining other lochs in the area including the Loch of Leys which used to occupy ground east of the A980 and pretty much opposite where Raemoir Trout Fishery is today.
The Burn of Binnie was altered and straightened to aid in the drainage of Leys, much as the Dess Burn was altered to drain Auchlossan.
These two weren't alone across the county or the country, it's worth looking at the scans of the The Roy Military Survey of Scotland here http://maps.nls.uk/roy/index.html  This is a really interesting post-jacobean uprising map (mapping undertaken between 1747-1755) which could, I suppose, be considered a precursor to Ordnance Survey mapping Scotland. Whilst its routes lie in military cartography it's interesting to see in equal measures how little (and also how much) has changed between that time and the rise of precise Ordnance Survey mapping then modern satellite imagry.
I am a geek.
This is also a useful tool for those delving into Aberdeenshire detail https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/smrpub/default.aspx

H

Rob Brownfield

Re: Things you find out when you ask the right people.
« Reply #3 on: 09/12/2019 at 23:34 »
A bit more digging reveals we are both right and both wrong lol.

Seems it was a partial draining from 250 acres to 180 acres, with “test” farmland being used to assess the crop yield.

It took until 1859 before a tennent was found,  when the remaining water was drained (not sure how long that would take).

Your date is far more accurate.

Nature seems to be reclaiming the area as the past three winters have seen large areas of the formal Loch being flooded.

Rob Brownfield

Re: Things you find out when you ask the right people.
« Reply #4 on: 09/12/2019 at 23:42 »
I thought your house was a crannog Rob ...... or have you managed to stop the water flowing round it?  :z4

Cheers
Mike

Unfortunately the water still flows.
We did have a bit of improvement with some work on the spring and overflow drains, but then Forest and Land Scotland harvested the forest on the hill above us. This mean’s tens of thousands of gallons of water not being uptaken by trees, and gravity bringing it down to us.
On the plus side, my wee Loch has a great flow through it :)

James Abel

Re: Things you find out when you ask the right people.
« Reply #5 on: 10/12/2019 at 20:00 »
That would be my luck like winning the lottery and loosing the ticket :X2

 




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