Talla Reservoir, located a mile from

Tweedsmuir Tweedsmuir ( gd, Sliabh Thuaidh) is a village and civil parish in Tweeddale, the Scottish Borders Council district, southeastern Scotland. Geography The village is set in a valley, with the rolling hills and burns on both sides, covering some ...

, Scottish Borders, Scotland, is an earth-work

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

fed by

Talla Water Talla Water is a river in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near Tweedsmuir. It feeds the Talla Reservoir, and is a tributary of the River Tweed. Above the reservoir are a series of waterfalls known as the Talla Linns. The Talla Railway w ...

. The reservoir is supplemented by water from the nearby

Fruid Reservoir Fruid is a small reservoir in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, UK, near Menzion. It is formed by damming the Fruid Water, and supplements the contents of Talla Reservoir, forming part of the water supply for Edinburgh. The construction ...

. It was opened in 1905. To assist in bringing the materials for its construction, the Talla Railway was built.

History

In the late 19th century engineers surveying for the Edinburgh and District Water Trust (EDWT) identified the area around the loch at Talla in the hills above Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders as an ideal site for a new reservoir to supply the increasing water demands of the expanding city of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, 28 miles to the north. In the mid-1890s the land was secured from the Trustees of the

Earl of Wemyss and March Earl of Wemyss ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in ...

Estates for £20,000. Construction was by James Young & Sons. On 29 September 1897 a stone-laying ceremony marked the start of construction of Victoria Lodge, at the southern terminus. The Lodge was built as the headquarters for the Trustees of the Edinburgh Water Company. A category B listed house in the Scots Renaissance style, it sits in its own private grounds overlooking the reservoir. All materials for construction were lifted from there to the construction site by a ropeway, called a '

Blondin Charles Blondin (born Jean François Gravelet, 28 February 182422 February 1897) was a French tightrope walker and acrobat. He toured the United States and was known for crossing the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope. During an event in Dublin in ...

' after the famous tightrope walker

Charles Blondin Charles Blondin (born Jean François Gravelet, 28 February 182422 February 1897) was a French tightrope walker and acrobat. He toured the United States and was known for crossing the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope. During an event in Dublin in ...

. These included stone and aggregates from quarries in North Queensferry and

Craigleith Craigleith ( gd, Creag Lìte) is a small island in the Firth of Forth off North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland. Its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic ''Creag Lìte'' meaning "rock of Leith". It is at its highest point. Geography and geo ...

, pipes, valve gear and pumping equipment from central Scotland, as well as the

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

, gravel and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

used in the dam embankment. Puddle clay, for the watertight barrier within the dam came from the Carluke area; this material was initially developed by

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. Early life Born i ...

for canal lining. In total, over 100,000 tons of material were transported for the building of the reservoir, and at least 30 of the workmen (who were mostly

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

) died during construction and are buried at Tweedsmuir churchyard. TallaReservoir2

Construction work was virtually complete by late 1904 and Talla Water was diverted into the bed of the reservoir on 20 May 1905. The official opening ceremony on 28 September was carried out by Lady Cranston, wife of the Lord Provost. The total cost was £1.25 million (the equivalent of £156 million in 2020).Edinburgh and Its Environs: Wardlock Guide

Sources

John Furneval's article on Railscot

History

Sources

See also