Loch Thom - History Documentary

[@danielcorrigan3360]

Mate, I know these will never get millions of views due to their specificity and local focus, but can I just say thanks for the hard work you've put in here. As a local myself, I really appreciate it, cheers.

[@Urbexy]

Wow thank you very much. Means a lot! :-)

[@the5oclockhero479]

Superb video. Information with no padding. Thank you.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much :-)

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

This looks amazing 🧲💙👍⚓️

[@bd4_l]

Ty for such a lovely and informative documentary. 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much for watching and you are more than welcome :-)

[@grantcameron5685]

Great documentary thank you

[@rogergriffith286]

Very thorough. Very lucky to be there when the water was low - the reverse is being at Falls of Clyde when the hydro plant is closed :-)

[@Urbexy]

Thanks, Roger. First attempt at a documentary-style video so decided to focus on some local history. Certainly want to do more like this in the future. I imagine the Falls of Clyde certainly go into spate when the plant is not using it.

[@melblues3847]

I'm really impressed with this, the filming and narration are so professional. I find it amazing how the engineers created the solutions to problems with fairly basic technology which really worked, like the self regulating sluice gates. You clearly put a lot of effort into producing this film.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you Mel. I agree about the old engineering concepts. They just made things that worked. Thank you for watching!

[@georgegough1189]

This film impresses with its quality of filming and music, a standard deserving of the subject and the scenery.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much George. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment.

[@jimph1]

10 out of 10 Alistair, best documentary of Greenocks history I've ever seen.

[@Urbexy]

Thanks Jim. I Appreciate it!

[@morrislouiseeagle7161]

Hats off to you all for making this-in my opinion this is your best one yet - thank you so much for sharing this with us please all stay safe and well sending regards 👏👏❤️😁xxx

[@Urbexy]

Thank you so much. Stay safe and hope all is well with you!

[@streetrambler134]

Hats off to you and the team behind this great documentary. Best video i have seen on your channel. The amount of work going into putting the video together is pure quality. More please, will be rewatching this one a lot. 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much. There was certainly a fair bit more work put into this than the regular videos :-)

[@GhostTheory]

Oh I loved this, loved the documentary feel. Loved the smooth shotswhat a location.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much. First attempt at a documentary. Definitely, something I want to do more of in the future. I have a few ideas in the works... Thanks so much for stopping by and watching, it's really appreciated.

[@EMP1264-c1j]

Outstanding' its great to see the mighty Thom once more. Thank you.

[@Urbexy]

Thanks for stopping by! :-)

[@ThePrimakerel]

Well researched, well edited, well narrated, just really well made and very informative.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much for watching and your comment. I really appreciate it! :-)

[@jimcoyle1217]

Well done. Informative and great photography.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much! :-)

[@datman7754]

Wonderful filming and atmospheric music. I wanted more explanation of the engineering - and a diagram or two to show how the various lochs, reservoirs, sluices etc all fitted together.

[@Urbexy]

I might try and do something along those lines. When doing the original video there was a lot that could have been added, but I tried to keep it informative without overloading it... There are a number of other topics that could be revisited in another video.

[@ExploringWithCF]

Dude this was crazy worth all the work you did! Well it together and looked beautiful on my big screen, the water bucket water level co,from was a great use of reliable ancient tech. Oh man some of those water ways and spillways looked like epic waterslides! With this video you have taken your channel to a whole new level.

[@Urbexy]

Thanks man. Yea you're right. That long spillway would be great to slide down on an infltable haha. The one with the waterfall might not be as much fun though lol

[@FloridaSnowman]

Hey to my friend Ubexy! Another great video!

[@Urbexy]

Thanks Snowman. Appreciate you watching!

[@BillJohnstonRambler]

Excellent Documentary and the drone footage gave one a better perception of the loch and compensation reservoir. thanks for sharing

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much for watching, it's a brilliant place, very close to town, yet you could be in the middle of nowhere.

[@JaimeExploring]

Great Documentary and Camera footage details, Thank You

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much! :-)

[@RooftopsofAmerica]

Great job! I look forward to the day I can return to Scotland!.

[@Adventures_with_Sog]

What can I say buddy; wow! You could sell this my friend, the quality is that good. Stunningly beautiful place, excellent film quality, great drone footage, fantastic narration (great voice) brilliant editing and very interesting history. 👍👍👍

[@Urbexy]

Thanks buddy. This one sure took time haha

[@RoadartamFluss]

Marvelous Clip. Keep it up!!!!

