A succession of four waterfalls on the River Clyde as it passes to the southwest of Lanark in South Lanarkshire. The lowest fall is Stonebyres Linn, situated 1½ miles (2.5 km) west of Lanark, followed by Dundaff Linn at New Lanark, then Corra Linn, which is the most spectacular of the four, and finally Stonebyres Linn. Since 1927, water has been asbtracted from a weir above Stonebyres Linn and another above the Bonnington Linn to be used in the two power stations of the Lanark Hydro-Electric Scheme. Water was also taken via a lade from the weir above Dundaff Linn to power the mills of New Lanark and is still used to turn a small hydro-electric turbine now located beneath the New Lanark Visitor Centre.
The Falls of Clyde were considered a natural wonder, which was much celebrated by artists and writers, including Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834). There are notable depictions by Jacob More (1740-93), Alexander Nasmyth (1758 - 1840), J.M.W. Turner (1775 - 1881) and Alasdair Gray (1934 - 2019). Turner visited in 1801 to sketch the falls, and later used these sketches to produce watercolours now held by the National Gallery of Scotland and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Gray painted a 10.7-m / 35-foot long mural that is located in the Riverside Tavern at Kirkfieldbank.
