GlasgowCentral - trav0052

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F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks

2 The Countr y Living Guide to Rural Scotland - Glasgow & West Central Scotland

A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna

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www.findsomewhere.co.uk www.travelpublishing.co.ukLooking for somewhere to stay, eat, drinkor shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk

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The Country Living Guide to Rural Scotland – Glasgow and West Central Scotlandpublished by Travel Publishing in conjunction with Country Living Magazine, is oneof a series of county-based digital travel guides covering Scotland which will bemade available to readers free of charge through the All About You website andthrough Travel Publishing’s own websites.

The guides are based on the popular Country Living Guide to Rural Scotlandpublished in printed form which can be purchased through the All About Youbookshop, Country Living Magazine, high street bookshops, internet retailers andTravel Publishing.

This digital guide to Glasgow and West Central Scotland is published in PDF formatwhich means that you can browse the guide page by page or simply search forspecific villages or towns (see pages 4 and 5). You can also print off individualpages of your choice if you are planning a visit to a particular area of Fife or,alternatively, the whole of the digital guide.

If you want more information on the places to see, stay, eat, drink or shopadvertised in this guide all you need to do is click on the relevant website ore-mail address contained in the advertisement.

We do hope you like using this version of the Country Living rural guide and thatit helps you enjoy exploring the area. We are always interested in receivingcomments on places covered (or not covered) in our guides so please do nothesitate to give us your considered comments bye-mailing us on [email protected].

For more information on other titles in the Country Living Rural Guide series orany other Travel Publishing titles (printed or digital) or to buy a printed guideplease visit the All About You website on www.allaboutyou.com/countrylivingor one of the Travel Publishing websites - www.travelpublishing.co.uk andwww.findsomewhere.co.uk.

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Glasgow and West Central Scotland was atone time the country’s industrial hub. Heavyengineering, shipbuilding, coal mining andsteelworks predominated, providing work forthousands and fortunes for the favoured few.As well as the city of Glasgow, the area takesin the former counties of Dunbartonshire,Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire, which all playedtheir part in Scotland’s rich industrial history.But while it is still Scotland’s most populousarea, and where the bulk of its industry andcommerce is located, it is now clean andattractive, with much to do and see.

The scenery can be outstanding, from theupper reaches of the Clyde, with its quietpastoral scenery and cosy villages surroundedby high, lonely moorland, to the hills aboveGreenock and of course, the bonnie banks ofLoch Lomond. Then there’s Glasgow itself.Once a gritty working class city with an imageproblem, it has burgeoned into a sophisticated,cosmopolitan city witha lively café society (atleast once during avisit, do what thelocals do - sit at apavement café sippingcoffee while peoplewatch you watchingthem). There are artgalleries and museumsgalore, bars, shops andshopping malls (it isthe second largestshopping centre inBritain), award-

Glasgow & West CentralScotland

winning restaurants, glitzy hotels, concert hallsand nightclubs.

It is home to Scottish Opera, The RoyalScottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet,and a string of theatres where you can seeanything from serious drama to variety shows.It is also one of Britain’s best dressed cities,and it is reckoned that there are more Armaniand Versace outfits worn here than anywhereelse in Britain outside London.

That area of the West End known asKelvinside is the city’s wealthiest area. It isn’tjust a place of trendy flats and apartments,though these abound. It also has someseriously large mansions in the streets northand south of Great Western Road. These areoccupied by professional people such as TVpersonalities, doctors, writers and lawyers, whoappreciate the leafy elegance of the area.

And in the centre of Glasgow is theMerchant City, once run down and seedy, but

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Trossachs, nr Dumbarton

W. LOTHIAN

FALKIRK

NORTHLANARKSHIRE

RENFREWSHIRE

E. RENFREWSHIRE

INVERCLYDE

CITY OFGLASGOW

EAST

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S. LANARKSHIRE

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SHIREWEST

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Auchinleck

Renfrew

Neilston

Bridge of Weir

Stewarton

Th hill

Turnberry

Crawford

Muirkirk

Garelochhead Balmaha

Lugton

StrathblaneKillearn

Fintry

Kippen

Lochwinnoch

Kilmacolm

Fairlie

Luss

Galston

Sorn

Hollybush

Tweedsmuir

Douglas

Crawfordjohn

Leadhills

WanlockheadSanquhar

Slamannan

Wilsontown

Carstairs

Symington

Beattock

FishertonDrongen

Craigbank

Kirkoswald

Balfron

Waterfoot

Buchlyvei

Straiton

Linlithgow

Biggar

Moffat

Maybole

Lesmahagow

Strathaven

Mauchline

New Cumnock

Lanark

Shotts

Armadale

Largs

Kilbirnie

Kilsyth

Dunipace Kincardine

Clackmannan

Bo'nessHelensburgh

Carluke

Motherwell

AyrPrestwick

Irvine

Troon

Kilwinning

Kirkintilloch

Airdrie

Falkirk

Livingston

Dumbarton

Dunfermline

Kilmarnock

East Kilbride

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Towns and VillagesPlease click on any of the towns and villages listed below for information on that location.

