IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
St. Michael's Way, DUMBARTON, G82 5BS

Alpha and Omega, and an IHS monogram. For the whole building, see Image, which has links to other contributors' earlier pictures.

Other contributors' earlier pictures: Image / Image See also Image

These buildings are called Bruce's Stables, and are named after King Robert I (Robert the Bruce), in whose honour a commemorative flagstaff stands nearby (Image). Robert the Bruce has no real connection with these buildings, which date from a much later period; according to the book "North Clyde Estuary - An Illustrated Architectural Guide" (Frank Arneil Walker with Fiona Sinclair), they date from the late-eighteenth century, and were designed by Charles Ross for Easter Hole, which was later known as Braehead Farm(*). As the book also mentions, there used to be three cottages here; only two of them remain. [(*) See also Image] The same architect, Charles Ross of Greenlaw (near Paisley), also designed the so-called Girnin' Gates (now demolished) which stood at the southern entrance of Garscadden House in Drumchapel. Although apparently self-taught, Ross was, as well as an architect, an amateur archaeologist and nurseryman (he established a nursery at Greenlaw, and the estate plans which he drew up often contained suggestions for agricultural improvement); he was also a cartographer and land surveyor who made significant contributions to the mapping of Renfrewshire and other parts of Scotland in the second half of the eighteenth century. His map of the county of Renfrew (1754) was one of the earliest separately-published county maps of Scotland.

See http://www.stmichael.rcglasgow.org.uk/ourchurch

Seen across Castlehill Road.

The stone shown here is located at the eastern entrance of the Image; see that photograph for a view of the stone in context. For an explanation of "the Mony", see the main description of the park: Image

This flagstaff, near Image, was erected in 1928 to honour King Robert the Bruce. See Image for the top of it. The name Castle Hill, and the presence of a mound which, at that time, was thought to be the remnant of a once fortified site, suggested that it was the probable location of the residence at which the king had spent much time in his later years (see Image for another view of that hill). The 1928 flagstaff was erected by the Dumbarton Patriotic Association; their plaque on the flagstaff is shown in Image, and promoted the idea that the king had lived at Castle Hill. [The present photograph was taken from Glencairn Road. The main road running from left to right across the image, behind the flagstaff, is Cardross Road; from that road, Castlehill Road leads uphill. The area on the near side of Cardross Road is now called Brucehill, and the area on the far side of the road is called Castlehill. However, the "Castle Hill" referred to above is the actual hill of that name, which is at Image, hidden away in the wooded north-eastern corner of what is now the Image] [As an aside, the nearby Oxhill area is named after Oxen Hill, "a small arable hill on the farm of Braehead"; the hill and farm are shown on the first-edition OS map, and the quote is from the OS Object Name Books.] Although current thinking would place Bruce's house elsewhere (as discussed at length in the article linked from the end-note), the flagstaff remains a fitting symbol of Robert the Bruce's historical associations with the wider area. By late 2018, the flagstaff had been replaced by a new one: Image / Image The symbolic weather vane remained: Image The plaque, since its text applies only to the *original* flagstaff, is no longer present. The article in the end-note also has more information about the flagstaff itself.

This weather vane, incorporating a battle axe and crown, tops Image at the foot of Brucehill, near Castle Hill (a knoll that gives the Castlehill area its name). See Image for the same weather vane in 2018, on the replacement flagstaff.