[@Urbexy]

Thank you!

[@FullDarkParanormal]

Your videos are so stunningly gorgeous and well made. Absolutely love this!!

[@Urbexy]

Wow thank you very much.. I really appreciate you saying that!

[@TheFlyingJocks]

Excellent video Alistair and your team enjoyed it 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you. This one was certainly a fun project!

[@DroningVeteran]

Very well put together my friend. You can tell you poured your heart and soul into this. Thank you.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much. Sorry for the delay in replying. Hope all is well!

[@tamnugent9203]

It's a fantastic production, professional in every aspect, from the research through to the finished article. I cycle and walk the area a lot and have researched the Shaws Water Scheme in some depth, but still managed to learn more from this short film. The simulation of the course of Shaws Water was very well done, as was the footage of the old road. It would have been great to see the old numbered 1-8 'balancing reservoirs' which also supplied the cut featured, maybe we will see them in a sequel? Many web documentaries have overpowering and distracting, supposedly dramatic music, a lot of poorly spliced 'my first attempt with a drone' type footage, poor 'eh & ah' commentary and amateurish on-screen graphics, all of which can be overlooked if the content is interesting. But not this documentary, which reaches a new level and sets a very high standard for others to aim for. Definitely 10 out of 10.

[@Urbexy]

Wow thank you very much. I really appreciate that. I am wondering if you are the same Thomas Nugent that contributes a lot of images to historical sites like geography.org.uk. I always seem to come across lots of your images when doing any sort of research into the local area. I really appreciate your feedback on this. I was considering adding the rest of the reservoirs, but the more you add it becomes more and more difficult to make it fit together. To someone not from the area, it can be hard to visualise the relationship between all the reservoirs. This was our first attempt at a documentary, certainly, hope to do more in the future.

[@tamnugent9203]

@@Urbexy Yes, I submit a lot of photos to www.geograph.org.uk (without the 'y'), from where many find their way to a few other sites. I also contribute some photos directly to Canmore when I see a gap there as I research information for Geograph. I'm glad to hear that other people do actually look at them :-) I know what you mean about the reservoirs as information about them is fairly sparse and it is difficult to establish when each of them was built and when they closed. There is even conflict about the quantity of them (definitely at least 8). The OS 25 inch map of 1914 shows them and they can be related to the present day location by using the NLS Maps 'side-by-side' viewer at maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=13&lat=55.92573&lon=-4.78962&layers=168&right=BingHyb . A handy reference for anyone interested, if you can get it, is the Strathclyde Regional Council booklet "The Greenock Cut - The Story Of Greenock's Water Supply" from around 1977.

[@Urbexy]

@@tamnugent9203 I seem to come across your photos all the time. Canmore is a brilliant resource. The national library of Scotland maps are incredible. It always amazes me just how accurate old maps really were. When compared to modern GPS based maps they line up almost spot on. When doing the Loch Thom research I noticed an old OS Benchmark located on the old (now lost) road. I spend hours hunting for that lol. any large boulder, rock etc.. Looking around it to try and find it. It would have been incredible to be able to locate a benchmark that had been lost under the water. Unfortunately, it evaded us lol

[@ExploringwithAshe]

Awesome video thumbs up from me thanks for sharing 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you :-)

[@kennydouglas8490]

Fantastic, I enquired about any history of the Greenock cut earlier today and someone sent me this link, very well done ! I will need to show my father

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much glad you liked it. There is soo much history around that area. Can I ask who recommended it? It's very much appreciated.

[@rootedexpeditions]

Oh wow this is so interesting!! Wow so much history here wow! I love how the bucket fills up it opens the spill way a lot of flowing water! Oh wow that view is amazing!! I bet this took a very long time to edit and voice record. The drone footage is amazing! Oh wow I love how you showed the before and now that was really cool!! Lol just notice I said “wow” a lot sorry 😐 just amazed by this video. Awesome work bro on the video!! Very peaceful love the nature and how it all works together very cool!! Thanks for sharing!!

[@Urbexy]

Thanks Rooted. Yea this one took quite a while to get filmed. Some of it was filmed in 2018. Just been a work in progres for way too long. Was waiting for the summer of 2019 hoping to see low water and it didn't happen, then in 2020, they had to do maintenance so it was very low. Glad I held off :-) Thanks for stoping by man!

