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69-430: Harlem Meer was constructed at the confluence of three streams: first, Harlem Creek flowing from the north, just west of Fifth Avenue; second, an unnamed stream flowing from the west along what would become 110th Street; and third, Montayne's Rivulet , a stream flowing down a ravine from the southwest (the only one of the three still in existence). At this confluence with its two tributaries, Harlem Creek became Harlem Marsh,

138-414: A picnic area with tables. Near the top of the hill, a 0.25-mile (0.40 km) walking path encircles a green lawn. North Meadow, one of Central Park's lawns, measures 23 acres (9.3 ha) and is bounded by North Woods (at approximately 102nd Street) to the north and west, Harlem Meer to the northeast, East Meadow to the east, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir to the south. Samuel Parsons ,

207-561: A subway tunnel at a deep level underneath the Great Hill, North Woods and North Meadow, as part of its Lenox Avenue Line (present-day 2 and ​ 3 trains). In 1910, in conjunction with Central Park's growing recreational use, New York City Board of Aldermen president John Purroy Mitchel suggested placing a swimming pool and recreational center in the North Meadow. However, parks commissioner Charles Stover opposed

276-627: A culvert between Huddlestone Arch to the west and the Lasker Rink (at the Harlem Meer) to the east. The tall-grass meadow adjacent to the Loch is the park's only woodland meadow. North Woods contains four ornamental spans. Glen Span, a light-gray gneiss -and- ashlar span, crosses the Loch as well as the adjacent walkway. Further east, Huddlestone Arch carries the East Drive above a pedestrian path and

345-476: A green copper hip roof and steeple , outside which is a flagstone patio, houses resident model sailboats as well as the radio-controlled model yachts of the Central Park Model Yacht Club. He remained active throughout the 1950s, turning over his firm to his son, Edward Coe Embury, in 1956. Remaining active as a consulting architect, Embury served on the architectural advisory committee for

414-563: A historic fortification from the War of 1812 . The northwestern corner contains a playground called West 110th Street Playground. The playground has a children's play structure as well as spray fountains. The surrounding area also contains several tall rocks, popular among boulderers . The western portion of North Woods contains Great Hill, the third-highest point in Central Park, rising to 135 feet (41 m) above sea level. Great Hill contains

483-588: A keen interest in the architecture of small country houses, publishing several books and pamphlets on the subject. In 1905, Embury won both the first and second prize in a design contest sponsored by the Garden City Company for a modest country house in Garden City, Long Island. This gave him visibility as a "society architect"; he acquired a reputation as a builder of country houses for the upper middle class and received many further commissions for such houses in

552-534: A recreation facility in the 1990s. The building contains twelve tennis courts and four basketball courts outdoors. In addition, a rock-climbing wall is located inside the recreation center building. In 2007, the center started offering horseback riding in conjunction with the Riverdale Equestrian Center , which operates near Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx . Additionally, the North Meadow includes

621-484: A security center, installed in 1984. North Woods contains the Loch, which drains into Harlem Meer in the northeastern corner of the park; the Loch is fed by the Pool, whose mouth is the waterfall at its eastern end that is the source of the Loch, just west of the arch called Glen Span . The Loch and Pool are adapted from a single watercourse called Montayne's Rivulet, originally fed from a natural spring but now replenished by

690-645: A semi-brackish, partly tidal wetland, flowing in an easterly direction (between what are now 106th and 110th streets), slowly draining into the East River . Prior to its burial beneath the city's expanding street grid, the marsh separated the suburb of Harlem to the north from the southern part of Manhattan island. To avoid the marsh, the Boston Post Road (known in New York as the Eastern Post Road) diverged to

759-518: A short-lived enterprise. In 1984, The New York Times described the building as a "burned-out boathouse." In October that year, Warner LeRoy (operator of Tavern on the Green ) and Percy Sutton (a former Manhattan borough president) began negotiating with the Parks Department to install a restaurant in the boathouse. The intent, according to Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, was to attract more people to

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828-601: A style intended to “reinforce the romantic landscape design.” It was completed in 1993. The proposed new restaurant building, in its final iteration three times the size of the Dana Center, and planned to sit just east of it, was never built. In 2018, the Central Park Conservancy announced a $ 150 million project to remove the Lasker Rink and replace it with a new facility to be named Harlem Meer Center. The new facility

