River Tay

The River Tay in Perth

The Tay [ teɪ ] with 193 km the longest river in Scotland. It rises on the slopes of Ben Lui and flows only in the Firth of Tay and anschließlich in the North Sea.

Inland waters

In the upper reaches his name Fillan, Dochart until it is at the Crianlarich. In Killin it forms the spectacular waterfalls of Dochart Falls, a few hundred meters to pour into Loch Tay from the southwest. After he has left it at the northeastern end in Kenmore, it flows as River Tay first in a northeasterly past the grounds of Taymouth Castle's, then in a southerly direction, by Aberfeldy, Dunkeld and Perth.

Firth of Tay

Four kilometers east of Perth, the flowing River Tay in the Firth of Tay, in the south of the River Tay and the River Earn flows. East of Dundee, the Firth of Tay opens in Broughty Ferry to the North Sea. This Firth of Tay is included in the flow length. The river discharge is, however, reported separately for River Tay ( in Perth ) and River Earn. The salinity of the Firth of Tay points to a significant influx of sea water. In order for this estuary is more than an ordinary underflow. Although it was also shaped by Ice Age glaciers, these days it is not very deep. Between the river mouths and Dundee more than half the width of the Firth of Tay is occupied by tidal flats.

Hydrology

The Tay has 6216 km ² catchment area of ​​the greatest of all Scottish rivers. Average he transported 170 cubic meters of water per second. The highest measured amount of water was 2,269 m³ / s on 17 January 1993, when the level in Perth rose by 6.48 m above normal, which led to extensive flooding in the city. 1814 The highest water level in Perth occurred with 7 m above normal. More floods were recorded in the years 1210 and 1648.

History

During the Romantic period to the early 19th century inspired landowners built ruins on the hilltops, as the banks of the Firth of Tay, with its towering mountain slopes close to the water, reminding them of the landscape in the Middle Rhine, with its castle ruins. Such senseless and useless buildings that come only at the whim of their creators, they are called in English Follies.

A momentous disaster was the collapse of the newly built railway bridge over the Firth of Tay at Dundee on 28 December 1879 in which 75 people lost their lives (see also Firth of Tay Bridge ).

Place names

Several places along the river were named after the Tay:

• Dundee = Dun deagh, fort on the Tay
• Broughty Ferry, called by the inhabitants also Brochtie = Bruach Tatha, the banks of the Tay
• Taymouth - mouth of the Tay.