[@rootedexpeditions]

@@Urbexy no problem any time bro keep up the hard work

[@bobbbich]

Very, very well done. The automatic device for opening and closing the sluices was new to me. Who remembers the "Horse's Tail"?

[@Urbexy]

The sluices are certainly an impressive piece of engineering. Not sure what the horses tail was though?

[@Tiawoodman2024]

Was that the waterfall directly behind pennyfern?

[@EdExploresScotland]

Very good video. It puts my more recent miserable effort to shame. As they used to say in my school report cards: 'Must try harder.'

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much Ed. I actually enjoyed your recent video, it really showed just how nice a walk the cut circular is. The more people who get out and enjoy walking in the area the better. One thing that turned out to be very wrong in my video was my statement "it's probably at the lowest level it will be in our lifetimes" ... 12 months later and it was remarkably lower. Over the summer of 2021, myself and fellow history geeks spend pretty much all our free time searching the loch bed for lost history. During this time we did indeed make some very interesting discoveries. The most notable was an iron age roundhouse. That find has since been verified and added to the records by Historic Environmental Scotland. We also found sections of the Roman road that was thought to travel north-south through the loch and 2 possible burial sites. We also located the footprint of another 2 buildings that were part of Shaws Farm. One little gem that was discovered that blew my mind was that the old road that was usually submerged... It actually had a culvert running under it. This was probably built at least 200 years ago, yet when it was exposed by the low water levels the culvert was still intact and the stream was still flowing under it. There was also an OS benchmark on the road (on the map) but I was unable to locate the carving in the vicinity of the road. Spend days looking for it lol. Hope all is well with you.

[@EdExploresScotland]

@@Urbexy - Wow! That's a lot of finds. It's great that the roundhouse has been recorded.Your depth of research and enthusiasm for this area is to be commended. And, as you say, the more folk who go walking in the area and enjoy everything it has to offer, the better. Keep up the good work, and have a great 2022.

[@Urbexy]

@@EdExploresScotland Likewise, all the best for you in 2022 and I look forward to seeing what videos you put out this year :-)

[@alexbain1823]

Thanks, enjoyed video. Put me in mind to find the photo, I think in 70's, when Loch Thom was so low, much lower than your excellent video. There was grass growing and sheep were grazing, . Thanks again.

[@Urbexy]

Would love to see that photo if you find it!

[@alexbain1823]

@@Urbexy I have a couple of pictures. They are on photo slides. I used to prefer that. Try to get some photo's to you very soon.

[@iamthe2]

Fascinating - and very well done. Watching the video (for the second time) in the States. Good to see this bit of history and ingenious engineering in my home town.

[@Urbexy]

Thanks for stopping by, glad you found it interesting :-)

[@JokersNation]

Very cool mini doc. I am impressed with this. Man I felt like I was watching history Channel. Very well done.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much. I appreciate it :-)

[@jamesy7592]

Brilliant footage and even better narration. It took me back to the days when I'd often walk there with my father-in-law! You can't buy experiences like that, they are simply priceless. PS: loved the music too!

[@Urbexy]

Wow, thanks Jamesy. Appreciate the comments! I know what you mean about being up there. It's an incredible place to go just to get out of town. So close, yet it feels like being in the middle of nowhere. Thanks again.

[@malcolmcampbell2319]

Fascinating. Reminds of the days of climbing up to the Cut and wandering round to Loch Thom. A great video.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you. The "cut" still makes for a great walk. Close to town, yet could be in the middle of nowhere.

[@JMExplorations]

Stunning!!! It is such a wonderful thing to be transported to another part of the world, and we love that we get to see your perspective and to hear the history directly from you. To see the Loch at these low levels was truly amazing...what a wondrous glimpse into the underlying landscape! The surrounding farmstead ruins and mill ruins were spectacular and the waterfalls...well, that is my zen for the day. Thank you so much for letting us travel through you to this beautiful land!

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much. Thats the great thing about KZbin beiing able to see other locations from all across the world. Hope you are both doing good :-)

[@t.jexplores9429]

Absolutely loved this well done buddy lookin feward to the next

[@Urbexy]

Thank you TJ

[@DiscoverWithPajerico]

Very interesting and informative history, it's great how the engineers of old remain respectful to the natural landscape with there plans, something that is being done more now these days thankfully

[@Urbexy]

Yea I agree. Especially with all the older victorian water systems. They end up being places people visit. I hope you are right about modern times.

