31 August 2009 UPDATE.

We hacked our way through bracken that was two metres tall on a path that was hardly visible but our reward was a clear view of the bottom of the Blue Pool. I did not have a polarising filter with me and was forced to take a photograph that suffered from surface reflections — I will try to get a photo later in the week that shows detail of the inside wall of the pool.

The pool was surprisingly uncluttered by debris. There were about six tree trunks on the bottom varying from a thick one at about 18 inches down to one about four inches in diameter. The edges had a build up of silt (or similar) forming a bit of an incline from the inside wall to the centre.
There was no algae type growth on or in the water — compare that with the photo taken just two months before (further up the page). It looks like the algae and visibility vary, possibly with season, temperature or daylight. The water felt slightly cooler than it did in June but was not uncomfortably cold. The pool was devoid of plant life and looked quite sterile so we got a good view of the occasional beetle swimming about.

The internal brickwork was covered with hairy slimy algae stuff but there were surprising patches of brickwork that were clean. The photo, for some reason, shows the colour of the tree trunks on the bottom to be green but the colour was actually a dark Khaki and the hairy slime had the identical colour.
This very dull neutral type colour helped emphasise a circular patch, about 2 metres in diameter, in the centre of the bottom. This irregular circular patch had a fairly vivid blue colour with small patches of white dotted about.

So did I find the ‘brick arched opening’? — no I did not. The hairy slime had formed an almost knitted solid layer over the inner brickwork and this could easily be hiding the opening. A few attempts were made to locate it using a long stick with an ‘L’ shaped end but time was running short and the distant town of Falkirk had already disappeared in the rain that was starting to make its presence felt — downpour by the time we reached the car.

I even tried sticking my face under the water but I could not see any better than I could from above. If the water proves to have rejuvenating properties, I may have to update my passport photo. I took samples of the water (prior to anyone disturbing the surface) and hope to have them analysed by a friend of a friend (got to keep the costs down).

A conversation with a local farmer revealed that the local fire department are aware of the pool as an Emergency Water Supply and have used it to tackle small forest fires. On one occasion they seemingly emptied it.
The farmer’s opinion, based on information from local miners, is that the pool was something to do with the local coal mine — possibly an airshaft.

The local pit was Herbertshire Colliery number 3 Pit (the Station Pit) just south of Denny Cross. I recalled my 83 year old uncle mentioning his father, who worked in that pit in the 1920’s and early 1930's, saying they would soon be at Larbert Cross. The farmer had heard of that particular road (tunnel) and said it ran into problems and was closed. A new road was cut underneath Denovan and seemingly the miners joked that after descending the shaft, they travelled ‘almost to Plean’ before starting work. My uncle had not heard of that.

My problem with the Airshaft theory is that our pool was full of water in the 1930’s and looked then just as it does now. The Station Pit was operational until the 1950’s when it was closed because of excessive amounts of methane gas — they just opened the new Denny High School on that same site.
For about 30 years, that mine had an ‘airshaft’ full of water? — maybe I am missing something. I am still favouring the Water Supply Tank theory but it’s early days.

Yesterday the Blue Pool was full to overflowing. Some bricks, from the top level, are missing. About three on the south east side where there was a fairly vigorous wee flow into the surrounding landscape and a long section on the south west side which had overflowed but the water was just sitting there, seemingly unable to flow anywhere. If it was flowing, it must have been very slow.

I started scrubbing some of the hairy slime from the internal brickwork of the Blue Pool in the hope of finding the brick arch. The water had only partly cleared with half an hour to sunset when I noticed a pipe about six inches in diameter at about two feet below the surface. Not likely to be an overflow at that depth but a definite candidate for an inlet pipe.

The water in the pool would not be clear before darkness fell so that was it for the day. I intend cleaning all the hairy slime from the internal brickwork and photographing from an underwater camera housing. I suspect the brick arch will be the outlet and will line up with the manhole but that’s just me thinking aloud.

The power companies maintain their Pylon Lines and no trees are allowed within a certain safe distance of the transmission lines. It may be ugly, but if it had not been for the nearby pylon line, our Blue Pool would have been annihilated — destroyed by a huge plough and smothered by a dense conifer plantation.

