Silver Rig Loch

An old reservoir in a clearing the Glentrool Forest of NW Dumfries and Galloway, Silver Rig Loch is located a half-mile (1 km) east northeast of Cordorcan and 5 miles (8 km) north northwest of Newton Stewart. Retained by a small earth embankment, it was built in the mid-19th C. to supply water to drive pumps associated with a silver and lead mine lying just the southwest. This mine operated in three phases beginning in the 18th C. but was finally abandoned in the later 19th C. Possibly preserved due to the remoteness of the location, various relics of the mine can still be seen, including tunnels, an air shaft, a waste tip, the remains of a building and the masonry which supported the water-wheel. The loch is much silted up and on the point of disappearing, but once extended to 0.54 ha (1.6 acres).


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