Airdrie pg 24Balloch pg 18Bearsden pg 16Biggar pg 31Blantyre pg 28Bothwell pg 27Cardross pg 19Carmichael pg 35Clydebank pg 14Coatbridge pg 24Crossford pg 37Cumbernauld pg 13Dalserf pg 25Douglas pg 36

Dumbarton pg 17Eaglesham pg 27East Kilbride pg 26Garelochhead pg 20Glasgow pg 7Gourock pg 22Greenock pg 20Hamilton pg 23Helensburgh pg 19Kilbarchan pg 16Kilsyth pg 13Kirkintilloch pg 13Lanark pg 28Leadhills pg 35

Lochwinnoch pg 15Luss pg 20Milngavie pg 16Motherwell pg 25Newton Mearns pg 13Paisley pg 14Port Glasgow pg 21Renfrew pg 16Rhu pg 20Rutherglen pg 13Stonehouse pg 26Strathaven pg 26Wishaw pg 25

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GlasgowA Cathedral of St Mungo B St Mungo’s Museum

A Provand’s Lordship B Glasgow Science Centre

B The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour B Clydebuilt

H Kelvingrove Art Gallery A City Chambers

C Fossil Grove B Glasgow Museum of Transport

B Hunterian Museum H Hunterian Art Gallery

E Glasgow Botanic Gardens A Hutcheson’s Hall

H Gallery of Modern Art B Glasgow Police Museum

H Centre for Contemporary Arts A Tenement House

A Tolbooth Steeple A Templeton’s Carpet Factory

B Scottish Football Museum B Celtic Visitor Centre

B National Piping Centre A Martyr’s Public School

B Heatherbank Museum of Social Work

G Charles Rennie Mackintosh A Holmwood House

A Glasgow School of Art B Scotland Street School

B Museum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers

G Greek Thomson H Burrell Collection

A Pollok House

Glasgow has worked hard on its image overthe past few years. Gone are the constantreferences to gang fights, organised crime,drunkenness, ugly industrial townscapes andbad housing. Now people talk of trendynightspots, theatres, restaurants, pavementcafés and art galleries.

The city has changed its image more thanonce over the years. It was founded in the 7thcentury by St Kentigern, also known as StMungo, and started life in early medieval timesas a small religious community grouped rounda cathedral. In the 17th and 18th centuries, itbecame a city of trade, dealing with theAmerican colonies in such commodities astobacco and cotton, which made many peoplevery rich indeed. In the 19th century it became

a city of industry, with shipyards and heavyengineering works. Now it relies mostly ontourism, the media, service industries and thearts for employment.

The area round the Cathedral of StMungo (Historic Scotland) is where it allstarted. This was where St Kentigern, orMungo, established a small church in the 6thcentury. The present cathedral was founded inthe 12th century by David I, and the buildingshows work from this period onwards. It is theonly Scottish mainland cathedral that escapedthe Reformation of 1560 more or less intact.In its crypt is the Tomb of St Mungo, once aplace of pilgrimage, but now visited bypilgrims of a different sort - tourists. TheBlackadder Aisle is a wonderful piece ofarchitecture added by Archbishop RobertBlackadder in about 1500.

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now home to the city’s café society. Newapartment blocks have recently been built andolder properties have been converted into flats.

But there is still the quirky Glasgow - thecity of fish and chips shops, betting shops,working men’s pubs, raucous laughter andstreet markets, including the famous Barras,held every Saturday and Sunday in the EastEnd. The city is ringed by enormous councilestates that took the families who used to livein the teeming tenements. It may not be theimage of Glasgow that some people wouldlike to project, but they are still there, and intheir own way they have as much to do withthe city’s character as the smart bars,restaurants, concert halls and theatres.

Glasgow has always been an easy place toget out of. Within half an hour of the citycentre you can be admiring the grandeur ofbens, glens and lochs, taking it easy in somewonderfully bucolic pastoral scenery, orstrolling along a lonely beach that has abackdrop of magnificent hills.

Loch Lomond is renowned the world over. Atrain will take you straight to its bonnie banks injust under an hour, and it’s a journey thousandsof Glaswegians make. We’re on the edge of theHighlands here, and indeed the HighlandBoundary Fault, which separates the Highlandfrom the Lowlands, passes through the loch.

The River Clyde has traditionally been aworking river, its banks once ringing to thesound of shipbuilding. But there is anotherClyde, one that isn’t so well known. The upperreaches of the river, in rural Lanarkshire,present an altogether different picture. Within

the verdant Clyde Valley, you’ll find quietorchards, green fields, woodland, smallattractive villages and cosy pubs. The areaaround Lanark is green and pleasant, withsmall farms, woodland, low rounded hills andquiet country roads. And the lonely moorlandwhere the river rises has a gaunt butcompelling beauty.

