IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Quarry Place, DUMBARTON, G82 5BJ

The enterprise centre has various units available for rental. It is a former school annex which was converted to commercial use about 1994.

Seen across Castlehill Road.

Bar on Castlehill Road. A sign outside the entrance to the Saloon bar reads: NO HORSES TO BE LEFT UNTIED Next door is the New Dragon Inn - a Chinese and Thai takeaway.

[Update: by mid-2022, the outside of the building had been redecorated, and this metalwork had been removed. Among the new decor was a "No Horses to be Left Untied" sign beside the saloon door.] See Image for context. The setting is the west side of Castlehill Road, in front of a building that had been occupied for several decades by a Chinese takeaway with "Dragon" in its name; note the dragons in the lower half of the picture. The Latin motto at the top of the ironwork is "Virtute Tutus" ("by virtue secure" or equivalent).

They are shown from the other side of Castlehill Road. Right of centre, against the wall, is a piece of metalwork, shown in detail in Image; it features carved dragons. Although the name of the takeaway also contains the word "Dragon", I am told that the metalwork itself is earlier, and was present when the premises were called "The Keep" (which is the name that is obscured by the bus stop sign). [Update: By mid-2022, the outside of the building looked very different, and, amongst other changes, the metalwork had been removed.]

The entrance to this disused quarry is on the Image Dalreoch Quarry appears to be one and the same as the Jamesheid Quarry that is referred to in a 1609 charter by James VI. The identification is made, though not explicitly, on page 97 of local historian Donald MacLeod's "Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, and Loch Lomond" (1884). There, the author describes a walk from Dumbarton to the Vale of Leven. From his description, it is clear that he was following the Image, and he writes that "when the auld toon o' Dumbarton, in our journey Renton-wards, was left half a mile or so in our rear, we passed the centuries-old quarry of Jamesheid, from which the stones were taken to build the brig o' Dumbarton". This can only be a reference to what was later called Dalreoch Quarry; there is no other in the area. The 1609 charter already mentioned runs to great length, but the relevant portion relates to the "water works" (the flood defences against the River Leven – see Image), and grants to the Provost, Bailies and Councillors of Dumbarton the right "to dig stones in the common quarry called Jamesheid lying within our property of the lands of the lordship of Cardross, to cast turf there, with power to transport the said stones and turf by the better way to the said work through any part of the foresaid lands without any impediment to be made to them by us or any person whatsoever". The text of the charter as quoted here is from the second volume of Joseph Irving's "Book of Dumbartonshire" (1879), and has clearly been modernised by the author. Note also that in 1609, when the charter was made, the quarry was within Cardross Parish: see Image In 1719, the embankment at the Broadmeadow that served as flood defences against the River Leven were seriously damaged; see Image for a discussion of the "Drowned Lands". Stone was to be taken from this quarry to repair the defenses. As described in the second volume of Joseph Irving's "Book of Dumbartonshire" (1879): "In the early part of 1719, the embankments on the Broad Meadow were seriously damaged by storms and floods; and for the purpose of having them put into proper repair, the Provost suggested that a tax of two pennies Scots might be levied upon the pint of such ale as was brewed and consumed in the burgh. The resolution, or some one equivalent thereto, appears to have been adopted, as in October the necessary 'quarry graith', or quarrying implements, is ordered to be prepared for taking stones from Jameshead(*) quarry to the works then being carried on at the Meadow." Amongst the structures that have been built using stone from Dalreoch Quarry are Image, Image, and Image The disused quarry is now designated a "Locally Important SINC" (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation). - - • - - (*) One otherwise excellent modern reference work on the archaeological potential of the burgh of Dumbarton says that stone was to be taken from "Jamestown Quarry" in order to effect these repairs; as support for this, it cites the passage from Irving, just quoted. However, the name given in Irving's book is Jameshead quarry. The authors may have been mislead by the similarity of the names Jameshead and Jamestown, and they perhaps had in mind Image, which is near Jamestown. Such a misidentification is understandable, since, so far as I am aware, no older authors have explicitly identified Jameshead Quarry with Dalreoch Quarry; it has to be inferred indirectly. Whether the authors of the modern reference work had that in mind or not, their mention of Jamestown Quarry might cause confusion, so it is worth saying a little more here about the identity of the quarry. The quarry at Bonhill can be ruled out, since the 1609 charter says that Jamesheid quarry is in the lands of Cardross. Although the boundaries of Cardross Parish changed after the 1609 charter was written, Bonhill had not previously been, and is not now, in that parish. As an aside, it is also worth noting that there was no settlement near Bonhill with the name of Jamestown (Image) until much later. Since the identification of Jameshead Quarry with Dalreoch Quarry has had to be inferred from comments by Donald MacLeod, it is also worth adding that MacLeod (Image) was a friend of Joseph Irving (Image), and viewed him as his "literary father"; if there had been any doubt about which quarry Irving had in mind when he wrote about "Jameshead Quarry", MacLeod would have been well placed to find out. Finally, Dr David Murray, in his "Old Cardross: A Lecture" (1880), includes an appendix of Cardross place-names (i.e., places that were in the old parish of Cardross; some of that land is now in Dumbarton). The appendix includes the following terse but useful entry: "Jamesheid Quarry – near Dumbarton". Another old quarry not far from this one was Kirkton Quarry, which is now long disused, its site occupied by Image However, there is little danger of confusion with respect to that quarry, since it is referred to as "Kirkton Quarry" from a very early period; see the burgh records quoted at Image

This is the eastern end of Hawthornhill Road; the junction with Castlehill Road is not far ahead (just beyond the two cars). The houses in the right-hand half of the image are on the latter road. For a view in the opposite direction along the same part of the road, see Image For other sections, see Image and Image

This part of Dumbarton is called Castlehill. The photograph was taken at the junction with Image For details of the Castle Hill after which the area is named, see Image

It only takes a few seconds to climb this knoll, shown from a distance in Image, which gives the Castlehill area of Dumbarton its name. Part of that area of housing is in the right background.