Falls of Foyers

The Falls of Foyers are two waterfalls on the River Foyers, which flows into Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The upper fall drops fourteen metres and the lower one thirty metres. The river’s name in Gaelic means ‘the smoking falls’, a reference to the mist rising from the water. The village of Foyers sits on the lochside where the river meets the water. Visitors have admired the falls since the eighteenth century. The falls impressed writers such as Robert Burns, William Wordsworth and Robert Southey. In 1787 Burns wrote a poem about the scene. In 1834 Robert Addams published a paper on the motion aftereffect he observed at the falls. The British Aluminium Company built a smelter here in 1895, reducing the water flow. Artist Mary Rose Hill Burton recorded the falls before the dam altered the landscape. Today the falls remain a striking sight beside Loch Ness. A path leads from the village to viewpoints above and below the cascades. The surrounding woodland adds to the atmosphere of the site. Loch Mhòr, the enlarged reservoir above the falls, supplies a modern pumped-storage hydro scheme. Underground cables carry power away to protect the scenery. The falls still draw visitors who come to see the water’s power and the Highland setting.