River Calder

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Calder, a rivulet of Ayr and Renfrew shires. It rises in Largs parish on the N slope of Burnt Hill (1589 feet), near the mutual border of the two counties; runs 1¼ mile ENE on this boundary, then 2½ miles E and SE on the boundary between Kilmalcolmand Lochwinnoch parishes, expanding here into a triangular lake, called Calder Dam (2¼ x 1½ furl.); then proceeds about 5½ miles SE, through Lochwinnoch parish, to the head of Castle-Semple Loch, in the vicinity of Lochwinnoch town. A number of beautiful cascades diversify its romantic course, while on its banks are several cotton-mills.—Ord. Sur., sh. 30,1866.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer