Banton Loch

About

Banton Loch, also known as Kilsyth Loch, Townhead Reservoir and once nicknamed Bakers' Loch, is an artificial freshwater lake located to the east of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK, and which supplies water to the highest stretch of the Forth and Clyde Canal.

The reservoir is widely credited as a work of John Smeaton in the 1770s and 1780s, in connection with the canal. However a history of the Glasgow Incorporation of Bakers asserts a reservoir at Townhead prior to the canal scheme, and describes Kilmannan Reservoir as a replacement for Townhead, funded by the canal company in recompense for water diverted from the River Kelvin, upon which the bakers relied to drive their mills.