The mysterious ‘Blue Pool’ in Scotland that fascinated a local man to his dying day

Scotland has countless unsolved mysteries that have left experts stumped for generations, but one of the most interesting — and least well known — is that of Torwood Blue Pool.

It is a manmade brick pool located in a clearing in the Tor Wood Forest, just outside of Falkirk. The forest was supposedly visited by iconic Scots such as Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.

However, it is Torwood Blue Pool that has remained perhaps the woods’ most intriguing feature. The origin of the pool remains a mystery, one that local man Nigel C Turnbull devoted much of his later life to solving.

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The pool is approximately 6.1 metres in diameter, while it is around four metres deep. These days, it is near black in colour and has significant algal growth.

However, it is said that the water was once bright blue, and was so clear that you could even see the bottom. Turnbull described it as “like looking through a blue diamond”.

He first came across Torwood Blue Pool in 1961, when he was just 10 years old. However, it wasn’t until decades later, when he turned 45 and happened upon the pool again, that he took it upon himself to uncover its mysteries.

The pool is tucked away in the Tor Wood Forest outside of Falkirk (Image: Photo © Robert Murray (cc-by-sa/2.0))

Over the next years, Turnbull undertook widespread research into the pool, including taking water samples and interviewing local residents. There have been numerous theories about the purpose of the blue pool, which he documented on his website.

Turnbull sadly died in 2012 at the age of 61 before confirming the origin of the Torwood Blue Pool and his website has since been taken down.

However, he did uncover one possible explanation that has proven to be the most convincing.

It involves the remains of Quarter Colliery approximately a mile away, which at one point was part of a significantly bigger coalfield. The colliery was closed in 1910 after an explosion that killed over a dozen miners and it was flooded as a result.

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Turnbull’s theory was that the pool was originally an air shaft serving the Quarter Colliery, allowing it to be ventilated. He believed that the shaft was capped by concrete and that the primary shaft below experienced a collapse at its base — resulting in the pool due to ground water seeping through the shaft wall.

If you intend to check out Torwood Blue Pool for yourself, you should be aware that it is extremely difficult to locate without the assistance of GPS. It is therefore highly recommended that travellers research before embarking on a journey to the pool.

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