Black Devon

The Black Devon is a small, shallow river in Clackmannanshire that flows west from the Cleish Hills. Its name comes from an old Pictish word meaning black, though the river itself is narrow and winds through quiet farmland and old mining villages. Near Forestmill it meets the Saline Burn before joining the tidal River Forth south of Alloa. The river once held wild brown trout and visiting sea trout in winter, though part of it vanished in 1952 when two miles collapsed into old coal mine workings. Coal mining over centuries caused the land around the lower river to sink, creating space for landfill that later had to stop for environmental reasons. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds turned the area into a wetland nature reserve as part of its Inner Forth conservation work. The wetland now supports wildlife and counters the effects of rising sea levels on the floodplain. Gartmorn Dam sits nearby, built in 1712 by George Sorocold for the Earl of Mar to drain his collieries. Though not on the Black Devon itself, it is fed by a lade from the river above Forestmill and is used today for leisure. Traces of old mills powered by the river remain, one woollen mill now replaced by housing, showing how water once drove local industry.