The towns also have their attractions.Helensburgh, Gourock and Dumbarton(once the capital of the Kingdom ofStrathclyde) sit on the shores of the Firth ofClyde. Hamilton, Paisley, Lanark, Motherwelland the new town of East Kilbride are inlandtowns, and each has its attractions, such asthe magnificent Paisley Abbey or theimpressive shopping malls (the largest inScotland) in East Kilbride. In some townsclose to Glasgow, such as Motherwell, Airdrieor Coatbridge, the excesses of industry onceblighted the landscape, but these have beencleaned up, and some places, such asSummerlee at Coatbridge, have taken thisindustrial heritage and turned it into atourist attraction.

This whole area was once the powerhouseof Scotland. It is not ashamed of the fact, norshould it be. Coal was mined here, steel wasproduced, heavy industry sent smoke pluminginto the sky, ships were built, deals were struckand money made. Money is still being made inthe area, but now it comes from electronics,banking, tourism, broadcasting and publishing.But the people haven’t changed. They haveremained hardworking and friendly, with apride in the past and a great faith in the future.

St Mungo’s Cathedral, Glasgow

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winds carried the smells of the city away fromthem. Here you’ll find the Kelvingrove ArtGallery and Museum which benefited from a£27.9m refurbishment before re-opening in2006. It is housed in a grand red sandstonebuilding that froths with detail. It hasinternationally important collections onarchaeology, botany, zoology, geology and allthe other ologies you can think of. There areEgyptian mummies, fossils, stuffed animals,dinosaur skeletons, clothing and uniforms fromall over the world, as well as weapons, and ahost of other material. The art collection isstunning, and is possibly the mostcomprehensive civic collection in Europe. Themuseum’s magnificent organ was built at theturn of the last century by Lewis and Co Ltd,London, and organ recitals have been a featureof Kelvingrove ever since the building opened.

The Glasgow Museum of Transport,with trains, carriages, motorcars and amarvellous collection of model ships, sitsopposite the Kelvingrove Art Gallery andMuseum. Perhaps the most striking display isthe one on Glasgow’s underground system.The system forms a simple loop round the citycentre and West End, and in the late 1970swas upgraded, with orange trains taking theplace of the much-loved wood and metal ones.The Glaswegians immediately dubbed it theClockwork Orange and the name has stuck.More properly, it is known as the GlasgowSubway, rather than underground or metro.

Also in the West End, just off Byres Road(the area’s trendiest street) are the HunterianMuseum and the Hunterian Art Gallery,which form part of Glasgow University. Themuseum has fine collections coveringgeology and numismatics, while the galleryhas paintings, furniture and interior design byMackintosh and Whistler. At the top ofByres Road is the Glasgow BotanicGardens with, at its centre, the KibblePalace, a huge greenhouse with plants fromall over the world. It is named after itsbuilder John Kibble, who erected it beside hishouse on the banks of Loch Long. It wasrebuilt here in 1873, after being dismantledand sailed up the Clyde.

Within Victoria Park, further to the west, isthe Fossil Grove (open between April andSeptember only), undoubtedly the city’s mostancient attraction. It consists of fragments ofan ancient forest over 330 million years oldwhich was discovered in 1887. They are housedwithin a small building to protect them.

The heart of Glasgow nowadays is GeorgeSquare, a huge open space in front of theVictorian City Chambers (conducted tours

On a hill behind the cathedral is theNecropolis, Glasgow’s ancient burial ground,and in front of the cathedral is the modern(and looking anything but modern) StMungo’s Museum of Religious Life andArt. Across from it is Glasgow’s oldest house,Provand’s Lordship, built in 1471 as a mansefor the former St Nicholas Hospital.

The Clyde made Glasgow, and Glasgowmade the Clyde, runs an old, but true, saying.In the 17th century, the city was seen as beingwholly inland, and the river was so shallowthat people could wade across it. But in 1768,a man called John Golborne began canalisingand deepening it to allow large ships to sailright up into the city. The Tall Ship atGlasgow Harbour (see panel below) inStobcross Road, tells the story of the river andthe industries it spawned. The centrepiece isthe tall ship itself, the S V Glenlee, built in1896. At Braehead, on the south side of theriver, and a few miles downstream, is anothermuseum that celebrates the Clyde - the award-winning Clydebuilt. It is part of the ScottishMaritime Museum and tells the river’s storyfrom the 1700s up to the present day.

The Clyde Waterbus Service takes you on aboat trip along the Clyde from the city centreto Braehead, with a commentary on thehistory of the river as you go.

Close to the Tall Ship is the ScottishExhibition and Conference Centre, amammoth complex of halls and auditoriums,including what Glaswegians now refer to asthe Armadillo, a metal and glass creationwhose design owes more than a little toSydney Opera House. And across the riverfrom it is the city’s newest attraction, theGlasgow Science Centre. Built on the site ofthe Glasgow Garden Festival, it is acombination of museum, laboratory andhands-on exhibition area that explores scienceand discovery, and has four floors featuringmore than 300 exhibits. The accompanyingGlasgow Tower is Scotland’s tallestfreestanding structure at 412 feet, and there’salso an IMAX Theatre.

