NS4276 : Former dam and lily pond
taken 15 years ago, near to Bellsmyre, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Before 1892, there was no pond here; as early OS maps confirm, this was merely the location of some bends in the course of the Overtoun Burn. However, at that time, a dam was formed here (the OS map of 1898 labels it as such); the Overtoun Burn nows flows past the western side of the pool, running along what is clearly an artificial, straight channel.
The dam was built as part of a hydro-electric scheme to provide electricity for NS4276 : Overtoun House. The turbine house itself was located further downstream (NS4276 : Remains of a turbine house), beside a small waterfall called NS4276 : Spardie Linn.
The dam also doubled in an ornamental role as a lily pond.
This was one of the earliest examples of a hydro-electric scheme producing power for domestic use: in around 1892, the occupant of Overtoun House, John Campbell White (soon to be created Lord Overtoun), had a turbine house built to provide electricity for his home. See Link for more on Overtoun House. The ruins of the turbine house are located beside a waterfall called Spardie Linn – Link – on the course of the Overtoun Burn. Water was impounded further up the burn in a dam, which doubled as an ornamental lily pond. The dam is fed by the Overtoun Burn, whose channel, just upstream of the pond, can be seen to have been artificially straightened; the remains of a sluice gate are visible there.
Locally, the woodland walks within the Overtoun Estate are still collectively known as "the Nature Trail", in memory of the fact that they used to be laid out as a nature trail with numbered marker posts (the Nature Trail, made with funds left over from the Quality of Life Experiment, officially opened on the 26th of April 1980). New waymarkers were added, both here and in the adjacent Lang Craigs Woodland ( Link ), in May 2015. For more on the Nature Trail, see Overtoun House: Link
