Learn more about the 600 navvies behind project

To mark the 160th anniversary of Queen Victoria opening the Katrine Aqueduct, an exhibition is to be held in Kinlochard Village Hall on Sunday, October 27 from 10am to 5pm.

It is to be mounted by Loch Ard Local History Group – which serves the communities of Stronachlachar, Inversnaid, Kinlochard and Aberfoyle – and is itself celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Queen Victoria opened the Katrine Aqueduct on October 14, 1859, a key stage in a massive project to improve Glasgow’s water supply.

People visiting the exhibition will learn how workers on the project were housed in a temporary camp, on the eastern shore of Loch Chon, named Sebastopol. That may have come from the Siege of Sevastopol which took place over 11 months in 1854 and was part of the CrimeanWar.

Six hundred men and their families lived in the 21 wooden huts that made up the temporary village.

An issue of the Penny Post , from June, 1859, described conditions experienced by the navvies working on the water project as shameful.

‘Sebastopol’had a store where the workers and their families could purchase provisions and tools but items bought on credit carried a 25 per cent surcharge. Workers were also paid in‘chits’which were only redeemable at the camp stores.

Members of the public visiting the exhibition area also invited to bring along photographs of the area, from years gone by, and these will be scanned and added to the group’s archive.

The group has met regularly since its inception and its activities centre on an annual winter programme which runs from October through to April/May. It comprises a monthly talk on a topic of local interest. The group also runs a programme each December in which members are invited to talk on an issue of historical research relevant to the area.

The exhibition has been supported by Stirling Council’s community grant scheme and with material provided by Strathard Community Trust, Scottish Water and Glasgow City Council.