Loch Errochty is a man made freshwater loch situated within the

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...

council area at the edge of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

near the

Highland Boundary Fault The Highland Boundary Fault is a major fault zone that traverses Scotland from Arran and Helensburgh on the west coast to Stonehaven in the east. It separates two different geological terranes which give rise to two distinct physiographic terr ...

where the topography changes to lowland.

Overview

The Errochty dam lies at the head of Glen Errochty, two km NW of the hamlet of

Trinafour Trinafour (; gd, Trian a' Phùir) is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, approximately north-west of Pitlochry Pitlochry (; gd, Baile Chloichridh or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the Rive ...

at the approximate grid reference of . The loch has an area of 303 hectareswww.almanacofscotland.co.uk.
Gives surface area of loch. and is 5 km long and a kilometre across at its widest point. The loch is entirely man made, being created by the damming of the Errochty Water, the river which runs down the glen. The dam was constructed in 1957 by the contractors A. & M. Carmichael Ltd as part of phase two of the

Tummel hydro-electric power scheme The Tummel hydro-electric power scheme is an interconnected network of dams, power stations, aqueducts and electric power transmission in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland. Roughly bounded by Dalwhinnie in the north, Rannoch Moor in the west an ...

. The loch stands at 330 metres above sea level. The dam itself is an example of a diamond-headed

buttress dam A buttress dam or hollow dam is a dam with a solid, water-tight upstream side that is supported at intervals on the downstream side by a series of buttresses or supports. The dam wall may be straight or curved. Most buttress dams are made of reinfor ...

, it is 49 metres high and 354 metres across. The diamond-headed buttresses provide extra strength to deal with possible tremors from the

which runs just to the south of

Pitlochry Pitlochry (; gd, Baile Chloichridh or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotla ...

.''"The Dambuilders : Power from the Glens"'', James Miller, Page 117 Gives details of Diamond headed dam. Water from Loch Errochty is diverted through a 10 km long tunnel to the Errochty

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

power station at the western end of

Loch Tummel Loch Tummel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Teimheil) is a long, narrow loch, northwest of Pitlochry in the council area of Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is fed and drained by the River Tummel, which flows into the River Tay about south-east of th ...

. The gatehouse for the tunnel at Loch Errochty is near the southern shore, the actual intake is beneath it at the bottom of the loch. The power station has a maximum output of 75 MW and is the largest power producer of the nine main stations in the Tummel scheme. Water is released from the dam to compensate the flow of the Errochty Water, this compensation water flows down a pipeline for 1.5 km to the very small 500 kWTrinafour Power Station
, British Hydropower Association hydro power station at Trinafour before being released into the Errochty Water.
Gives details of dam dimensions and power station details.

Water supply to the loch

Loch Errochty's main feeder streams are the Allt Sléibh and the Allt Ruighe nan Saorach which both rise in the high ground to the west of the head of the loch. Other small streams flow directly off the mountain of

Beinn a' Chuallaich Beinn a' Chuallaich is a Scottish hill, four kilometres northeast of the village of Kinloch Rannoch in the Perth and Kinross council area. It is part of the high ground between Strath Tummel and Glen Errochty. Overview Beinn a’ Chuallaich is ...

which stands just to the south. Supplementary water is diverted into the loch from the east by the Errochty

catchwater A catchwater device is a large-scale man-made device for catching surface runoff from hills and the sky from precipitation by channeling it to reservoirs for commercial and domestic use later. Freshwater is a scarce natural resource due to polluti ...

, a system of tunnels and surface pipelines at a height of approximately 380 metres which redirects water from five small tributary streams of the River Garry, and the Garry itself. The catchwater then goes through a tunnel in the hill which separates the Garry and Errochty valleys to join the loch. This method of re-directing water allows it to be used more often to generate electricity. Some of the water within the Tummel scheme passes through five of the power stations and thus generates electricity five times.Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
Gives details of Errochty Catchwateer.
States that some of the water is used five times to generate electricity within the Tummel scheme.

Access and fishing

The north shore of the loch has a narrow surfaced road which is not open to general traffic, there being a locked gate at Trinafour to prevent access. The south side of the loch has extensive woodlands in the area around the dam wall. A track goes through the woodland from Trinafour and then continues in open country along the south shore until it reaches the ruin of Ruighe nan Saorach.

Recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

is popular on the loch with some large specimens of

Pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

and

Perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

being present. There are no

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

in the loch as a

fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as move ...

has not been provided to allow the passage of migrating fish past the dam. Permits to fish are required from the Auchleeks estate.Where To Fish.
Gives details of fishing on loch.

Old buildings

The southern shore of the loch has numerous remains of old buildings. This is believed to be the remnants of old sheep farms which were in the valley before it was flooded. The remains include old farmsteads,

shieling A shieling is a hut or collection of huts on a seasonal pasture high in the hills, once common in wild or sparsely populated places in Scotland. Usually rectangular with a doorway on the south side and few or no windows, they were often cons ...

s and sheep pens, some with walls 30 cm (12 ins) high. Many more of the remains are now believed to be under water.Perth & Kinross: Historic Environment Record.
Gives details of old buildings on south shore.

Popular Culture

The dam and some interior tunnels were used for location filming in episode 705 of the television series "Outlander".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Errochty Lochs of Perth and Kinross Reservoirs in Perth and Kinross Protected areas of Perth and Kinross Highland Boundary Fault Freshwater lochs of Scotland