52 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



ALLAN WATER 



One tributary of the Forth remains to be referred to, viz. 

 the Allan Water, which enters the left bank of the main river 

 a short distance above Stirling, and which flows in a south- 

 westerly direction from the neighbourhood of Blackford, past 

 Dunblane and Bridge of Allan. It drains an area of about 

 77 square miles, and not long after the junction of its small 

 head streams, which rise on the northern slopes of Sheriff Muir 

 close to the source of the Devon, it is used in winter time to 

 supply water for the safety curling pond at Carsbreck, upon 

 which "The Grand Match," North against South, is annually 

 played when there is ice. This Carsbreck Loch was, about 

 1908, turned into a trou^t-fishing lake of apparently a more 

 permanent character. A bursting of its banks has since made 

 the permanency less certain. Presumably the Caledonian 

 Curling Club has satisfied itself as to the " safety " character 

 and as to the possible growth of weeds which may arise in a 

 permanent but shallow sheet of water. 



The Allan Water is obstructed by no fewer than ten dam 

 dykes, and although it is not a large river, frequented by salmon 

 in the early part of the year, it attracts a large number of late 

 fish, and is a most useful spawning stream. With a consider- 

 able population on its banks, it appears that the fish, which 

 are checked by the various weirs, are subjected to a rather 

 serious amount of stroke-hauling and poaching in other forms. 

 It is therefore highly desirable that the weirs should be provided 

 with gaps and passes, and the lades provided with hecks. 



An Angling Association of those chiefly interested in the 

 Allan Water fishings is now in active existence, the members 

 of which have shown their willingness to promote the fishing 

 interests not only of the Allan but of the wider district. At 

 the same time the Forth District Fishery Board have powers 

 to demand that the owners of the various obstructions comply 

 with the requirements of the Salmon Fishery Acts. 



On ascending the river, the first weir is that of Keirfield at 

 Bridge of Allan. The lade and mill are on the right bank. A 

 short distance above is the Bridge of Allan meal mill dam, a 

 low structure and not very serious in itself, but unprovided 

 with any gap, and so arranged as to lade that the water carried 



