Loch Neldricken

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox body of water

| name = Loch Neldricken

| image =Loch Neldricken.JPG

| caption = The loch with Craignaw in the background.

| image_bathymetry =

| caption_bathymetry =

| location = Galloway, Scotland

| coords = {{coord|55|07|00|N|4|26|20|W|region:GB_type:waterbody|display=inline,title}}

| type = freshwater loch

| inflow =

| outflow = Mid Burn

|pushpin_map=Scotland Dumfries and Galloway

| catchment =

| basin_countries = United Kingdom

| length = {{cvt|0.97|km|mi}}

| width = {{cvt|0.6|km|mi}}

| area = {{cvt|31|ha|acre}}

| depth = {{cvt|19|ft|m}}

| max-depth = {{cvt|49|ft|m}}

| volume = {{cvt|66404816.44|ft3|m3}}

| residence_time =

| salinity =

| shore = {{cvt|4|km|mi}}

| elevation = {{cvt|348|m|ft}}

| islands =

| cities =

}}

Loch Neldricken is a loch in Galloway{{cite web |title=Loch Neldricken|url=https://eip.ceh.ac.uk/apps/lakes/detail.html?wbid=27872 |website=Centre for Ecology and Hydrology |publisher=Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research (SNIFFER) |access-date=15 January 2025}} to the south-east of Merrick, south of Craig Neldricken and west of Craignaw. The loch is almost bisected by a long promontory. It drains via the short Mid Burn into Loch Valley and then via Gairland Burn down to Loch Trool.

An inlet at the west of the loch is marked on maps as 'Murder Hole' and features in SR Crockett's The Raiders. However, the original 'Murder Hole' was a well on the Glen Trool to Straiton road where the bodies of travellers who had been robbed and murdered were dumped and Crockett moved the location for his book.{{cite web |url=http://www.tachras.com/journal/articles2/greyman/grey6.htm |title=Chapter Six - Rowantree Toll |accessdate=2008-06-20 |work=The Grey Man |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716183114/http://www.tachras.com/journal/articles2/greyman/grey6.htm |archivedate=2011-07-16 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.walkscotland.com/route76.htm |title=The Murder Hole|accessdate=2008-06-20 |author=Colin Hogarth|work=walkscotland.com}}

The loch has suffered from acidification but has recovered to some extent, with the pH increasing from around 4.4 in 1978 to 5.4 in 2003.{{cite web|url=http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/science/Publications/FRS-Reports/Information-Leaflets/Freshwater-Laboratory|archive-url=https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20170105205955/http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/science/Publications/FRS-Reports/Information-Leaflets/Freshwater-Laboratory|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-01-05|title=Recovery from Acid Rain Gives Hope to Scottish Upland Salmonid Populations|date=2005-11-21|work=Fisheries Research Services|accessdate=2008-06-25}} Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's DOC levels increased.{{cite web |url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1063/0055432.pdf |title=Freshwater Environment Group |accessdate=2008-06-28 |publisher=Fisheries Research Services}}