Cauldron Linn

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Caldron Linn, a series of romantic waterfalls in Fossoway parish, Perthshire, on the river Devon, about a mile below Rumbling-Bridge station, and 2¾ miles ENE of Dollar. The series is twofold; first, a tumultuous Cataract along a fearful chasm; next, two leaps, with intervening whirls, down precipitous descents. The sides of the chasm are mural, and of about equal height, but, in some parts, they so project as almost to meet; and the floor of the chasm is so worn into a descending chain of pits as to occasion the river, in careering along, to emit a furious deafening sound. The first of the two falls, over the precipitous descent, is a leap of 34 feet; the whirls between it and the second fall are through three round cavities, like caldrons or boilers, of from 16 to 22 feet in diameter. In the first of these caldrons the water is constantly agitated as if boiling; in the second it is always covered with foam; and in the third and largest, the water is as placid as an inland lake. Ledges of rock separate these cavities from each other, and they communicate by sluices wrought about their middle depth by the action of the water. By an opening like a huge door hewn out of the rock, the river rushes in a torrent to the second fall, which occurs at a distance of 84 feet from the foot of the first one, and is a leap of 44 feet. The first leap declines a little, and the second so much from the perpendicular as to be quite oblique. The second fall is into a deep and romantic glen, where a vapour constantly ascends from the pool, which in sunshine shows all the colours of the rainbow. In rainy seasons the whole is grand beyond description.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer