Pool yourself together How Victorian ingenuity turned tide on poor health
Created in 1856, Mugdock reservoir was a hugely ambitious project intended to supply clean waterto the public – but soon word also circulated of the site’s ability to revive mind, body and soul ...
“IT’S a very special, unique and precious place,” says Arvind Salwan, taking in the view. Twenty minutes from the centre of Glasgow by train, there is an oasis of calm where walkers and runners can very quickly forget how close they are to Scotland’s largest city.
It was considered an ambitious project at its time.
In 1856, engineers appointed by the city’s water authority were tasked with bringing water from Loch Katrine to Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire across a distance of 26 miles. Their goal was to create a clean water supply for a population which had endured successive cholera outbreaks, the waterborne virus costing thousands of lives.
However, the creation of Mugdock reservoir, which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1859 and appeared on postcards at the time, had other health benefits for urban dwellers.
The Victorian public park movement, which started in the 1830s, sprung out of a desire to improve health in the rapidly growing industrial cities. In Glasgow, the first of the city’s 90 was Kelvingrove in 1852 and from the 1880s, wealthy benefactors gifted land to the city resulting in Cathkin Braes, Bellahouston and Rouken Glen parks.
By the 1870s, the area around the Milngavie reservoirs – a larger, adjoining one was later created – was landscaped for use as a public park with footbridges, pathways and the planting of woodland to the north of the reservoir.
Spectacular views
“IT’S an area of solace and one of the things it’s managed to retain is a sense of tranquility,” says Mr Salwan, who volunteers with Friends of Milngavie Reservoir (FoMR) group, which is marking its 20th year. “It’s an ideal place if you just want to go for a gentle stroll to clear your mind. The wildlife is engaging, the views are spectacular.
“The interesting thing about the reservoirs is their dual purpose. Glasgow had unprecedented growth in industrialisation in the early and mid-Victorian times and suffered negatively in terms of the health of the city’s populations.
“There was poverty, declining standards of health, and in Glasgow there were fatal outbreaks of water-borne diseases from contaminated drinking water. So, the Lord Provost at the time realised there was a public health emergency and drove proposals to set up a facility which ensured the city would have clean water. At its time, globally, it was considered quite an ambitious project.”
Mr Salwan added: “Milngavie sits quite high up in relation to Glasgow so the idea was through gravity and a series of pipes, sluices, tunnels and aqueducts, water would come from Loch Katrine and be gathered in the Mugdock reservoir, which is the smaller one. That’s where it would be collected and treated, and distributed onwards to the city.”
With an increase in demand for fresh water and the growing size of the city, the water authorities realised they needed another reservoir, and work started on the adjoining, larger reservoir known as Craigmaddie in 1885. What added to the attraction of the Milngavie reservoirs was their relatively easy access compared to others across Scotland.
Escape the city
THEY were within easy reach by rail and road for those wishing to escape the dense urban environment of the Glasgow. Today, they attract about 170,000 visitors a year – and numbers spiked when lockdown restrictions were lifted.
“It appeared on postcards so people got to know about it and public transport was always good,” said Mr Salwan. “People went out of curiosity– it was the northern part of the city, you could see the Campsies and the Kilpatrick Hills.
“A lot of effort went into the landscape. They planted trees including Scots pine and horse chestnut, they had woodland paths – they gave it a lot of consideration. A lot of the trees there pre-date the reservoirs. I’ve seen roe deer, I’ve seen an eagle. You would be forgiven for thinking you are in the Trossachs.
“The main entrance is known as Commissioners’ Walk and it runs along a tree-lined avenue, which in the spring and summer is amazing because you are literally walking under a canopy of light coming through the trees.”
Mental Health Awareness Week gets under way tomorrow with a central theme of connecting with nature, something more people have appreciated after the confines of lockdown.
Mr Salwan regularly runs the threemile reservoir perimeters, using it to train for the London Marathon, but said he developed a new appreciation for the public space during lockdown. “I connected in a different way,” he said. “I think it’s just being a bit more observant about the pace of the place and the wildlife, the flora and fauna.”
People went out of curiosity, it was the northern part of the city, you could see the Campsies and the Kilpatrick Hills