897-501: A three hundred and sixty foot boat landing platform thirty feet wide. Two new entrances will be cut through the north wall of the park with stone stairways leading to the boat house plaza...Appropriate trees including willows, oaks and dogwoods and various flowering shrubs will be added to the existing planting. In March 1943, after approximately half of the project had been completed by the Works Progress Administration ,

966-459: A weir to regulate the water level: 5 feet deep in summer to discourage weeds from growing, but lowered to 3-1/2 feet in winter for the safety of ice-skaters. In its Ninth Annual Report, published in 1866, the park's Board of Commissioners included the following in the list of work completed during the year 1865: "...the excavation of the basin for the larger sheet of water, known as the Harlem Lake,

1035-583: Is best known for commissions from the City of New York from the 1930s through to the 1950s. In this period, Embury frequently worked with Robert Moses in the latter's various city and state capacities, especially, early on, in Moses’ capacity as New York City Parks Commissioner . Many surviving examples of Embury's work are zoos, swimming pools, playgrounds, and other recreational structures in New York City parks. Embury

1104-676: The Arsenal in Central Park . In the following years, Embury was chief or consulting architect in numerous projects in the New York City area. Exact figures are not available, but it is possible that Embury supervised the design of over six hundred public projects. Surviving examples include zoos such as the Central Park Zoo and Prospect Park Zoo ; parks such as Bryant Park , Betsy Head Park , Crotona Park , Jacob Riis Park , McCarren Park , Red Hook Park , and Sunset Park ; bridges including

1173-582: The Dillon Gymnasium for Princeton University after the previous gymnasium was destroyed in a fire. The eastern shore of Conservatory Water in Central Park in Manhattan , New York City, contains the Kerbs Memorial Boathouse, designed by Embury, where patrons can rent and navigate radio-controlled and wind-powered model boats. The 1954 boathouse, in picnic Georgian taste with red brick and

1242-580: The Frederick Douglass Circle entrance to the park at 110th Street and Eighth Avenue, is the tallest span in the park at 48 feet (15 m) high. In addition, there are three unadorned "rustic bridges" in North Woods: the Cascade and Loch Bridges, as well as a third unnamed bridge. Aymar Embury II Aymar Embury II (June 15, 1880 – November 15, 1966) was an American architect. He

1311-461: The Great Lawn further south was reserved for children.  In 1962, the city announced that Lasker Rink would be built above the mouth of the Loch. When completed in 1966, the facility served as an ice rink in winter and Central Park's only swimming pool in summer. By the late 1960s, the Loch had deteriorated to such an extent that the cascades along its route had dried up, and the stream

1380-505: The Greensward Plan , Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux 's original design for Central Park. Work had started on the northern section of the park by 1864, but was complicated by a need to preserve the historic McGowan's Pass on the northeastern corner of the park. The topography in the northern section of Central Park was not altered as much as that in the southern section of the park: workers created drives and paths, as well as

1449-791: The Triborough Bridge and Henry Hudson Bridge ; and other features including the New York City Building at the 1939 New York World's Fair (now the Queens Museum ), Orchard Beach , Prospect Park Bandshell, and the Hofstra University Campus. In 1937, Embury was commissioned by the Ladies Home Journal to design a Mount Vernon replica house. The plans were published in the October 1937 issue. In 1947, Embury designed

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1518-550: The 1920s called for a playground in the northern section of Central Park, near the North Woods. Ultimately, the West 110th Street Playground was built at the site. Under NYC Parks commissioner Robert Moses , athletic fields were constructed in the North Meadow in the 1930s, and bocce , tennis , and volleyball facilities for adults were installed in the Great Hill. The North Meadow was thus designated as an adults' play area, while

1587-492: The Authority's 1933 annual report, he was listed as Architect. In 1934, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appointed Robert Moses as sole commissioner of a newly unified Department of Parks for New York City, commencing a seven-year period of construction and renovation of city parks. Embury, along with landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke , was a senior member of an 1,800 strong design and construction team that Moses had assembled at

