09/10/2026
(9 October) in 1969, the Backwater Reservoir, Glenisla, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
The scheme was the newest of its type in Scotland, and a ยฃ5,000,000 project to supply water to almost 300,000 people in Dundee, the towns of Angus, as well as Coupar Angus, Blairgowrie and the Carse of Gowrie.
The project was initiated in 1964 by the Dundee Corporation Waterworks and absorbed into the newly created East of Scotland Water Board in 1968. The 800-metre-long dam retains a man-made loch approximately 2 miles in length, containing approximately 25 million cubic metres of water.
As part of her visit to Angus, the Queen stopped at Brechin Castle, and at Forfar, where she attended lunch at Town and County Hall. From there, she made her way through Kirriemuir to the opening ceremony. Before the arrival of the Queen, the crowds who had gathered were entertained to music by the bands of the Black Watch regiment.
The Queen was received by the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Angus, the Earl of Dalhousie, and Mr Murray, the Chairman of the Water Board. After being introduced to various dignitaries and people connected to the works, the Queen made a short speech and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion. The Queenโs words were:
"๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ขy ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ต๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ.โ
A second plaque was unveiled on the gate of the dam describing the work and other features of project. The Queen was then escorted by car across the dam and along the valley to view the new expanse of water created by the reservoir. Following presentations to workers and engineers on the project, Queen Elizabeth II pressed the button to release the first water.
The completion of Backwater Reservoir came during a particularly dry spell, which fortunately overcame a shortage of water in Loch of Lintrathen. The project highlighted the need for additional supplies for the lower Angus region.
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