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Smithy Road, DUMBARTON, G82 5NU

Cardross (Scottish Gaelic: Càrdainn Ros) is a large village on the north side of the Firth of Clyde, situated halfway between Dumbarton and Helensburgh.

Dunbarton curved by the A814, in parish of Cardross (Argyll & Bute District), Main Road, Cardross, near Reay Avenue. Inscription reads:- : {pointing hand} / DUNBARTON / CROSS / 4.MILES / {line} / {pointing hand} / HELENSBURGH / 4.MILES : Surveyed Milestone Society National ID: AB_DMHL04.

Travelling along Main Street towards Helensburgh, the milepost is at the back of the wide pavement and verge and the Co-op is almost opposite. The Give Way lines are for the exit from Reay Avenue.

This milepost has been painted since it was last recorded for the Milestone Society in 2009. It is on Main Road in Cardross near Reay Avenue and opposite a Co-op shop. Presumably HELENSBURGH has to be cast with very small letters because it is a long name.

The stone was present when the first-edition OS map was surveyed (in 1857). It has been repainted in the seven years since an earlier picture was taken: Image

For detail, see William Craig's earlier photograph: Image When the present picture was taken, the hotel was up for sale; the view is from the other side of the Image

This milestone is shown on the first edition of the 1:10560 OS map, surveyed in 1857, and is showing its age, but the text can still be read; it is more legible in a picture taken seven years later, after the milestone had been repainted: Image ← DUNBARTON CROSS 4 MILES → HELENSBURGH 4 MILES I have called this a milestone, although it is really a piece of iron. This one is set in front of a wall; other milestones on the same road are of the same kind, and have had short sections of wall built behind them: Image and Image

Image (Image) is in the background, on the right. The stone visible just ahead bears a plaque (Image), erected in 2000, with a brief commentary on the Napiers; specifically, on the Napiers of Kilmahew (on whom, see Image) and the Napiers of Merchiston. For example, it states that John Napier of logarithm fame was of the Merchiston Napiers (it does not mention the Robert Napier who is sometimes called the Father of Clyde Shipbuilding – see Image – but, judging by his heraldic arms at least, he appears to have been of the Kilmahew Napiers). Not far beyond the stone is the entrance to an area of housing called Scott Gardens, named after Cardross man William Stein Scott, a campaigner for social housing. See Image for a view in the opposite direction.