1656-524: The Central Park commission opened North Meadow to sports by the late 19th century. The first recorded cricket matches were played in North Meadow by 1885, and immigrant families began hosting picnics in North Meadow by the 1920s. In addition, there was a proposal to move the Central Park Zoo to the North Meadow in the 1890s, though this was controversial and largely opposed. In 1902, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company excavated

1725-460: The Loch. It is made of boulders, some weighing nearly 100 short tons (89 long tons; 91 tonnes). It is the only one in the park whose boulders are held together solely by gravity . South of both of those, the Springbanks Arch carries a bridle path and a former segment of carriage road across a pedestrian path and a stream of the Loch. Finally, the gneiss-and-ashlar Mountcliff Arch, near

1794-572: The Meer. However, the deal fell through and by 1986, the Times reported that the Parks Department and Harlem community leaders had agreed that "the old building should be demolished and a new one put up." Beginning in 1990, the Central Park Conservancy , a non-profit organization founded to help restore the park, undertook the reconstruction of Harlem Meer, demolishing the abandoned boathouse, replacing

1863-483: The North Meadow ballfields. A series of butterfly gardens are also located on the northeastern edge of North Meadow. The space has sometimes been used for concerts, such as Garth Brooks 's 1997 event Garth: Live from Central Park , which drew an estimated crowd of up to 980,000. In the middle of North Meadow is the North Meadow Recreation Center. The main building in the complex was converted to

1932-501: The North Woods and, by extension, reduce crime. Improvements to the northern end of the park began around this time. Areas of the North Woods was cleared and replanted, and programs to minimize erosion were set up. In 1994, the Conservancy announced a $ 71.5 million program to restore several portions of the park. The projects included adding drainage systems and reseeding the North Woods and North Meadow. The North Meadow Recreation Center

2001-408: The Parks Department solicited bids to complete enough of the work to reopen the area to the public. By December, the department had reopened Harlem Meer, deferring unessential work on account of the war effort, promising that, "at the end of the war the 360-foot boat landing platform will be completed, and the combination brick boathouse, comfort station, and refreshment concession will be constructed on

2070-952: The Players and Nassau Clubs in Princeton, New Jersey , the Princeton Club of New York , the University Club in Washington, D.C., and the Mountain Brook Country Club in Mountain Brook, Alabama He designed the Hope Valley Country Club Clubhouse at Durham, North Carolina , in 1927. In 1930 he was appointed consulting architect by the Port of New York Authority He consulted on the Authority's Inland Terminal . As of

2139-528: The Pool was fed by a drainage basin of 64.5 acres (26.1 ha) inside the park as well as 115 acres (47 ha) to the west of the park boundary. The Loch originates at the Pool before winding through the North Woods and the Ravine. Its name is likely influenced from the trips that Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted made to the United Kingdom during the 1850s. The Loch, formerly an actual lake,

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2208-453: The Pool, Loch, and Harlem Meer, but did not modify much of the landscape. North Woods and North Meadow were completed by the late 1860s. In 1870–1871, the Tammany Hall political machine, which was the largest political force in New York at the time, took control of Central Park for a brief period. They proposed building a zoo at the site of the current North Woods, but the proposal

2277-853: The activities of the American Expeditionary Force in France. During this time, Capt. Embury designed the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal . Later, in 1932, he became a lieutenant colonel in the Officers Reserve Corps. By the late 1920s, Embury was well-known and had received a wide range of commissions all over the east coast of the United States, entailing college buildings and social clubs in addition to residences. He designed

2346-527: The adjacent neighborhood of Harlem , and the second from the Dutch word for "lake". For example, Haarlemmermeer , the name of a municipality in the Netherlands, translates to English as "Haarlem's Lake". Harlem Meer was built within the "Extension," the 65 acre section of Central Park from 106th to 110th streets that was formally added in 1863 to the park's original 778 acres. Thus, the lake's creation required that

2415-426: The architects Fordyce & Hamby Associates. The structure, built over the mouth of the Loch at the Meer's southwest corner, required that the Meer temporarily be drained. From its completion in 1966 until its removal in 2021, Lasker served as an ice skating rink in winter and as Central Park's only swimming pool in summer. In 1973, the 1940s era boathouse was converted into a restaurant known as Across 110th Street,

