A narrow glen in the Ochil Hills situated between the Nebit and Wood Hill behind the Hillfoot village of Alva. In 1712 a silver mine was opened up here by Sir John Erskine, with miners being brought from Leadhills in South Lanarkshire to work it. In 1759, the chemist Prof. Joseph Black (1728-99) from Edinburgh confirmed the presence of cobalt which was extracted to be used as a blue-coloured glaze for pottery.
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