Barn Ruin at Redmire

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 13 Jun 2021

It is nice to still see national speed limit signs on a road on which no sane driver would ever approach the national speed limit. In this part of North Lanarkshire all 60mph roadsigns have been downgraded to 50mph roadsigns in recent years - this one must have gone under the radar. It is one of the most misunderstood road signs by motorists, due to it not explicitly stating the speed limit on the road. For cars it means 60mph on a single carriageway road, and 70mph on a dual carriageway. This causes further confusion for many of the few who actually get what the sign means. Because most dual carriageways, excluding motorways, are two lanes on each side, most motorists wrongly assume that the presence of two lanes running side by side in the same direction is what the 'dual' bit refers to. However, single lane dual carriageways are a thing. The 'dual' bit means that the two carriageways, or halves of the road, are separated by a barrier, making it impossible to cross into the path of oncoming traffic, which due to the laws of physics makes accidents more deadly. This is why the speed limit on a dual carriageway is higher, and one of the factors that makes deaths on motorways per mile driven extremely low. The design of the sign may initially appear confusing, but it is really just crossing out any previously stated speed limit. It makes more sense when you know that only built-up areas used to have speed limits - until 1965 there was actually no upper speed limit outside speed limited areas. To me it always just means use your common sense! The ruin is never shown on old maps as inhabited, even when it had a roof, and is the only building of Redmire on the Eastern side of Old Mill Road. The stones on top of the lintel look very precarious indeed. A wire fence forms a tiny field around the ruin. I wondered if this was due to the state of the ruin - cows and sheep often share fields round here, but maybe a cow might cause a stone to fall? There were just three sheep in the tiny field when I passed it.

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