[@Bigchap1748]

Very interesting, thank you for posting this. I walk around the cut often so great to hear some more detail. Definitely going to go up soon and take some photos before Loch Thom is filled up gain.

[@Urbexy]

Yea I certainly recomend you pay the place a visit. It's crazy to see just how low the water is, although the recent rain has risen the levels slightly.

[@TitanAerialPhotography]

Excellent documentary, found it really fascinating. Went to Loch Thom yesterday for the first time so was looking for some more info about it.... and you covered it brilliantly! Great job. Subbed to your channel. Joe.

[@Urbexy]

wow glad you found it useful. It's certainly an interesting place. I am surprised the water level is still so low. It's still very cool being able to walk in areas that would generally be underwater.

[@adzey156]

Good video thanks for sharing some good ideas used there such as the sluce bucket . just shows old inventory still used today amazing 👏 . nice drone footage shows how big them lochs actually are looks a nice place 😀 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you. Yea the bucket idea is brilliant. Would still work to this day!

[@adzey156]

@@Urbexy amazing can't beat it older things seem better made

[@SandraPinkParanormal]

Awesome video thanks for sharing this was great💜👍

[@Urbexy]

Thanks! :-)

[@JustinTimeForAdventures]

Cool tracking on the fonts. Great documentary. Loved it.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much :-)

[@burningsandsexploration3711]

Is this you narrating? This is so beautifully done! The scenery is breathtaking! Incredibly awesome history. I love your accent. You should narrate all of your videos. Brilliant!

[@Urbexy]

I wish that was my voice lol. Used a voice-over guy for this one. Just experimeenting with ideas Definitly need some form of Mirrating going forward. Thanks again for stopping by :-)

[@burningsandsexploration3711]

@@Urbexy Always my pleasure.

[@gwardo869]

Wow! I had no idea the amazing history and brilliance behind all this. Very well done, I couldn’t stop watching!

[@Urbexy]

Thanks man :-)

[@randomzombie2455]

Really good small documentary! Love the drone shots!

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much! Appreciate you stopping by.

[@stef3309]

This is fantastic, shared with the angling club that fish Loch Thom

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much! :-)

[@BrianMatheson]

Great documentary, thoroughly researched. Cheers for the hard work. I’ll be watching your other videos now. Cheers from Greenock 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much 🙂

[@hughdonaldson]

Nice. Would like to see some more. Maybe do another documentary.

[@Urbexy]

Got a couple of ideas. Just making the time to get round to doing them lol

[@hughdonaldson]

@@Urbexy Looking forward to watching

[@abandonedworldgermany]

The landscape is beautiful, great video!

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much!

[@ScotlandandMe]

Excellent viewing mate, great insight into the history behind it...really enjoyed that. WOW...the water level in the video was insanely low...never seen it as low as that. Cheers for sharing 🤟

[@Urbexy]

It was great to get the chance to see the water levels so low and explore the loch bed. So much history in such a small area. :-)

[@ScotlandandMe]

@@Urbexy definitely mate🤟

[@LEWISWATSONVLOGS1]

Cool show urbexy mate. Really enjoying this so far. Put together very well. 👍😊

[@Urbexy]

Thanks man! :-)

[@Traveler_Greg]

Great documentary. Very interesting place. Greetings and thanks for sharing. Have a good day. 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting :-)

[@johnkerr1953]

Thanks very much for this Documentary, l knew something about this documentary as l used to live near this resiviour, but it was very well explained & spoken, so thanks to the person who made this great video, l say well done ✅👍.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@rootedexpeditions]

Watching already 3 min in and wow!!! I think you found your nitch!!

[@urrutiarelax5448]

Me encanta tu video amigo, felicitaciones gracias por compartir. LIKE

[@Urbexy]

gracias

[@NaomisAdventures]

Great documentary. Very interesting

[@Urbexy]

Wow thank you very much. Appreciate you stopping by!

[@NaomisAdventures]

@@Urbexy your welcome

[@FINDERSBEEPERS]

Mate you deserve so many more subscribers! This is BBC quality!

[@Urbexy]

Wow thank you. I really appreciate that :-)

[@markmcconnell2634]

Alistair this is absolutely amazing! top tier!

[@Urbexy]

Thanks man, I appreciate it :-)

[@steenbeanl7170]

Looks like a beautiful place!🙂

[@Urbexy]

It's a great place to go for a walk in nice weather :-)

[@scotlandshistory]

That's superb!

