Douglas Water
Not to be confused with either the Douglas Water which flows into Loch Fyne or the Douglas Water which flows into Loch Lomond
The Douglas Water is a river in Lanarkshire which is a tributary of the River Clyde. The river's name, rather unusually for Lanarkshire, comes from the Gaelic language, whether Highland Gaelic or the Irish Gaelic of Galloway one cannot tell for certain; dubh-glas means "black water".
The river rises in the hills which separate Lanarkshire from Ayrshire, to the south west of Muirkirk. The source is close to that of the River Ayr, which flows west to the sea, but the Douglas Water runs north-east then east, past Glespin and into Douglasdale. Here the river flows through the village of Douglas, and past the scant remains of Douglas Castle.
Douglas Castle castle was a stronghold of the House of Douglas, a powerful mediæval family, whose Norman ancestors settled here in the 12th century. They may have taken their surname from the river (unless the river is named form them).
The A70 road follows the river through Douglasdale, and on to the Clyde.
East of Douglas, the river passes under the M74 motorway, just south of the Happendon services, and turns toward the north-east again. Below the village of Rigside, the smaller Poniel Burn flows into the Douglas Water. Beyond this confluence is the small village of Douglas Water. A dismantled railway line runs between the river and the A70 for the remaining 2 miles of its course. The Douglas Water flows into the Clyde around 3 miles south of Lanark.
