Kinlochleven
village in Highland, Scotland, UK
Kinlochleven () (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Loch Lìobhann) is a village located at the end of end of Loch Leven, Lochaber, Scottish Highlands. To the north lie the Mamores ridge; to the south lie the mountains flanking Glen Coe.
Kinlochleven as it is now known, was formed from two previously separate small communities divided by the River Leven following construction of an aluminium smelter; Kinlochmore to the north in Inverness-shire and Kinlochbeg to the south in Argyll. The processing plant was powered by a hydroelectric scheme situated in the mountains above, and made Kinlochleven the first village in the world to have every house connected to electricity, coining the phrase "The Electric Village". In 1991, the village (according to annual census returns) had just over 1000 inhabitants in some 420 households. Today, Kinlochleven is a notable tourist destination for hiking, mountaineering and stopping-point on the West Highland Way.
Smelter
Work on the dam and water supply system began in 1905 and was completed in 1907. The hydro-electric scheme was constructed for the British Aluminium Company and was designed by engineer brothers Patrick and Charles Meik. The chief assistant resident engineer on the project was a young William Halcrow. The scheme involved the construction of a gravity dam over 914 m long (the longest in the Highlands) and 27 m high, creating the Blackwater Reservoir.
The public source identifies “Kinlochleven” as village in Highland, Scotland, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kinlochleven, village and Highland.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Kinlochleven”, the useful work is to connect “village in Highland, Scotland, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1013614. Authority coordinates are 56.713, -4.965. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991, 1000, 1905 and 1907.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Kinlochleven” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.