Cauldron Linn

Cauldron Linn stands on the River Devon where it cuts through Clackmannanshire and Perth and Kinross. The waterfall lies about a mile below Rumbling Bridge and can be reached by walking through fields near Powmill. A steep, slippery slope of about 150 feet leads down to the riverbank. The fall was once higher, but a rock fall in 1886 reduced its height. Two separate cataracts drop thirty-four feet and forty-four feet, with the river forming three deep, round pools called caldrons. The site draws visitors because of its dramatic scenery and natural power. The first caldron shows water churning as if boiling, the second is covered in foam, and the largest is twenty-two feet wide. Water moves between the pools through openings in the rock ledges rather than over the edges. The final drop rushes through a gap in the rock that looks like a doorway, plunging into a deep, wooded glen. The noise and vibration from the fall can be felt, and rainbows appear in the mist when the sun shines between one and two in the afternoon. From the bottom of the fall, the water appears as a great fountain bursting from solid rock. Robert Burns visited the Linn in 1787 with friends Gavin Hamilton and Crauford Tait. A story from around 1818 tells of a fox leading hunting dogs onto the caldron, where they drowned trying to follow. The river’s flow has lessened since a hydro-electric scheme was built in 1993.