2484-442: The area of North Woods can be 200 acres (81 ha). North Woods contains the 55-acre (22 ha) Ravine, a forest with deciduous trees on its northwestern slope, as well as the Loch, a small stream that winds through North Woods diagonally. The southeastern part of the Ravine contains oak, elms, and maple trees, while the area further east contains oak, hickory, maple, and ash trees. The Woods also includes Blockhouse No. 1 ,

2553-492: The attack was "one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s". A group of four black and one Hispanic teenagers, who became known as the " Central Park Five ", were convicted of this and another assault, and sentenced to years in prison. Their convictions were vacated after another man confessed to the crime in 2002, his DNA matched that found in semen at the scene, and the DA's office conducted an investigation of other elements of

2622-411: The boardwalk and the Loch by means of synthetic ice placed on the boardwalk. North Woods is the largest of Central Park's three woodlands, and is located at the lightly-used northwestern corner of Central Park. It covers about 90 acres (36 ha) adjacent to North Meadow. The name sometimes also applies to other attractions in the park's northern end; if these adjacent features are included,

2691-433: The city's water system. The Loch is the only stream in Central Park where an existing watercourse was left aboveground, rather than placed in a culvert underground. The Pool is located near 101st Street and Central Park West. It was once surrounded by lilies and contained a rocky island in the center. The water for the Pool comes from a grotto that hides a 48-inch (120 cm) water supply pipe. Originally,

2760-484: The concrete perimeter curb with a more natural shoreline, and dredging 40,000 cubic yards (31,000 m) of sediment and debris from the meer. On the north shore, the Conservancy built the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, an environmental education center, and the first information center at the north end of Central Park. The 5,200-square-foot (480 m) building was designed by the architects Buttrick White & Burtis in

2829-550: The construction of its banks and dam, and the preparation of the ground to retain the water." In their Tenth Annual Report, published in 1867, the commissioners recorded the completion of the lake during the summer of 1866, noting that, "the surface of the Park at the northeast corner being completed, the water was confined in the Harlem Lake in August last." On September 21, 1941, the Parks Department announced thirteen new construction projects,

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2898-598: The evidence. Following the female jogger attack and other assaults in the park that night, the Central Park Conservancy organized the Citizens Task Force on the Use and Security of Central Park. The task force published a report that suggested reverting the North Meadow's baseball fields to a lawn, though this was strongly opposed by athletes who used these ball fields. In 1990, the Conservancy announced recreational programs and restoration projects to attract more people to

2967-522: The largest of which was the reconstruction of the northeastern corner of Central Park, to include a new boathouse designed by architect Aymar Embury II . According to the department's press release: ...The existing facilities are inadequate to meet the heavy demands of the large adjacent population and the result has been destructive to the natural features. The present layout, a product of the outmoded theory that parks are passive recreation areas designed solely for visual pleasure, must be revamped to fulfill

3036-447: The last two years the portion of the Park north of 102d street, and including what is known as the "Extension," has chiefly engaged [our] attention, being the district that was last entered upon in the general work of improvement. This is now mainly completed. Having been entrusted with the exercise of a liberal discretion in the execution of this part of the work, since the retirement of Mr. F.L. Olmsted from its general direction, I trust

3105-477: The many recreational needs of all the people of this section of Harlem...A masonry wall about one foot high and a fifteen foot promenade will form the new shore line completely encircling the lake...Benches will be spaced along the lake promenade, the general path system including the trails, and the overlook areas. The main features of the north shore adjacent to 110 Street will be a U-shaped combination brick boat house, comfort station and refreshment concession with

3174-429: The new lake required not only the excavation of 109,500 cubic yards of "earth, sand, and gravel," but also the introduction of 98,600 cubic yards of fill to raise the shore level to the newly established grades of Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, and to level the eastern portion of the lake bed. Engineer Grant formed the lake bed with a 12" thick clay liner protected by a 6" layer of sand. At the lake's outlet, Grant installed

