Glencorse Reservoir Travel Guide

Glencorse Reservoir is a reservoir in Silverburn, United Kingdom. The nearest service base is Penicuik, roughly 4 km away.

Glencorse Reservoir at a Glance

• What it is: reservoir (Attractions)
• Where it is: Silverburn EH26, United Kingdom — coordinates 55.8619, 3.2536
• Why it is listed: a source-verified entry in the CollabsTravel master database, matched against official gazetteer and geographic records before publication
• Time needed: two to three hours
• Best season: May to September

Quick Facts

Place type	Reservoir
Primary category	Attractions
Also good for	Waterfront
County / region	Silverburn
Region / state	Scotland
Country	United Kingdom
Postal address	Silverburn EH26, United Kingdom
Nearest city	Penicuik
Coordinates	55.8619, -3.2536
Nearest base town	Penicuik (4 km)

Why Glencorse Reservoir Is Worth Visiting

Glencorse Reservoir earns its place in this guide for a simple reason: it is a verified attractions in Scotland, United Kingdom,. Its position 4 km from Penicuik also makes it an easy add-on rather than a detour that costs half a day. Visitors book it for waterfront as much as for attractions. And unlike listicle recommendations, everything on this page - coordinates, category, sources - was checked against official records before publication.

About Glencorse Reservoir

In plain terms, Glencorse Reservoir is a reservoir in the Silverburn area of Scotland, United Kingdom that travellers book around attractions trips. Beyond its main draw, the record tags it for waterfront too, so it rewards more than one kind of visit. Functionally it belongs to Penicuik - the town most maps and locals will reference when describing how to reach it. Everything stated on this page comes from that verified record; where background history is quoted, the source is named at the end of the section.

The Story of Glencorse Reservoir: History & Background

Glencorse Reservoir is a reservoir in Midlothian, Scotland, two miles west of Glencorse, in the Pentland Hills.

It is retained by an earth dam, and it was built between 1820 and 1824 by James Jardine to provide water for the mills of Auchendinny, Milton Bridge and Glencorse, and to supply drinking water to the citizens of Edinburgh. The dam is 23.5 metres (77 ft) at its highest point, one of the tallest in Britain when it was constructed, and was built at a point where a spur of rock narrowed the channel of the Glencorse Burn, which caused great difficulties in its construction. The gravel bed on which the burn flowed was up to 16.2 metres (53 ft) deep and when this was removed to create a clay-puddle dyke, the hill on the south side collapsed. The reservoir is the property of Scottish Water.

The reservoir was built to provide water to compensate the mills at Glencorse, Milton Bridge and Auchendinny and to ensure a supply of drinking water to Edinburgh through a cast-iron pipe which took water to two small reservoirs in the city, at Castlehill and near George Heriot's School. The reservoir has an area of 19.3 hectares (48 acres).

A Water Treatment Works was opened at Glencorse in 2012 to replace aged facilities at Alnwickhill and Fairmilehead and treat water from Talla, Fruid and Megget reservoirs. In 2019, Glencorse Water Treatment Works was reported to have the capacity to supply up to 175 million litres of water per day and was supplying water to up to 450,000 customers in parts of West Lothian and Edinburgh.

Beneath the surface of the reservoir are the remains of St Catherine's of the Hopes, a 13th-century chapel.

Lead passage from the Wikipedia article "Glencorse Reservoir", reused under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a coordinate-verified name match; the source article carries the full referenced history.

The Beauty of Glencorse Reservoir

What people mean when they call Glencorse Reservoir beautiful is usually the built and curated detail on site - exhibits, gardens and views arranged specifically to be enjoyed. The light does most of the work: mid-latitude light gives the place two looks: clean blue summer noon and a low amber angle in spring and autumn. The seasons restyle everything around it - each season repaints it - plan the visit around the colour you want in your photos. And the beauty compounds with context: with 8 other verified places nearby, the Silverburn area reads as one continuous landscape rather than a single viewpoint, which is worth more than any filter on the photos you take here.