The time between updates cannot be predicted. It may be days or months. I will always send out an email to inform you of an update so you don’t have to trawl the page to spot any changes. Let me know if you would like your email added to the mailing list.

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This is a customised Google map
showing markers for features around the Blue Pool. You can click on the text below the map to enlarge it.
The information on each marker will be updated if it becomes available.
There is currently no way to have more than one layer so all the features have to be visible at the same time.

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UPDATE 15 October 2009

A recent conversation with the current owners of Todhill Farm (east of Torwood Castle), revealed that the Blue Pool may have once been the water supply for Todhill — mmm . . . another one I hear you say — well this story has some interesting merits.

It is obvious that the Blue Pool was an expensive engineering project and was not built to save a few peasants from the toil of carrying water half a mile from the nearest well. It would have needed the finance of Industry or someone very wealthy. You will have noticed that I am still thinking ‘Water Tank’.

I have spoken to the most likely older people in Torwood and Dunipace and it is becoming evident that there is not a person alive today who actually knows the purpose of our Blue Pool.
I have just spoken to the Farmer at Denovan Mains Farm, David Graham. David has lived all his 62 years on the farm and has known about the Blue Pool since he was a young boy. He remembers ‘lots’ of planks of wood in and around the pool. He would throw a plank vertically into the pool and see how high it went when it shot back up.
Sometimes he and his friends would arrive at the pool to find all the planks in the water. Other times the planks were scattered around the pool. Obviously there were others visiting the pool.
David remembers seeing the loose bricks lying on the bottom but does not remember the six inch pipe or the brick arch and he never saw any slates.

I asked him about it being a water supply for Todhill. David said he had never heard of the pool being associated with Todhill but he did know about the farm. David’s suggestions about Todhill were intriguing and will form my line of enquiry when I next visit Callendar House records library.

David told me that Todhill was once bought by a very wealthy man, who had some sort of association with Carron Iron Works.
The farm house itself was very opulent and obviously cost a lot more than other farm houses in the area even though the acreage of the farm was modest and the land was very poor.
Did this man build his own personal water storage tank up the hill in Torwood? Did he use his own money? Did he put it through as a company expense with no paperwork (I hope not)?
Lots of question marks but I think it’s the most tantalizing line of enquiry so far.

You will notice from my new Google map of the area (above) that the compass bearing line takes the inlet pipe in the general direction of Thorneydyke Quarry.
David told me that Doghillock Farm (south west of our pool) used to get its water supply from the Thorneydyke area.
This area is shown on older Ordnance Survey maps as being boggy wetland and had a sizeable pond that has vanished in just the last few years. The area has been leveled and transformed with no remaining sign of Thorneydyke Quarry or the pond.

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Update 1 December 2009

It’s almost two months since I visited the Blue Pool and cleared some hairy weed from the brickwork and managed to photograph a six inch pipe just as the sun was setting and the deeper water was still cloudy.
Today I needed the exercise so I took a walk round Torwood. Fortunately I had my camera with me as I stood looking at the crystal clear water (still no blue colour) and staring patiently back at me was the Brick Arch of legends further up this page.

The arch was pretty much where Neil Jardine remembered it was. I was hoping it would be on the same side as the man-hole but the mystery just gets curiouser and curiouser.
As I strained to see through the breeze-rippled surface, I spotted another six inch pipe just a couple of feet anticlockwise from the first six inch pipe and on the same level.

Both pipes are directly above the Brick Arch opening.
Neil and myself remember the brick Arch opening as being clear of the bottom, so, assuming this is the only Brick Arch (not yet proven), we can deduce from its half buried state that the pool bottom is about a metre higher than it was in the 1960’s (at least round the edges) and the trees and weed covered debris will be well covering the loose bricks reported previously as having fallen in, presumably from a collapsed superstructure (a wall round the pool).

My biggest surprise was the size of the Brick Arch — much bigger than I remember. It is difficult to guess sizes under water but I am sure the diameter of the semi-circular arch is at the very least one metre.