3243-510: The new stream came from the drainage system of the North Meadow, but most came from the overflow of the newly completed Upper Reservoir (now the Central Park Reservoir) which was diverted from the reservoir's north gatehouse via a 48" underground conduit to a small grotto at the western park boundary near 102nd street, and made to look like a natural spring. The reconstructed stream was embellished with several new features: Creation of

3312-508: The north shore of the Meer." Construction work resumed in 1946, and on August 6, 1947, the Parks Department announced that row boating would resume, the concession to be run out of the new boathouse, "designed in modified victorian style in harmony with the architecture of other structures in the park." In 1962, Mayor Robert Wagner announced that the Parks Department would build the Loula D. Lasker Memorial Swimming Pool and Skating Rink , designed by

3381-460: The northern section of Central Park , New York City , close to the neighborhoods of the Upper West Side and Harlem in Manhattan . The 90-acre (36 ha) North Woods, in the northwestern corner of the park, is a rugged woodland that contains a forest called the Ravine, as well as two water features called the Loch and the Pool. The western portion of the North Woods also includes Great Hill,

3450-481: The northwest, entering the future park (near what is now Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street), climbing up to McGowan's tavern (at the 105th Street line), then descending to the gap where once stood the blockhouse marking the site of McGowan's Pass , then descending further to the future site of the lake, where it crossed the rivulet, then exited the future park (near what is now 110th Street and Lenox Avenue) before continuing on to King's Bridge and points north. The hills to

3519-434: The park commissioners approve amendments to the original park plan. Most of the work was carried out by park comptroller Andrew Haswell Green and his superintending engineer William H. Grant, after Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux , the park's principal designers, resigned (Olmsted in the summer of 1861; Vaux in 1863), and before they were rehired in mid-1865. In his report of January 1, 1866, Grant wrote: During

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3588-488: The plan, and it was ultimately dropped. After the plan was cancelled, another proposal was made that would replace the "comfort station", refreshment stand, and storage shed in North Meadow with a single recreational center. Around this time, in 1911, North Meadow was temporarily closed for reseeding, to mitigate damage caused by heavy usage. During the project, North Meadow was fenced in, and new trees and shrubs were added. The work took about four years. Another plan in

3657-461: The rink be closed between late 2021 and 2024. As part of the plan, the portion of the Loch and Harlem Meer under the lake would be restored to a more natural state, and a boardwalk would be added along the newly restored Loch. A new rink would be built to the east of the Loch and would be set within a slope, containing a new pool that would be located at a lower elevation than the existing pool. During winters, ice skaters would be allowed to skate on

3726-480: The south and west of Harlem Meer were once the site of a series of connected military fortifications, erected during the War of 1812 in anticipation of a British invasion from the north, including (from west to east) the Blockhouse , Fort Fish , Nutter's Battery , a second blockhouse at McGowan's Pass , and Fort Clinton . Harlem Meer (also called "Harlem Lake" in its early days) took the first part of its name from

3795-494: The southern part of the park started in 1857, the northernmost four blocks between 106th and 110th Streets were not even purchased until 1859. At the time, the northwestern corner of the park was a rocky forest, while the northeastern corner (now the Harlem Meer ) was a swamp. The Pool and Loch in the North Woods were proposed by Central Park commissioner Robert J. Dillon, who included it as one of seventeen amendments to

3864-455: The stream feeding into the Meer to flow visibly above ground for the first time since it was buried in a conduit when the Lasker Rink was built. In November 2024, it was announced that the new recreation center would be known as Davis Center at the Harlem Meer and that it would open in 2025. Catch-and-release fishing along the Meer's banks is a favorite activity for some park visitors. Besides

3933-462: The superintendent of Central Park during the 1880s through 1910s, once wrote of the North Meadow: "It is genuine park scenery that the eye is tempted to linger upon and the foot to walk upon, and presents, if viewed as a single feature, one of the best examples we have of good park work." North Meadow contains twelve baseball fields , as well as six non-regulation soccer fields overlapping with

4002-480: The surrounding area, while the proposed tennis house would be located in a depression. The area gained notoriety in April 1989 due to the Central Park jogger case . A white female jogger was badly beaten and raped at night in the North Woods, when 30-32 youths from East Harlem were known to have been roaming through the park, and accosting and sometimes assaulting eight other persons. According to The New York Times ,