Getting There

Glencorse Reservoir sits at 55.8619, 3.2536 in Silverburn, United Kingdom. Most visitors reach it by car, regional rail or local transit; pin the coordinates above rather than only the name - Glencorse Reservoir names repeat across regions, and rural entries often lack street addresses.

Base yourself in Penicuik and make this a half-day trip; services, fuel and lodging are easiest there. The run from Penicuik is about 4 km (2 mi) each way, so allow Penicuik as your anchor for the day.

Best Time to Visit

Late spring to early autumn (May to September) brings the warmest and most reliable conditions across United Kingdom. Shoulder months just before and after that window trade a little weather for noticeably lower prices and thinner crowds.

Glencorse Reservoir Season by Season

• Summer (Jun-Aug) - peak season: the warmest, longest days and everything open, which also makes it the priciest and busiest window
• Autumn (Sep-Nov) - shoulder season: crowds drain away, the light turns photographic, and lodging rates typically fall
• Winter (Dec-Feb) - off-season: cheapest beds and empty viewpoints, but check for closures, snow or rain before committing
• Spring (Mar-May) - rebuild season: wildflowers, newborn wildlife and reopened facilities - the best balance if the weather holds

Things to Do

Planning what to actually do at Glencorse Reservoir comes down to the setting it sits in:

• Arrive with the exact coordinates (55.8619, -3.2536) pinned in your maps app — rural place names repeat across states
• Give the site one unhurried hour before adding anything else to the day
• Pair it with the nearest named attraction on this page to make a full loop
• Chain the stop with what is nearby — see the list below before fixing your day route

None of this needs a rigid schedule - the honest pattern at Glencorse Reservoir is one anchor at the nearest anchor town, one longer stop, and the rest of the time left for whatever looks better from the car window. That flexibility is what separates a good half-day from a rushed one.

A Perfect Day in Glencorse Reservoir

Morning (start early). Have breakfast at Penicuik and roll out before mid-morning - the light is softer, parking is open, and Glencorse Reservoir is at its quietest before the day-trippers arrive. Give the main stop its full due first rather than saving it for later.

Midday. From Glencorse Reservoir, Penicuik is only 4 km away - pair the two rather than driving home for lunch; a picnic beats a reservation near most of these spots.

Afternoon. Keep going to Threipmuir Reservoir (4 km) if the group still has legs; it is the standard second half of this loop.

Golden hour. End at the main viewpoint, waterfront or main street as the light drops; this is the hour Glencorse Reservoir is genuinely famous for locally, and it costs nothing.

Evening. Sleep at Penicuik unless the road out is long - leaving at dusk is the one mistake that can flatten an otherwise perfect day.

Know Before You Go to Glencorse Reservoir

• Save the pin (55.8619, -3.2536) offline - reception in Silverburn is exactly as good as it needs to be and no better
• Check the official source listed at the bottom of this page for current hours, fees and closures before driving out
• Visit on weekdays: at most verified spots weekends triple the local traffic
• Bring the basics - water, layers, power bank - because facilities at this kind of place are self-service

Nearby Places Worth Combining

Glencorse Reservoir does not sit in isolation - these verified places are all within a short hop and combine into a full loop:

• Penicuik — city, about 4 km (2 mi) away
• Threipmuir Reservoir — attractions, about 4 km (3 mi) away
• Loanhead — city, about 6 km (4 mi) away
• Harperrig Reservoir — attractions, about 13 km (8 mi) away
• Roseberry Reservoir — attractions, about 13 km (8 mi) away
• Gorebridge — city, about 13 km (8 mi) away
• Gladhouse Reservoir — attractions, about 14 km (8 mi) away
• Kirkliston — city, about 14 km (9 mi) away

Planning More of Your Trip

See everything in United Kingdom on the United Kingdom country hub, browse the full Attractions United Kingdom collection, or take in the whole Scotland region.