Loch More (great Loch in Gaelic) is a

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

loch ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or "inlet, sea inlet" in Scottish Gaelic, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes calle ...

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

, Scotland, about south of

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; , ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great Britain. From a latitudinal s ...

.Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis H. Groome; publ. Thomas C. Jack, Edinburgh,1901. (Article on Halkirk) It is a shallow flat-bottomed basin, in common with most of the nearby lochs.Bathymetrical Survey of the Scottish Fresh-Water Lochs, ed. Sir John Murray K.C.B., F.R.S., D.Sc., and Laurence Pullar F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S., publ. Challenger Office, Edinburgh, 1910; Vol II, part 2, p. 19Bartholomew's Half Inch to Mile Map of Scotland - Sheet 27 Caithness; publ. John Bartholomew, 1929 The overflow from the loch is taken by the River Thurso, which, after a windy course of , flows into the

Pentland Firth The Pentland Firth (, meaning the Orcadian Strait) is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth. Etymology The name is presumed to be a corruption of the Old Nors ...

at the town of Thurso. The main inflow comes from the Sleach Water and the upper part of the River Thurso (also known here as Strathmore water). The latter is formed by a union of Rumsdale Water (source Rumsdale Loch) and Glut Water, whose source to the south-west is at a height of around , about upstream from Loch More. The loch was originally an irregular round shape, less than a mile across, with a surface area of about . The average depth was only reaching a maximum of about . However, in 1907-1908 a dam was built at the outflow into the River Thurso, which raised the level of the loch by . Its purpose was to control the amount of water in the downstream River Thurso, thus improving the quality of salmon fishing. As a result, the area of the loch increased to , with a depth up to a maximum of , depending on the amount of water discharged.The Salmon Rivers and Lochs of Scotland, by W. L. Calderwood, F.R.S.E., publ. Edward Arnold, London, 1909; pp.247-249 The length of the loch is now .Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain Sheet 39/04 – A, Revised 1905-1946, publ. Ordnance Survey, 1950 The area draining into Loch More is about , an area 240 times greater than the original size of the loch, an unusually large catchment area for such a small body of water. The loch is about above sea level.

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