CARMAN RESERVOIR, Carman Muir.
ACCESS : A great place to fish. It is also a great place for walk, but unless you are fishing, you should keep beyond the fence.
///quietly.warthog.scam Control point for fishing.
This is a commercially run fish stocked reservoir. Queries need to be directed to those who run it : Carman Fishery.
It sits on CARMAN MUIR index.asp?pageid=717183 with good views of CARMAN HILL index.asp?pageid=715665, each described separately. And it can be reached on foot from Renton up the path - see CRAIGANDRO WOODS, HUNDRED STEPS AND DROVERS ROAD index.asp?pageid=715967. A great walk.
The reservoir had been formed in the 1880s from a smaller existing body of water called Carman Loch. The loch itself, which was occasionally used for curling, was not of any great antiquity; it had been created by the Turnbull family, in connection with their Millburn Works. As the Vale of Leven Project tells us : In the 1880's concern over the town water supply had led to consideration of solutions. By now, Renton's population was over 4,000 people and water and sanitation were a major issue - as they were in the rest of the Vale. The Vale, in the shape of Bonhill Parish Council, was pursuing plans to extract water from Loch Lomond, but since Renton was not in Bonhill Parish, it was excluded from these plans. No matter, the people of Renton drew up a scheme based on an expansion of Carman Loch, and the new water system was opened in 1886, and outlasted the Vale scheme by nearly 60 years, being in use until the 1960's.
The water was pumped via a facility with a red sandstone building some distance away known as the upper Carman Waterworks. This building has been altered and extended and is now a private residence with a self catering accommodation section.
Lower down Cardross Road on the sharp bemd is the lower Carman Waterworks, a triangular site with high walls. The settling filtration ponds are still there, ableti infilled, as is a large metal tank. There was at one time also an operator's house.
The supply of water to Renton was celebrated by the installation of a cast iron drinking fountain which is now next to the Renton medical centre. index.asp?pageid=718195
ALSO SEE : CARMAN CATTLE FAIR index.asp?pageid=716244
The reservoir seen from the south side and looking towards Carman Hill.
In mid-summer a great many greylag geese settle in, often accompanied by a number of canada geese - as vouched for by this sheep who has wandered in too.
In this old photograph, the Waterworks house (not to be confused with the pump house further up the road) can be seen over the high perimeter wall. This was also where there were some settling tanks. Actually these still exist although long out of use.
CARMAN FISHERY : https://www.facebook.com/CarmanFishery/
GEOGRAPH.ORG : https://www.geograph.org.uk/tagged/Carman+Reservoir
GET OUTSIDE website : https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/carman-reservoir-west-dunbartonshire
VALE OF LEVEN PROJECT : http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/renton3.html
