Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 440 | Page 3

everything which came directly in its
way. It is said to have taken nearly twenty minutes to pass that
village--a fact which gives a striking idea of the enormous mass of
water concerned.
About a mile and a half above the village, we came to a modern church,
which had been set down in the bottom of the valley, close to the
river-side. Entering, we found some curious memorials of the operation
of water, in the upbreak of the whole system of flooring and seating,
which now lay in irregular distorted masses, mingled with all kinds of
rubbish. Bibles and prayer-books still lay about among the seats, as if
the people had never so far recovered from the hopeless feeling
originally impressed upon them, as to put out a hand for the restoration
of order. The position of this church and its fate give occasion for a
remark which, if duly remembered and acted upon, may save many a
good building from destruction. It should be known, that the meadow

close beside a river--what is called in Scotland the haugh--is not a
suitable place for any building or town, and this simply because it is,
strictly speaking, a part of the river-bed. It is the winter or
flood-channel of the stream, and has indeed been formed by it during
inundations. Unless, therefore, under favour of strong embankments, no
building there can be secure from occasional inundation. Thus, for
example, a large part of Westminster, and nearly the whole borough of
Southwark, are built where no human dwellings should be. The fair city
of Perth is a solecism in point of site, and many a flooding it gets in
consequence. When a higher site can be obtained in the neighbourhood,
out of reach of floods, it is pure folly to build in a haugh--that is, the
first plain beside a river.
We were coming within a mile of the Bilberry embankment, when we
began to observe a new class of phenomena. Hitherto, the channel of
the stream had not exhibited any unusual materials; nor had its banks
been much broken, except in a few places. We had been on the outlook
to observe if the flood, and the heavy matters with which it was
charged, had produced any abrasion of the subjacent rock-structure. No
such effects could be traced. We were now, however, getting within the
range of the scattered débris of the embankment, and quickly detected
the presence of masses of a kind of rubbish different from the rounded
pebbles usually found in the bed of a river. There were long traînées,
composed of mud and clay, including angular blocks of stone, which
were constantly increasing in size as we passed onwards. These blocks
were the materials of the embankment, which the water had carried
thus far. No ploughing up of the channel had taken place, but simply
much new matter had been deposited. In some places, these fresh
deposits had transgressed into the fields; and where trees were involved,
the bark on the side toward the upper part of the valley had generally
been rubbed off. Not much more than a quarter of a mile from the
reservoir, we found Mrs Birst's mill, or rather a memorial of its former
existence, in a tall furnace-chimney, for literally no more survives. The
deposit of rubbish was here eight or ten feet deep, and a number of
workmen were engaged in excavating from it fragments of machinery
and other articles. They had cleared out the ground-rooms of the house,
though little more than the base of the walls remained. The scene was

precisely like an excavation at Herculaneum. The outline of the rooms
was beginning to be traceable. A grate and a fireplace appeared. We
observed a child's shoe taken out and laid aside--an affecting image of
the household desolation which had taken place. Mrs Birst, however,
and her whole family, had been fortunate enough to escape with life,
although with the loss of all their property. This mill, from its nearness
to the reservoir, as well as the contractedness of the valley at the spot,
had experienced the violence of the flood in a degree of intensity
unknown elsewhere.
The space between Mrs Birst's mill and the reservoir is for a good way
comparatively open, and here some good land had been completely
destroyed; but for two or three hundred yards below the reservoir the
valley is very narrow, and there some extraordinary effects are
observable. The flood, at its first outburst here, has exercised great
force upon the sides of the valley, carrying off from the cliffs several
huge blocks, which it has transported a good way down. Three of from
five to seven tons' weight are spoken of as carried half a mile, and one
of probably twenty tons is