IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Barnhill Road, DUMBARTON, G82 2SD

On a steep hillside, hence the steps. A road runs around a loop at the back.

The view is from the area shown in Image; see also Image, from a little further ahead. An older road to Barnhill survives in the form of a path: https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/17320

Residential street in the east of the town.

OS maps indicate that the quarry had fallen into disuse by the mid-1960s. The path shown in this photograph follows the original course of Barnhill Road. That former road is now no more than a track, but it is still in use as part of a local route, Overtoun House Circular Path. The present-day Barnhill Road follows a rather different course: Image The former quarry is about 400 metres long (E-W), by about 20 metres wide (N-S), and is in two halves, one higher than the other; the halves are separated by the section of path shown here. To the left of the path, there is a sheer drop (behind a fence) to the lower western part, the older half of the quarry (intervening trees make it hard to show that area photographically). To the right of the path, as shown in the present photograph, is the entrance to the higher and more recent eastern half of the quarry; this part was largely excavated after 1938. For a view from the opposite end of this half of the quarry, see Image The back part of the quarry (as it appears in the present picture) has a raised edge, as shown in views from the woods there: Image / Image There was a quarry at High Mains at the time of the first-edition OS map (c.1860), but it was then much smaller, and did not extend very far from the vicinity of Image (High Mains Quarry began there, and, over the years, was gradually extended further to the east).

Barnhill Road, visible on the left in this picture, used to follow a different course: Image That part of its former course is now no more than a rough track, but it forms part of a much longer route called Overtoun House Circular Path. The rough track leads downhill before passing between the two halves of a disused quarry (as shown in Image); the present photograph shows where the circular path (which leads directly away from the photographer's position, in the right-hand side of the picture) joins present-day Barnhill Road. It follows the line of Barnhill Road down to the busy main road (the A82), crosses that road, and then continues along Greenhead Road. The River Clyde and the area on its far side can be seen in the background.

The disused Image is marked on the map. The present picture is from the raised edge shown in Image

As the map shows, the ground falls away on both sides of the path, but for different reasons. In this view downhill, the ground slopes away towards Image on the right (west). Not far to the left (east), but not evident in this picture, there is a more precipitous drop into the lower half of the disused Image Followed in the direction shown here, the path leads down to the side of Gruggies Burn, and then, via the short Image, to the main road (Stirling Road). For a view uphill instead, see Image

For a view downhill from about the same place, see Image; the present view is uphill. Followed in that direction, the path joins up with a track, the Image; that road led to Image The upper part of present-day Barnhill Road follows a different course; only the lower part of the road follows the original line.

The well itself appears at the centre of the photograph. The small stream that issues from it flows into Image; see that photograph for context. The well is shown on the first-edition OS map, which was surveyed in 1860 (it is not named there, but the name Strowan's Well appears on later maps). On the first-edition OS map, there is a building almost facing it across the burn; on later maps, it is called Strowan's Well Cottage. This well was once the subject of a legal dispute; the following is from records of the Court of Session: "This was an appeal in a petition presented in the sheriff-court of Dumbartonshire by Mr. Geils of Dumbuck against William Thompson and others, inhabitants of Dumbarton, to interdict them from trespassing on the lands of Dumbuck. From time immemorial the public had been in the habit of drawing water from a stream which ran through the lands of Dumbuck; and in 1866 certain of the inhabitants of Dumbarton erected a well, called Strowan's Well, a short distance up the stream from the highway. Mr. Geils did not interfere at the time, but some time after he resolved to carry the water to the highway. The pipes he laid down for the purpose were cut, and in the spring of 1869 he cut off the supply to the well at a point considerably above the well. On 2d July 1869 certain of the inhabitants of Dumbarton went to the point at which the supply was cut off, and removed the obstruction. Mr. Geils presented to the Sheriff a petition for interdict. The respondents averred that the footpath to the well and the well had been public from time immemorial." For Mr Geils of Dumbuck, see Image The details of what was carried out at the well in 1866 are provided by a similar account of the same events: "some years ago a basin was formed for the well by public subscription, near to the public road, but upon Mr Geil's lands, and without opposition upon his part. But he afterwards resolved to remove this basin to the highway." (The words quoted from the records of the Court of Session might be taken as meaning that the well was given its name in 1866; however, it is far more likely that Strowan's Well, which was furnished with its basin in that year, had already borne that name for many years.) The well is also mentioned, in passing, in one of the occasional "Streetwise" features that appear in the Lennox Herald newspaper. In the edition of Friday the 30th of January, 2009, the subject of the feature is "St Rhonan's Lane"; after discussing which particular Rhonan/Ronan this street-name refers to, the article comments that "in addition to the Well of St Ronan at Kilmaronock, others are named after him, which brings us to Strowan's Well at the quarry near Crosslet in Dumbarton, from which Strowan's Road and Image take their names" (for Crosslet, see Image).

The quarry had fallen into disuse by the mid-1960s, if not earlier. The present photograph shows the higher eastern half of the quarry, as viewed from its eastern extremity. The wall of rock making up the northern edge of the quarry can be seen on the right, and the southern wall, although obscured by trees, can be seen on the left. For a view of the opposite end of this half of the quarry, and for further information about its use, see Image