Glasgow has always been a city of museumsand art galleries, even when it relied on industryfor its employment. Like most large cities, itsWest End is where the well-off built theirmansions, as the prevailing south-westerly

The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour100 Stobcross Road, Glasgow G3 8QQTel: 0141 222 2513e-mail: [email protected] website: www.thetallship.comSail through 100 years of maritime history at the Tall Shipat Glasgow Harbour. Follow the remarkable restoration ofthe Glenlee from an abandoned hulk in Seville harbour to herfullyrigged splendour today and learn about the livingconditions aboard a deep sea trading ship. Explore the cargohold where you will see what goods she carried, the deckhouse where the crew lived, the poop deck and the galley.Also in the harbour is the Pier 17 restaurant, a gift shop andvarious exhibitions and events. Phone for details.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow

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Govan, to the south of the river. The RangersTour Experience takes you on a guided tourof the stadium, including the Trophy Room.

If you want to immerse yourself insomething typically Scottish, then theNational Piping Centre in Otago Street hasa small museum dedicated to Scotland’snational instrument. Within the CaledonianUniversity on Cowcaddens Road, not far away,is the Heatherbank Museum of SocialWork. It has displays on housing, health andchildcare, and looks at how socially excludedpeople were cared for in the past.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is the mostfamous of Glasgow’s architects, and was bornin 1868. He designed a number of buildings inGlasgow, and there are organised tours takingyou to the best of them arranged by theCharles Rennie Mackintosh Society. His most

famous building is the Glasgow School ofArt in Renfrew Street. It is still a workingcollege, though tours are available byappointment. On the south side of the river isthe Scotland Street School, now a museumdedicated to education. Another school is theMartyr’s Public School in Parson Street. It isno longer used as a school and is open to thepublic. The Willow Tea Rooms in SauchiehallStreet still sells traditional Scottish high teasamid Mackintosh’s designs, and the Queen’sCross Church on Garscube Road is now theheadquarters of the Charles RennieMackintosh Society. At Bellahouston Park, onthe south side, is the House for an Art Lover,which interprets some of the incompletedesigns Mackintosh submitted to acompetition in a German magazine. TheLighthouse, Scotland’s centre for architecture,

design and the city, is in MitchellLane and has a Mackintoshinterpretation centre. It is housed in aMackintosh-designed building thatwas once the home of Glasgow’sdaily newspaper, The Herald. In theHunterian Art Gallery there is alsothe Mackintosh House, featuring theprincipal rooms from Mackintosh’sown house, together with a collectionof designs and watercolours.

Another Glasgow architect,formerly overshadowed byMackintosh but now more widelyknown, was Alexander Thomson(1817-1875), known as GreekThomson because of the Greekinfluences in his work. He designedSt Vincent Street Church, as well asHolmwood House (National Trustfor Scotland) in Netherlee Road, inthe southern suburbs.

available). There are statues galore, and it is afavourite place for city workers to relax in thesun. The City Chambers themselves reflectGlasgow’s wealth and confidence in theVictorian era, and so opulent are the interiorsthat they stood in for the Vatican in the filmHeavenly Pursuits. Round the corner you’ll findHutcheson’s Hall (National Trust forScotland), founded in 1641 as a hospice,though the building itself is 18th century. Itwas designed by David Hamilton, and has asmall exhibition about the Merchant City, thatarea that housed the homes and offices of therich 17th- and 18th-century merchants whotraded with America. Nowadays, it is an areaof expensive apartment blocks, smart bars,restaurants and pubs. Not far away, in QueenStreet, is the Gallery of Modern Art, housedin an elegant, neo-classical building. It has fourfloors of work by modern artists such asChristine Borland and Toby Paterson. InBuccleuch Street near Charing Cross, is theTenement House (National Trust forScotland). Built in the late 19th century, it re-creates the genteel tenement living conditionsthat were common among Glasgow’s lowermiddle classes in the early 20th century. It isopen between March and October. TheCentre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) is at320 Sauchiehall Street, and has a changingprogramme of events, performances andexhibitions. There are six galleries, a smallcinema, bookshop and bar/restaurant

The Mitchell Library is an imposing domedbuilding in North Street, not far from CharingCross. It is Britain’s largest municipal library,and has collections covering Scottish and localhistory, genealogy, and Robert Burns.

The Glasgow Police Museum is in StAndrews Square (to the east of GlasgowCross), with exhibits highlighting the Glasgow

Police Force between 1800 and 1975. And atthe Cross itself is the old Glasgow TolboothSteeple, dating from the 1620s. At one time itprovided offices for the City Council, and hada jail incorporated into it.

