River Almond

The River Almond winds for about 45 kilometres through West Lothian and the north-west edge of Edinburgh. It rises near Shotts in North Lanarkshire and ends at Cramond, where it meets the Firth of Forth. The name comes from the old Celtic word for river. Once heavily polluted by mining and industry, the waterway has slowly recovered. Brown trout now thrive, and runs of Atlantic salmon and sea trout return each year. Kingfishers, dippers and grey herons line its banks, while otters are seen more often than before. Wildlife shares the river with treated wastewater from southern West Lothian. Water-treatment works have cut pollution, yet detergents and farm run-off still give parts of the river a noticeable chemical smell. The worst stretch lies through Almondell and Calderwood Country Park, where a large outfall from East Calder treatment plant enters the water. Fishing rights are managed by local angling clubs, with permits required above and below Kirkliston. Near the mouth at Cramond, a Roman sculpture called the Cramond Lioness was pulled from the riverbed in 1997 and now sits in the Museum of Scotland. The river passes landmarks tied to Scotland’s past. Illieston Castle, a three-storey house probably built in the late 16th or early 17th century, stands beside the Almond Aqueduct. James II and James IV once hunted nearby, and a Renaissance gateway bears the date 1665. Further downstream, old weirs and mill ruins recall the region’s industrial age. At East Calder the river feeds the Union Canal through a three-kilometre feeder that crosses the Almond via a separate aqueduct. Paths through the country park let walkers follow both watercourses to the canal.