4071-414: The third highest point in Central Park. North Meadow, a recreation center and sports complex, is immediately southeast of the North Woods. Completed in the 1860s, North Woods and North Meadow were among the last parts of Central Park to be built. North Woods and North Meadow, located between 97th and 110th Streets in Central Park, were among the last parts of the park to be built. While construction on

4140-561: The usual yellow perch and crappie , anglers have reported catches of the predatory Asian northern snakehead, Channa argus , a notoriously invasive species. An island in the southwest corner of the Meer provides a retreat for waterfowl, particularly black-crowned night herons . The Meer has a resident population of muskrats . North Woods and North Meadow 40°47′49″N 73°57′28″W  /  40.7970°N 73.9577°W  / 40.7970; -73.9577 North Woods and North Meadow are two interconnected features in

4209-462: The work is not inharmonious with the work at large. In the course of the transformation of Montayne's Rivulet from 1862 to 1866, the part of the stream that stood outside the park was diverted into the sewer system and buried beneath land development, whereas the part inside the park was connected (as was the rest of the park) to the Croton Aqueduct water distribution system. Some of the water for

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4278-601: The years surrounding World War I . He designed the James Boyd House , also known as Weymouth, at Southern Pines, North Carolina , and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Embury served for fourteen months during World War I as a captain in the Fortieth Engineers, United States Army Corps of Engineers where he helped establish a unit of eight professional artists to document

4347-504: Was approved by the Public Design Commission on March 30, 2020, and was scheduled to be completed in 2024. As part of the plan, the existing facility at the southwest end of the rink was demolished to be replaced by a new structure at the southeast side, between the rink and East Drive, built partly underground. A new rink and pool will be built on the site of the old one, but will be smaller on its southeast–northwest axis, allowing

4416-445: Was born in New York City to Aymar Embury and Fannie Miller Bates. Married four times, his first union was with Dorothy Coe in 1904. They later divorced, and he married Ruth Dean . Dean was a famous landscape designer who designed Grey Gardens during the marriage. The two worked out of the same office but had separate shingles for their businesses. A widower in 1932, he married Josephine Bound in 1934, which ended in divorce. He

4485-481: Was jokingly referred to as "the Trickle". The Great Hill was also rundown, as was the North Woods. By 1987, the Central Park Conservancy had raised $ 2.5 million to build a tennis house, the current recreation center, in the North Meadow. However, these plans were opposed by some tennis players, who stated that the existing tennis house on the southern edge of the meadow was located on a hill that afforded better views of

4554-406: Was not implemented. Olmsted and Vaux also proposed an observation tower atop Great Hill, though this was never completed, either. For the first few decades of Central Park's existence, it was forbidden to play most sports in Central Park, because Olmsted and Vaux believed that the park should be used for scenic enjoyment rather than recreation. However, because of growing recreational pressures,

4623-434: Was renovated again from 1998 to 2000. The West 110th Street playground was restored in 2006. A major storm destroyed more than one hundred trees in the northern section of the park in 2009, which represented the single greatest loss to the park's trees in thirty years. JPMorgan Chase later donated $ 1 million to replace the trees. A $ 150 million renovation of Lasker Rink was officially announced in 2018, requiring that

4692-645: Was survived by his fourth wife, Jane Schabbehar. From the 1930s on, Embury maintained Manhattan and East Hampton , Long Island residences, and was active in East Hampton society. Aymar Embury graduated from Princeton University in 1900 with a degree in civil engineering and further received a Masters of Science degree in 1901. Following graduate studies, Embury taught architecture at Princeton while also working for various firms in New York City, including Cass Gilbert , George B. Post , Howells & Stokes , and Palmer and Hornbostel. During this period he developed

4761-469: Was whittled down over time into a small stream. Originally, there were two waterfalls on the Loch: a 13.5 ft (4.1 m) drop at the Pool, and a smaller 9.5 ft (2.9 m) drop further east. Paths also lined either bank of the Loch. A diverse selection of plant species was located along the Loch, though before the 1990s restoration, this had been reduced to a few invasive species . The Loch enters

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