Another find was a heavy plank that had been driven down vertically into the bottom debris. It was tight against the brickwork and just covering the edge of the Arch. Its top was about half way between the Arch and the surface. I took a long stick and pushed it over for a better look. My best guess at this stage is that its cross section is about 10 x 2.5 inches. It is tapered towards the top for some reason. Maybe later I will haul it out for a better look.

We have two pipes and a Brick Arch all on the same side. Inlet and outlet on the same side ? — I am not too comfortable with that — and no opening (so far) on the man-hole side. Most of the brickwork is still weed covered. When I clean that off, I should have a good view of all openings above the bottom-debris.

It’s unlikely that I will be doing much during the cold short days of the winter months other than have a look now and then.
I spent a frustrating day at Callendar House Reference Library yesterday, trying to read the hand scrawled minutes of the Falkirk & Larbert Water Trust of 1892. This was very slow going and yielded nothing worthwhile but it would probably take months to read through them all.
I have put out email ‘feelers’ to Scottish Water, the Forestry Commission and Carron Company who owned Torwood for a while. I will pray for a result there rather than go back to reading the minutes.

It’s worth noting that only the top of a semi circular arch is visible at present. No sign of the vertical parallel sides and level bottom that I remember — wee bit of dredging required there.

If the arch keeps going round to form a circle then we have a round brick pipe and not what I remember — except that somewhere inside me there is a memory of a small round brick opening that I have not mentioned because I really think I am inventing it. It certainly was nowhere near the diameter of this (very large) Brick Arch.

Thanks again to Caroline Kerr from Aberdeen who took a couple of samples home for testing on 6 October 2009. The results are published further up this page (use Browser BACK button to return here).
We did not get a Laboratory pH result but Caroline has just Litmus Tested the duplicate sample and the pH is 6.0

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Update 6 January 2010

I have not yet had any response from Carron Phoenix or the Forestry Commission but many thanks to Scottish Water for their speedy response and the research by their legal department.

We have nothing in the immediate area either by way of land holdings or assets. I would have to say that Scottish Water’s predecessors are unlikely to have been involved.
There is, in fact, no pipe-work or assets anywhere in the vicinity of the Blue Pool.
I suspect that the pool was built in support of an industrial process and, as such, it looks if it was unlikely to form part of the public water supply.

My recent discovery of the second 6 inch pipe and the larger than expected brick arch opening (on the wrong side for my theory) had already left me thinking that this was a very strange design for a water tank and I have abandoned, at least for the time being, my Water Tank Theory.
What industrial process would anyone locate in such a hard to reach location with little or no access to roads for transporting raw materials and finished goods?

After much brain storming with Andy, we came up with a Charcoal Kiln. There are plenty of images of charcoal Kilns on Google Image. Some have vertical sides, some have a beehive shape and many have a brick arch opening at the base to remove the charcoal.
Write it up and stamp it SOLVED said Andy — let’s get on to the next investigation!
I was not that confident, though I had mentally converted the 4 foot manhole into an isolation valve for a gas supply from Glenbervie gas works.

To get the charcoal out of the brick arch that is 5 metres below ground level would have involved an angled access trench through very boggy ground. The trench would probably have flooded faster than you could dig it. Another problem was that the internal brickwork looks brand new with no sign of blackening or tar residue. I have abandoned the Charcoal Kiln theory.

I find myself coming back to the most popular theory — something to do with a mine, possibly an air shaft. I had discounted this as the blue pool has been in its present condition since the 1930’s and the Denny Pit (Herbertshire number 3), south of Torwood, did not close till the 1950’s.
There was however an older pit to the west of Torwood, Quarter Pit in Dunipace. There was Plean Pit with workings somewhere under Torwood. There were Clay Mines but these are fairly modern. There was a very old Lime Mine.
I need drawings of the area and my next port of call will be the Scottish Archives in Edinburgh. I hope to get there before the end of January.

I have just received some information from a local person, Richard Barton, who has now moved to Bannockburn. Richard refers to the Blue Pool as The Well because that was his best guess the first time he saw it.

I've been riding my (mountain) bike in this area for almost 20 years so I'm familiar with the paths. I'd found the well about 13 years ago and it would always be a place we would stop off to have a nosey at whilst out on the bikes.
I have the same recollection as Neil Jardine about the brick archway.
We discovered the pool in the 90’s during the summer and the trees were growing but the pool wasn't quite as covered as it is now. We had a look at it and spent a good half hour just nosey around — didn't disturb anything, but it was incredibly clear, some debris in the bottom (mainly bricks from memory, but also some wood) but the walls were pretty clear. We spotted the brick archway and then spent the rest of the time pondering what it could be used for.

One particular day we met the guy who was working on Torwood Castle — a retired doctor, I believe. He was carrying 2 large plastic jerry cans full of water. We offered to help him as they looked seriously heavy and he looked rather frail but he refused our help but we walked him back to the castle. Apparently he used the pool to get his water whilst in the castle — I'm not sure how accurate that was but he kept asking us not to throw anything in the pool as it was his drinking water — he got a fresh supply from the well twice a week and he had noticed a bit more debris in there so was asking people who knew about it to try and keep it clean — could have been his attempt at making sure it didn't get vandalised.
We would visit it in all seasons and I can only recall once more when it was covered in ice completely — 1995/96, we had some severely cold weather for about 3 weeks — minus 15°c and the pool was totally covered — ice looked to be a couple of inches thick.

Last night [4th January 2010] was the first time in about 6 years since I visited it. It was minus 2°c and only about 60% of the pool was covered with a 3mm thick ice sheet, the water appeared to be warm (but we weren't brave enough to remove our gloves to test the theory!) I've never noticed the 'inlet' pipes before so that is interesting info for me.

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Update 15 April 2010

My visit to the National Archives in Edinburgh drew a blank. All the interestingly named items in-house were just the same old ordnance survey maps with some coloured boundary lines showing who owned some small piece of land at a particular instance.
I have never found an old Ordnance Survey map (or revision) that has indicated any structure around the Blue Pool. It’s hard to believe that this is an accidental omission.

There are other items that I will view on my next visit but they have to be ordered in advance as they are not kept in-house.
I visited the Blue Pool about three weeks ago with my scrubbing brush. After a few minutes the water was totally cloudy and I spent the next few hours guessing where the weed might be.
The water took a week to clear properly and I realised that saying, “You missed a bit”, was a gross understatement.

I was armed with my scrubbing brush of course but before I got started I took some photographs.
I found a new 6 inch clay pipe (with spigot end) poking through the wall but not at right angles to the tangent of the circumference (it was a bit squint). It was pointing pretty much along the same line as the pylons towards the long straight path from Torwood to Denovan.

Another find, just above the bottom debris, was a 12 inch length of 1.5 inch iron pipe sticking out horizontally from the wall and pointing over to the brick arch. This iron pipe appears to line up with the manhole. The end of the pipe has been cut at a deliberate angle of about 30 degrees to the horizontal — the photo quality is very poor.
The extension rod that used to stick up from the manhole has vanished.

The water surface was calm and made for some good photos but, on long zoom, the tiniest insect creates enough ripples to affect clarity.
As I prepared the photos for this update, I was stunned to see something just inside the arch that I had not noticed. It could be a trick of the light but there appears to be two pipes about 4inch diameter penetrating the vertical side of the arch on the viewer’s right. I hope to get a better view at my next visit when the water has cleared — I had been poking my brush in there a wee bit.
All pipe sizes so far are near-enough guesstimates. I will get round to accurately measuring them at some point.

Access on the tree-line side of the pool has been almost impossible. After my last visit, you can walk all around the circumference with ease.

I have not yet cleared all of the weed from the internal walls so there may still be a clue or two to be found. I will also try to clear out some debris from the bottom of the archway.

I am now armed with high-tech litmus paper. My last four visits to the pool have given a consistent reading of ph 5.0
This is a bit on the acid side of neutral and probably ideal for the ericaceous growth nearby (conifers and heathers).