IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Steading Drive, ALEXANDRIA, G83 9EB

This is a view across Napierston Road. The open space behind the fence was the site of Napierston Farm, which was demolished in recent years. For much more information, see Image and Image The houses in the background of the present photograph are in an area that is known as the Steadings, an allusion to the former presence of the farm. For a view through the fence, see Image

The farm was demolished within the last decade. Its former presence is commemorated by the name "The Steadings", associated with nearby housing (the houses in the background of the present picture). For much more information, see Image and Image See Image for another view, from the far side of the road, showing that the area is fenced off (the present photograph is a view through that fence; it was not taken from within the fenced-off area). For later developments on this site, see Image and Image

For the cleared site, a few years earlier, see Image Both pictures were taken from Image The completed buildings are shown in Image The existing houses in the left background are in the Steadings, the name given to that part of the Dalmonach Estate.

The area is shown, before construction began, in Image; the houses are shown being built in Image When the present picture was taken, at least some of them were already occupied.

The picture was taken from the junction with Image The area ahead is called Dalmonach (thought to signify "field of the monks"; compare Image). The green area in the foreground, to the left (north) of the road was, until recent years, the site of Napierston Farm: Image The area called Napierston was also known historically as Bonhill-Napier (there was also a Bonhill-Noble and a Bonhill-Lindsay; see Image). The land that came to be known as Bonhill-Napier or Napierston was granted to Duncan Napier by Walter, Earl of Lennox: "Walter bestowed the 'quarter' of Bonhill, lying next to the lands of Balloch, upon Duncan Napier, lord of Kilmahew, for services rendered by John Napier, his father, to Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, who was slain at Halidon Hill" [Joseph Irving in volume 2 of "The Book of Dumbartonshire" (1879)]. The battle of Halidon Hill took place in July 1333, and the grant is recorded as charter 68 in the Lennox Cartulary: "Carta terrarum de Bullul et Miltoun Duncano Naper", "charter of the lands of Bonhill and Miltoun to Duncan Nap(i)er". On the form "Bullul" for Bonhill, see Image A "Napierstoun" is shown, somewhere in this general area, on the Pont/Blaeu map of the Lennox (the map was published in 1654, but was based largely upon surveys carried out in the 1580s-90s). Roy's Military Survey (1740s-50s) likewise shows "Napierstown". By the time of the first-edition OS map (surveyed in 1860), Napierston Farm is shown here, with Woodside Farm a little further up Auchincarroch Road; that was still the case until less than a decade before this photograph was taken. When the extensive Strathleven Estate was sold off in lots in 1950, these farms made up Lot 7. In some respects, the prospectus treats them as a single entity: they are listed as "another extremely fine T.T. dairy farm known as Napierston and Woodside". The two farms latterly belonged to the same family, which accounts for the fact that there is now a prominent "Napierston Farm" sign on one of the large farm buildings of Woodside Farm. In 2007, shortly before the buildings of Napierston Farm were demolished, the area was archaeologically surveyed to determine whether there was evidence for the farm's location being at the centre of the medieval Napierston area (also known as Bonhill-Napier). No such evidence was found, but this was in line with expectations; it had been thought more likely that the core of the medieval settlement lay in what is now Bonhill (and it is probably that settlement, rather than the more recent farm, that was represented by "Napierstoun" on the Pont/Blaeu map).

The photograph was taken at the junction with Napierston Road, which leads into Dalmonach on the right. The "Core Path Route" sign was, at this time, a fairly recent addition. The entrance of a Image can be seen on the left; compare Image, taken from about 250 metres further back. The name Auchincarroch, associated with this area, is an old one; the present-day spelling of the name is not entirely consistent: some of the farms located along the road use the spelling "Auchencarroch", while the road itself and the nearby hill have "Auchincarroch". An old form of the name appears in a charter granted in 1270 by Maldowen, Earl of Lennox; it mentions "the land of Hachenkeroch, in the parish of Buthelulle". The latter name, that of the parish, developed into the present-day form "Bonhill"; see Image [For the "Auch-" names in this district, see the chapter by Simon Taylor in the book "Changing Identities, Ancient Roots" (2006). There, the author cites another early form, "Hachenkerach" (c.1247). On the name Dalmonach, encountered above, see Image] The building up on the hill is Woodside, the farmhouse of Woodside Farm. Immediately behind it, though not visible from this angle, are some farm buildings, which, despite a "Napierston Farm" sign on them, are those of Woodside Farm. The buildings of the actual Napierston Farm (which was in the possession of the same family) were demolished less than a decade before this photograph was taken; their former site is just out of shot to the right, immediately next to the grassy area in the right foreground. For more on that subject, see Image and Image, where that area is visible.

The photograph was taken from the foot of the road, where it meets Main Street. The yard of a local firm of timber merchants can be seen on the left-hand side of the road. This stretch of road is one end of a route that is known locally, on account of its shape, as the Horseshoe. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1713070 for the other end of the route.

This picture was taken not far from the junction with Main Street, shown in Image; as explained there, this road forms one leg of a route known locally as the Horseshoe. In the present photograph, one of the entrances to some timber merchants' premises can be seen on the left: Image For the main discussion of the name Auchincarroch, see Image, taken a little further along the road.

The premises, on Image, were closed for the Easter holidays.

This is the same section of road as shown in Image, viewed in the opposite direction. The buildings of Woodside Farm are on the left (Image). For the more distant parts of the road, see Image