Glasgow Green, a huge area of parkland inthe city’s east end, is Glasgow’s lung. It hasbeen common land for centuries, and it washere that Charles Edward Stuart mustered histroops during the Jacobite Uprising when heoccupied the city. Now it is the city’s largestpark, with its centrepiece being the People’sPalace and Winter Gardens, a museum andglasshouse complex that tells the city’s ownstory. Close to it is the Doulton Fountain, at46 feet high and 70 feet wide, the world’slargest terracotta fountain. It was recentlyrefurbished at a cost of £3.75m. On theeastern edge of Glasgow Green is one of thecity’s most colourful buildings - Templeton’sCarpet Factory (now a business centre). It isbased on a Venetian design, with walls thatincorporate multi-coloured bricks.

Glasgow is synonymous with football, andat the redeveloped Hampden Park, on thesouth side of the Clyde, is the ScottishFootball Museum. It reveals the sights,sounds and stories of the world’s mostpopular game, and tells how it almost shapedthe history of Glasgow in the late 19th and20th centuries. You can see such things as theoldest football ticket in the world, the ScottishCup trophy and Kenny Dalgleish’s 100thScottish cap.

At Celtic Park in the Parkhead area of thecity is the Celtic Visitor Centre, which tracesthe history of Celtic Football Club, one ofGlasgow’s ‘big two’ football clubs. There areexhibits, a stadium tour and a shop sellingCeltic memorabilia. Rangers Football Club isGlasgow’s other major team, with Ibrox, in Charles Rennie Mackintosh Church, Glasgow

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regiment, and was formed in the 1960s whenthe Highland Light Infantry amalgamated withthe Royal Scottish Fusiliers.

Around Glasgow

KIRKINTILLOCH7 miles NE of Glasgow city centre on the A803B Auld Kirk Museum H Craft Daft

The old burgh of Kirkintilloch sits beside theForth and Clyde Canal, which has recentlybeen re-opened after a multi-million poundrefurbishment. It connects the Firth of Clydeand the Firth of Forth, with a further canal,the Union Canal, connecting it to Edinburgh.The Auld Kirk Museum is housed in theformer parish church, which dates from 1644.In Peel Park are some Roman remains fromthe Antonine Wall.

Craft Daft (On a Raft) is a craft studio ona canal boat moored in the Forth and ClydeCanal at Glasgow Bridge. Here you can paint aceramic ornament to take away immediately, ora mug or plate to collect in a day or two. Youcan also try glass painting, silk painting,encaustic wax, pyrography or quilling.

CUMBERNAULD12 miles NE of Glasgow off the A80E Palacerigg Country Park

Set on a hill above the A80, Cumbernauld isone of Scotland’s new towns. It was created in1956 as a population overspill for GlasgowCity and was built partly on what was an oldcountry estate. It is now the eighth mostpopulous settlement in Scotland, the largest inNorth Lanarkshire, and also larger than twoof Scotland’s cities, Inverness and Stirling. In1981, it provided the setting for the hit filmGregory’s Girl. To the southeast of the town,

Palacerigg Country Park covers 750 acresand has an animal collection that is unique inCentral Scotland. In addition to some friendlyfarm animals, the menagerie includes rarebreeds such as Eriskay ponies, NorthRonaldsay and Boreray sheep, Shetland andwhite park cattle, Bagot and Guernsey goats,Tamworth pigs and Scots grey and Scotsdumpy poultry.

KILSYTH11miles NE of Glasgow on the A809C Battle of Kilsyth

The Battle of Kilsyth was fought onAugust 15 1645, when the first Marquisof Montrose routed a Covenanting army ledby William Bailiie of Letham. A reservoir isnow located where Montrose’s army camped,and a cairn marks the spot where the battletook place.

RUTHERGLEN2 miles SE of Glasgow city centre on the A749

This royal burgh is one of the oldest inScotland, having been granted its royal charterby David I in the 12th century. For a shortwhile the burgh was incorporated into the cityof Glasgow, something that was greatlyresented by some of its citizens. Since 1997, thetown has formed part of the local authorityarea of South Lanarkshire. A gable of itsmedieval Parish Church survives in the kirkyardof its more modern successor. Robbie Coltrane(Hagrid in the Harry Potter films) was bornhere, and for a short while Stan Laurel lived inthe town and went to a local school.

NEWTON MEARNS7 miles S of Glasgow on the A77E Greenbank House

Newton Mearns is a commuter town of smart

Perhaps Glasgow’s most famous modernattraction is the Burrell Collection, housed ina purpose-built complex of galleries in PollokCountry Park, south of the river. WilliamBurrell (see also Largs and Hutton Castle)gifted a huge collection of art and historicalobjects to the city of Glasgow, and now morethan 8000 of them are on display. A whole daycould be spent going round the collection.Also in the park is Pollok House (NationalTrust for Scotland - see panel below), aGeorgian mansion that houses the StirlingMaxwell collection of decorative arts.

Glasgow is Britain’s second largest shoppingcentre, the three main shopping streets beingArgyle Street, Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan

Street. There are also enormous shoppingmalls. The St Enoch Centre is just off ArgyleStreet, the Buchanan Galleries are at thecorner of Buchanan Street and SauchiehallStreet, while the Braehead Shopping Centre issouth of the river on the city’s western fringes,near Renfrew. There’s also the Forge atParkhead, in the East End.

