Havoc Hole

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 21 Nov 2008

For context, see Image, which is a much wider view. Alongside Havoc Road is a raised beach, shown in the present photograph; the entrance of Havoc Hole (which has several names – see the end-note) is visible here as the dark opening on the right. Regarding Havock Hole, as it was then spelled, the OS Object Name Book, compiled in the 1890s, has the following to say: "a cave in the face of a rocky precipice near Clarkhill. Mr McArthur says that it extends in for about 20 yards as he at one time reached to end of it with a pole" (Mr McArthur was the tenant of nearby Havoc Farm). The area immediately in front of the cave used to be boggy and very overgrown, but it was cleared during the nineteenth century, leaving the cave more exposed to view. One of the better-known local histories (written in the 1970s) relates, correctly, that Blind Harry's poem "The Wallace" (written over a century after the death of William Wallace) mentions a cave at Dumbarton. After burning the houses of the English garrison in the town, Wallace is said to have taken refuge in a nearby cave before departing for Rosneath: "Wallace or day maid him out off the toun, On to the coyff of Dunbertane thai ȝeid And all that day soiornd out off dreid. Baith meit and drynk the hostillar gert be brocht. Quhen nycht was cummyn in all the haist thai mocht Towart Rosneth full ernystfully thai gang" My translation: "Before dawn, Wallace departed from the town. On to the cave/cove of Dumbarton they went, and spent all that day out of danger. The innkeeper had food and drink brought to them. When night had fallen, they went resolutely to Rosneath With all the haste they could muster." The author of the local history then goes on to mention an old couplet: 'In at the flow of Havock And out at the yetts of Carman'" He then mentions a possible passage from Havock leading in the direction of Carman Hill. In fact, the same author, in an earlier local history (1960s), had explicitly stated that Wallace escaped his pursuers "by traversing a subterranean passage which led him and his companions up to Carman Hill, a mile away — 'In at the flow of Havock, And out at the yetts of Carman'". The author was generally reliable and well-informed, and, as a result, that idea has become well-established locally. However, it is wrong. Blind Harry's poem does not mention either Havock or Carman by name, far less any passage between the two. As already mentioned, Harry simply has Wallace depart from the cave to head for Rosneath. The old couplet is in fact something that had survived in the local oral tradition of Dunbartonshire down to the nineteenth century. See https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Carman-Hill/4#lore for much more on all of these topics. "Havock" is the authentic earlier spelling, but "Havoc" seems to have displaced it in recent years (perhaps as a result of the accidental similarity to the English word "havoc"). For older forms of the place-name Havock, as recorded on early maps, see Image There is no way to confirm (or to refute) the tradition that associates Wallace with this cave (in more modern times, some instead mention Robert the Bruce in connection with the cave, but there is no basis for this; it is just the result of a confusion with Wallace). For a closer look at the cave entrance, see: Image There are also the Image here, visible in the present photograph as an orange-red hollow, on the left. However, the idea that the name Havock Hole applied to that former sea cave can be ruled out. For one thing, it is hard to see how, even in tradition, it might be considered a place where a group had once taken refuge. However, far more decisive is the quotation from the OS Object Name Book given at the top of this item, about the tenant of Havoc Farm measuring to the back of the cave using a pole; this clearly refers to the deep and narrow opening, and not to the wide and very shallow former sea cave beside it. As for that former sea-cave, there is a similar one at Ardmore Point; it is set in the cliffs that bound the Image, on the side facing the Image, but it is in a wooded area: Image

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0