The FlushThere are still a large number of people in Cumnock who remember The Flush, and its location between the foot of Drumbrochan Road, and the timber houses in Coila Place. Not so many citizens remember the days when The Flush contained a large volume of water.
Originally, this was a shallow pond where Cumnock Curling Club played the “Roaring Game” in the cold winters of the 19th century. However, their pond was to develop into a facility which could be used in the hot summer days.
The background to this development was the need to send a volume of water down the River Glaisnock through the town to flush away the rubbish and sewage which accumulated during hot, dry weather, when the bed of the burn held little of its own water. Up until the latter part of the 1800s there was no sewage disposal system in our town, and people used cesspools to get rid of their waste. The Council arranged for some sewage pipes to carry the effluent into the Glaisnock where, hopefully, the current would carry it away. However, during droughts in the summer, the effluent lay in pools in the bed of the river, and some system had to be devised to get rid of this serious health risk.
The Cumnock Curling Club offered their curling pond as a possible water storage area, and the Council undertook to deepen, and repair the pond, and to install a sluice. This work was completed in 1887, and the Flush was used to flood out the bed of the river and rid it of its noxious burden, when required.
A proper system of drains and sewers, discharging into the Cumnock Sewage Disposal Works did not come into use until 1929. The site of that sewage works was immediately behind the present Cumnock Academy in Ayr Road, and an old discharge pipe from this facility is still to be seen close to the River Lugar, below the bridge which connects the Academy with Broomfield Playing Field.
There is now no visible evidence of the Flush. The pond was infilled many years ago, and the entire area is now covered by many trees.
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