Within the city centre there are twoexclusive retail developments. Princes Square,off Buchanan Street, is a mix of upmarketshops and cafés, while the Italian Centre iswhere you’ll find the designer labels.

In Sauchiehall Street is the RegimentalMuseum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers.It is Scotland’s second oldest infantry

Pollok HousePollok Country Park, 2060 Pollokshaws Road,Glasgow G43 1ATTel: 0141 616 6410 Fax: 014) 616 6521e-mail [email protected]: www.nts.org.ukVisit Pollok House and capture the flavour of oneof Scotland’s grandest Edwardian country houses,It is the ancestral home of the Maxwells of Pollok,who have lived on this site for 700 years. The

present house,which replaced three earlier structures, was begun in1747. It was extended from 1890 by Sir John StirlingMaxwell Bt, KT, a founder member of The National Trustfor Scotland.

The house contains much original furniture as well assome of the finest Spanish paintings in Britain. A raresurvival is the magnificent suite of servants’ quarters,which shows the scale of country house life around 1900.These contain the popular Edwardian Kitchen Restaurant,renowned for its lunch menu and home baking, and theshop in the Housekeeper’s Room. At weekends, visitorscan see a reconstruction, of the way the house might havebeen run at the turn of the last century. Pollok House is setamid formal and walled gardens at the heart of PollokCountry Park.

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housing an interpretation centre that gives aninsight into the living conditions of Paisley’sweaving families in the past. Nearby, in NewStreet, is Paisley Arts Centre, housed in theformer Laigh Kirk of 1738.

In the 18th century, the town was famedfor its poets, the most famous being RobertTannahill, who was born in Tannahill

Cottage in Queen Street in 1774. He was asilk weaver who wrote the words to suchbeautiful songs as Jessie the Flower o’ Dunblaneand The Braes o’ Gleniffer. The actual braes(hillsides) themselves now form part of the1300-acre Gleniffer Braes Country Park, tothe south of the town. There are spectacularviews from the Robertson Car Park, andguide tours are available.

Jenny’s Well Local Nature Reserve, onthe south bank of the White Cart Water, isless than a mile from the centre of the town,and is locked between a council estate and achemicals factory. For all that, it is a haven forwildlife with some pleasant walks. To thenorth of Paisley, on the other side of the M8,is Glasgow International Airport.

The village of Elderslie, a mile west of thetown, is the supposed birthplace of WilliamWallace, and the Wallace Memorial, built in1912, explains his exploits.

LOCHWINNOCH16 miles SW of Glasgow on the B786E Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park

A Castle Semple Church

E Lochwinnoch Nature Reserve

The Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park covers106 square miles of magnificent countryside

bungalows and substantial houses. The four-square Parish Church dates from 1755, andclose by is Greenbank House (NationalTrust for Scotland) surrounded by beautifulgardens. The house is not open to the publicbut the walled garden and 16 acres ofwoodland are.

CLYDEBANK7 miles W of Glasgow city centre on the A814B Clydebank Museum

Clydebank is a former shipbuilding town, and itwas here that the Queen Mary, the QueenElizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth II were built.The town suffered more damage in proportionto its size than any other British town from airraids in World War II. In early 1941, during theClydebank Blitz, the centre of the town wasflattened, other parts severely damaged andmany people were killed. The ClydebankMuseum at the Town Hall in DumbartonRoad has exhibits devoted to the Blitz, as wellas to the famous Singer sewing machine factorythat once stood in the town.

PAISLEY5 miles W of Glasgow city centre on the A761A Paisley Abbey G John Witherspoon

A Thomas Coats Memorial Church

B Paisley Museum & Art Gallery

B Sma’ Shot Cottages H Paisley Arts Centre

G Robert Tannahill E Gleniffer Braes Country Park

E Jenny’s Well Local Nature Reserve

C Wallace Memorial

The large town of Paisley is centred on thegreat Abbey Church of Saints Mary theVirgin, James the Greater of Compostella,Mirin and Milburga. It is better known asPaisley Abbey. The abbey was founded in the12th century by Walter FitzAlan, first High

Steward of Scotland and progenitor of theStewart dynasty. Within its walls are the tombsof most of the non-royal High Stewards, aswell as that of Princess Marjory, daughter ofRobert the Bruce. Her grandson, Robert III, isalso buried here. It can legitimately claim to bethe birthplace of the Stewart dynasty, becauseRobert II, the first Stewart king, was born atthe abbey in 1316. Marjory had been seriouslyinjured in a riding accident at Knock, a nearbyhill, and she was brought to the abbey whereshe died soon after giving birth to her son.

The building as you see it now was builtfrom the 12th century onwards, though thebulk dates from the 15th century. The choirwas rebuilt in the early 1900s. Within theabbey is a memorial to John Witherspoon, aformer minister of the Laigh Kirk, who signedthe American Declaration of Independence. Astatue of him can also be found in front ofPaisley University.

