
Castle Loch Lochmaben
Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation SC044045
Make a donationAll paths are now clear again for everyone to enjoy.
Click the image below to check out our facebook page for information and events.
In order for CLLCT to continue, we urgently need more members to join the Board of Trustees. It is likely that new members will be local residents who are interested in helping us to maintain the facilities that we have worked so hard to provide for our community. Without community involement and further members joining our Board, there is a very real risk that all of the achievements of the last decade will be lost in the next. New members are not required to have any board experience and we would welcome interest from anyone who feels they could use their own skills and experience to add value to our Trust. Board meetings are held every 4-6 weeks at the Castle Loch cottage with many volunteering opportunities in between.
Join The BoardThe continued support of the volunteers of Lochmaben is essential to the conservation of this special place. One simple way of helping is to volunteer yourself—it is free, and it helps maintain the walk for all visitors throughout the year.
We are updating the membership details of the trust and need your help!
There are 418 members registered with the trust and 304 have given an email address. If any of your contact details have changed please let us know (contact details are shown below). Members are generally contacted by email which means that 114 members do not receive the newsletter, or any other updates about the trust’s activities, on a regular basis. If you know of any member who has a new email address, or changed contact details, please let us know
If you know of anyone who may be interested in joining us please encourage them to contact us. We also need a member to join the board so if you would like to support us or know of someone who might be interested please let us know.
Email: CLLCT2014@gmail.com (Paul Beardon, Membership Secretary)
Welcome to Castle Loch, the largest and shallowest of the lochs in Lochmaben, Dumfries & Galloway, located between Lockerbie and Dumfries on the A709 (DG11 1LP / NY 085815). The site is one of the earliest Local Nature Reserves (LNR) and also a site of national and international importance for its birdlife with a whole list of designations, including Site of Scientific Interest, Ramsar Site and Special Protected Area. The loch is a fine location to visit at any time of the year, offering fine opportunities to see bird and wildlife, take walk, fish or take to the waters under sail. The site offers the chance to see breeding Willow Tit at their northern reaches, however it comes into its own during the winter season with the migration of Pink-footed Geese from Iceland and Greenland, along with Greylag Geese and Goosanders.
The ruins of Lochmaben Castle are found on promontory at the south end of the loch and offer an added attraction to experience first-hand the important historical connections of the area. The castle is a former stronghold of the Bruce family and is reckoned to be the best example of an Edwardian (Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots) Peel left in Scotland.
In 2013 the Castle Loch was put up for sale. The Castle Loch Advisory Committee provided the basis of a local Community Trust whose aim was to purchase the Castle Loch and its environs for the Community. The steering committee successfully raised the funds needed and Castle Loch Lochmaben Community Trust (CLLCT) took ownership of the site in January 2014.
Other recreational facilities located on the edge of the loch are the beautiful Victory Park, a bowling green and all weather tennis courts. There is an attractive path round most of the loch, which passes Lochmaben Castle and a Bird Hide, returning to the town on a quiet lane with fine views over the water and hills. Numerous fishing piers are found along the Lochmaben to Dalton road side of the loch, while a gently sloping path down to the lochside fishing pier, enabling wheelchair users to fish at the loch, is at the A709 car park. Annandale Sailing Club is a small friendly club and the loch can provide both sheltered waters for the nervous beginner or an interesting test for those who appreciate the subtleties of inland racing. Please note that the only motorised craft allowed on the loch are those of the Sailing Club rescue boats and Water Bailiff.
All the paths and boardwalk are now open.
A big thank you to everyone that has supported our work and fundraising campaign for the infrastructure upgrades, including the contractor GroundsCo, volunteers and all the donors: members of the public, local groups, Russell Roof Tiles Annandale & Nithsdale Community Benefit Company, Minnigap 2 fund, Hugh Fraser Fund, National Lottery Community Fund, D&G Council Regionwide Community Fund.
Partly funded by Annandale and Nithsdale Community Benefit Company.
Just a gentle reminder to please keep dogs on a lead or walking to heel and to also pick up after them. Recently the children’s forest school areas have had a lot of dog mess left. There are numerous bins around the site, car parks, lay-bys and Lochfield Cottage, with the longest stretch without a bin around the grassland, but it isn’t that far. Thank you for your help with this.
Birds & animals in difficulty… if you come across an animal that looks sick or injured please contact the SSPCA on 0300 099 9999 and one of their rangers will come out and investigate.
I’m regularly asked on Facebook about whether the loch is used by visitors for these activities and the answer is yes. One or two people do wild swim in the loch with safety visual buoys, and others for triathlon training, the same also goes for launching kayaks and canoes. The easiest place to enter the water is from the car park near the bowls/tennis club. Please note that the loch does have blue green algae blooms from time to time, usually late summer if it has been particularly warm and sultry (so not that often then!). When I receive reports of it, I put a note up on here and the Facebook page. The one thing we do ask is that you avoid the wildlife sanctuary area, which, as you enter the water, is the bay down on the far right side. Click below to view the map:
Downloadable Map