[@Urbexy]

Wow... thank you very much! :-)

[@Professor-Jack]

Hello there Pal your in my back yard born in greenock worked in Tate & Lyle, you may have noticed on the way to the Loch Thom and cut, the IBM Complex, the cut feeds the big Dam, that feeds down to the Wee Dam just round the corner is the greenock prison, from there you can walk to bars Cottish i was born up berrick RD lived up the greevy Grev RD Auch med RD up the lark field, from the Winhill golf club you will see the boat for Tate & Lyle apex 1975 where the boat cap sided its still there to this day

[@OxfordsFinestExplorer]

Cool video bro new friend 👍

[@Urbexy]

Thanks :-)

[@SimonMclennan]

We lived in Killochend Farm in the early ‘70s. A gorgeous place to live, and luckily a couple of hot summers. Princess Margaret (I think) opened the tunnel. She drove past our house, my mum stood and waved with our poodle! A shame the farm was demolished leaving only a shed standing.

[@Urbexy]

I bet that would have been an awesome place to live. Such a pity the farm is now gone. I walk the Killochend Rd fairly regularly and often wonder what it would have been like to live there and work the land. You must have many brilliant memories of your time there. I had no idea the tunnel was officially opened by a royal. Every days a school day.

[@SimonMclennan]

@@Urbexy A magical place I recall. The farm wasn't being worked by then, my Dad worked at the Telegraph, we stayed less than two years... a minibus took my sister and I to school, met us at the cattle grid. Mearns Street!! ha ha We walked that little road to the farm every school day. Grouse galore! Thanks for replying, and nice to hear folk are still enjoying the moors.

[@SimonMclennan]

@@Urbexy And a great film btw! Well done, so nice to hear the history of the place.

[@Urbexy]

@@SimonMclennan Thank you for sharing your stories :-)

[@adzey156]

just watching 👀

[@Stinny88]

Brilliant watch! can I ask where I could find the map with the old road showing before Loch Thom was made? thanks.

[@Urbexy]

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I use the National Library of Scotland side-by-side maps for that.maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=14.0&lat=55.91085&lon=-4.77721&layers=5&right=BingHyb

[@Stinny88]

Excellent, I must have missed that map on NLS. Thanks!

[@jakubmp]

Does anyone know what type of rock is used in the margins of the loch and why? I see these rocks in most man made lochs and resevoirs and im interested why.

[@RealUnknownAdventures]

Awesome again bro we need to get you out soon 😉😂💀🎃👻👽☠️👍🏻

[@Urbexy]

Heck yea. Hope all is good :-)

[@RealUnknownAdventures]

@@Urbexy getting there bro, but yeah hope you're well 😊👍🏻

[@louisdocherty8219]

Good video brings back memories of when I worked there on the construction of a new water shafts and water supply main contractor was Tyson great Britain a sister company of the German company this about fifty two years ago I was twenty seven years old good money for our labor great company to work for only downside there was diving contractor lost his life when checking the new shafts and tunnels I unfortunately cannot remember the poor man's name as I will be eighty years old next year

[@Urbexy]

Very interesting that you worked on the 70s expansion of the water works. Tragic to hear that someone lost his life in the process. We always look for progress, but sometimes people pay the ultimate cost. I can only imagine it must have been a huge undertaking building the new tunnels?

[@Followthepath89]

There is also 3-4 sub dams that …not a lot of folk know about round the back of that satellite near Loch thom

[@Urbexy]

Yea there was quite a network of dams that all supplied water into the "cut". an incredible piece of engineering!

[@alanclark2416]

WE HAVE FOUND THE REMAINS OF A BUILDING ABOUT HALFWAY ALONG THE OLD ROAD...VERY OLD HEAVY CLAY RED BRICKS IN ONE AREA..AND RUSTED METAL H BEAMS..ANOTHER DRONE FLIGHT SOON WOULD SEE IF THERE IS A OUTLINE OF A FARMHOUSE ?.. ALSO A OLD GRAVE NEAR TO THE ISLAND ... [e-mail].....07899933273

[@Urbexy]

I took some images of that as well. I was looking at some of the bricks to see if there was a makers mark or a date, but didn't find anything. I was very interested in that building, specificaly the base of it, because a very old OS map shows a Benchmark being located closeby. I spent about 3 hours looking at every large rock in the area to see if I could spot it but had no luck eitheer.

[@loicflory3205]

Brilliant! Such information coupled with beautiful photography.

[@Urbexy]

Thank you, I appreciate you stopping by!