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Summary

Description

Robert Hutchison, 1836. Single storey symmetrical 5-bay sluice house over River Leven with 5 segmental-arched sluices to river, containing original machinery. 2 lead-in piers extending to N. Coursed, squared rubble. Raised cills.

SLUICE HOUSE: coursed rubble with darker margins to window openings. Band course above sluices. Prominent central tympany gable to S.

Original lying-pane timber casement windows to N. Non-traditional replacement windows to S. Piended roof with grey slates.

INTERIOR: (seen 2011). N section with original working cast iron sluice machinery, built by Alexander Russell of Kirkcaldy. Timber flooring. Some timber panelling to rooms; cast iron fire places, one tiled, with timber fire surround.

LEAD-IN PIERS: pair of straight, rubble built lead-in piers with round end piers, bordering the intake channel, leading N from sluice house into Loch Leven.

Statement of Special Interest

This distinctive sluice house retains much of its original presence on the side of Loch Leven. The sluice house is remarkable in containing the original cast iron mechanism which is still used to operate the sluice gates and control the flow of water to the River Leven. Together with the lead-in piers, the buildings are significant additions to the landscape and they form an important part of the history and industrial development of the River Leven.

The sluice gates regulate the flow of water from Loch Leven into the River Leven, which then flows on to the Fife coast. The channel immediately downstream of the sluice gates was built in 1828 as a means of lowering the level of water in the Loch to provide more agricultural and industrial land around the Loch and also enabled a more regulated flow of water to the mills and bleachfields along the river. A spillway and apron lie to the south-east of the sluice house, which allows the water to bypass the sluice house in times of flooding. The channel lies predominantly in a straight line and straightened the curved line of the river. The whole channel was supposed to be straight from the sluice house, but this would have meant the sluice being built on marsh land and so a curve was put into the river to accommodate this. The piers into the loch were erected to help prevent the sluice gates from being damaged by winter ice.

The sluice house was built at a cost of £1009 by Robert Hutchison, a mason from Coaltown of Balgonie, who used some stone from a quarry to the South of Loch Leven and sandstone from quarry near Cleish. Hutchison also carried out a number of works in Cupar, Fife. Originally single storey, the upper storey to the sluice keeper's house was probably added at the end of the 19th century.

The main instigation for the Loch Leven Improvement scheme came from the owner of the Loch and Kinross Estate, Thomas Graham at the beginning of the 19th century, although it had been mooted previously. The passing of the Loch Leven Improvement Act in 1827 made it possible to built the channel. Known at the time as the New Cut, it is around 4 miles long and 32 feet wide.

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