Another famous Paisley church is theBaptist Thomas Coats Memorial Church,sometimes known as the Baptist Cathedralbecause of its size. It was built in 1894 inmemory of Thomas Coats of the Coats andClark thread-making firm. The same ThomasCoats gifted the Coats Observatory to thetown’s Philosophical Institution in 1883. It isnow open to the public. Adjacent is PaisleyMuseum and Art Gallery, with displays ofPaisley shawls and other memorabilia.

Paisley was the birthplace of many famouspeople. Tom Conti the actor was born here, aswere John Byrne the artist and writer (whosemost famous work is undoubtedly the TVseries Tutti Frutti), Andrew Neill, now editorof The Scotsman, Gerry Rafferty the singer, andFulton Mackay of Porridge fame.

At the Corner of Shuttle Street and GeorgePlace are the 18th- and 19th-century weavingcottages known as Sma’ Shot Cottages,

Coats Observatory, Paisley

EAST LOCHHEADKilbirnie Road, Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire PA12 4DXTel/Fax: 01505 842610e-mail: [email protected] website: www.eastlochhead.co.ukThe Andersons offer you, (and well-behaved pets), a warmwelcome at East Lochhead. The 4-star quality self-cateringcottages in a courtyard layout, have fully equipped kitchens andgas central heating throughout. Lochwinnoch is just 20 miles from Glasgow in a lovely settingbetween the moors of Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park and Castle Semple Loch. It provides easyaccess to Ayrshire’s coast, golf courses, the islands of Arran, Bute and Cumbrae; Loch Lomond,the Trossachs and the varied attractions of Glasgow.

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The Lillie Art Gallery, in Station Road,Milngavie, was founded by banker and amateurartist Robert Lillie, and opened in 1962. It has acollection of 20th-century Scottish paintings,including works by the Scottish Colourists, JoanEardley and Philip Reves.

DumbartonA Dumbarton Castle B Denny Tank Museum

A College Bow E Overtoun Estate

The town sits where the River Leven, fed byLoch Lomond, enters the Clyde, and isdominated by Dumbarton Castle (HistoricScotland), which sits high on a volcanic plug240 feet above the Firth of Clyde. It is one ofthe oldest fortified sites in Britain, and fromthe 8th to the early 11th centuries was thecapital of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde.It was incorporated into Scotland in 1034,when its king, Duncan, also assumed thethrone of Scotland. The name itself meansthe Fort of the Britons, and though the townis called Dumbarton, the former county isDunbartonshire, with an ‘n’. The castle nowmainly consists of modern barracks, but there

is still plenty to see,including a 12th-century gateway, adungeon and amuseum. From the topthere is a splendidview out over the Firthof Clyde. It was fromDumbarton in 1548that Mary Queen ofScots set sail forFrance and hereventual marriage toFrancis, the Dauphin.This was considered

to be much safer than leaving from an eastcoast port, as Henry VIII’s ships werepatrolling the North Sea. The English kinghad wanted Mary to marry his son Henry,and when the Scottish parliament refused toratify such an agreement, Henry triedunsuccessfully to force the marriage, a periodknown as the Rough Wooing.

The Denny Tank Museum in Castle Streetforms part of the Scottish Maritime Museum.It is the oldest experimental water tank in theworld, and is the length of a football pitch. Itwas built in 1882 as part of Denny’s shipyard,whose most famous ship was undoubtedly thetea clipper the Cutty Sark. It was here that hullshapes were tested in water using carefullycrafted models before the ships themselveswere built. On display are many of the modelsbuilt by Denny craftsmen.

Though Denny was famous for its ships, italso has a place in aircraft history, as it builtthe first helicopter capable of flight in 1909, aswell as the world’s first hovercraft, half acentury later.

In Church Street is an old archway calledthe College Bow once part of the long-

from Greenock to Inverkip and down intoAyrshire. It is ideal for walking, cycling, fishingand observing wildlife. There is also sailing onCastle Semple Loch. Near its shores are theruins of Castle Semple Church, founded inthe early 16th century by John Semple. He waslater killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513,and his tomb can be seen at the east end ofthe church.

The Lochwinnoch Nature Reserve isrun by the RSPB, and has nature trailsthrough woodland, with viewing areas and avisitor centre.

KILBARCHAN11 miles SW of Glasgow, off the A761A The Weaver’s Cottage G Habbie Simpson

This is undoubtedly the most picturesquevillage in Renfrewshire, a huddle of charming18th-century weaving cottages. The Weaver’sCottage (National Trust for Scotland) datesfrom 1723, and shows what a typical weaver’shome (complete with working loom) was like.

In a niche on the wall of the Steeple Hall of1755, is a statute to Habbie Simpson, thevillage’s famous 17th-century piper. It is abronze reproduction of one made in wood byArchibald Simpson in 1822.

RENFREW5 miles W of Glasgow on the A8C Battle of Renfrew

B Renfrew Community Museum

The ancient burgh of Renfrew was granted itscharter in 1143, making it one of the oldest inScotland. It was here, in 1164, that one of thelesser-known, but still important, Scottishbattles took place - the Battle of Renfrew. Itwas fought between Somerled, Lord of theIsles, and the royal army of Malcolm IV led byWalter FitzAlan, founder of Paisley Abbey and

first High Steward of Scotland. This battlebrought the Western Isles fully under thecontrol of the Scottish monarchy. The storyof the battle is an intriguing one. Somerledhad sailed up the Clyde the previous yearwith 15,000 troops carried in more than 160great warships. One version of the story saysthat the king had bribed Somerled’s nephewto murder him, which he did, and the troopsreturned home. Another version - probablythe true one - says that Somerled was killedduring the battle along with his heir, and theywere carried off to be buried in SaddellAbbey on the Mull of Kintyre.

The Renfrew Community Museum in theBrown Institute in Canal Street was opened in1997 to coincide with the 600th anniversary ofthe town being granted royal burgh status. Ithas displays of local history.

BEARSDEN AND MILNGAVIE6 miles NW of Glasgow city centre on the A809and A81C Roman Bathhouse J West Highland Way

H The Lillie Art Gallery

These two prosperous towns are firmly withinGlasgow’s inner commuting belt, and are fullof large Victorian and Edwardian mansions aswell as the more modest bungalows of the1930s. The Antonine Wall (named afterRoman Emperor Antoninus Pius) passes closeby. It was built of turf in the 2nd century tokeep out the warring tribesmen of the north,and stretched for 37 miles between the Clydeand the Forth. In Bearsden there are theremains of a Roman Bathhouse.

Mugdock Country Park sits off the A81north of Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy)which is the starting point for the 95-mile-longWest Highland Way, which connects theGlasgow conurbation with Fort William.

Trossachs, nr Dumbarton

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CARDROSS4 miles W of Dumbarton on the A814E Geilston Gardens

Geilston Gardens (National Trust forScotland) surround a late 17th-century house(not open to the public) to the east of thetown. Also at Cardross, in Darleith Road, isSt Mahew’s Chapel, dating from 1467, thougha church of some kind has stood here sincethe 7th century. It was at Cardross Castle(now gone) that Robert the Bruce died ofleprosy in 1329.

HELENSBURGH9 miles W of Dumbarton on the A814G John Logie Baird A Hill House C Glen Fruin

Helensburgh now finds itself within Argyll,though at one time it was in Dunbartonshire.

It was founded in the 18th century by SirJames Colquhoun of Luss, and named afterhis wife Helen. John Logie Baird, theinventor of television, was born here in 1888.It is one of the ports of call in July andAugust for the PS Waverley, the world’s lastocean-going paddle steamer.

In Upper Colquhoun Street you’ll find oneof Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpieces -the Hill House (see panel below). It wascommissioned by Walter Blackie, the Glasgowpublisher, in 1902, and contains some ofMackintosh’s finest work. Not only did hedesign the building, he also designed theinterior decoration, the fittings and most ofthe furniture. There are also gardenssurrounding the house.

North of Helensburgh is Glen Fruin,which has a narrow road that takes you over to

gone Collegiate Church of St Mary. On thehillside above the town is the beautifulOvertoun Estate, which commandswonderful views over the Firth. It wasbequeathed to the people of Dumbarton byDouglas White, a London doctor, in 1939.Old Kilpatrick, to the west of the town, issupposed to be the birthplace of St Patrick,who was captured by raiders and taken toIreland in the 4th century.

Around Dumbarton

BALLOCH4 miles N of Dumbarton on the A811D Loch Lomond H Antartex Village Visitor Centre

E Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park

D Duncryne Hill E Balloch Castle Country Park

J Leven Valley Heritage Trail

B Motoring Memories Museum

This pleasant town sits at the point where theRiver Leven (at five miles long, Scotland’sshortest river) leaves Loch Lomond on itsway to Dumbarton and the Clyde. The loch isrecognised as Scotland’s largest and mostbeautiful sheet of water, covering more than27 square miles. The Loch Lomond and theTrossachs National Park was Scotland’sfirst national park, opened in 2002, andLomond Shores at Balloch includes theNational Park Gateway.

The loch is at its widest to the south. Itgradually narrows and gets deeper as it goesnorth, and at some points reaches a depth ofmore than 600 feet, making it the thirddeepest loch in Scotland. Many songs havebeen written about this stretch of water, themost famous being the Bonnie, Bonnie Banks o’

Loch Lomond. The song was written by aJacobite prisoner held in Carlisle Castle whowas due to be executed. He is telling a fellowprisoner whose life had been spared that he(the condemned man) will be in Scotlandbefore him because he will take the ‘lowroad’, the road of death, while his colleaguewill take the ‘high road’, or the road of life.

At the nearby village of Gartocharn isDuncryne Hill (nicknamed The Dumpling bylocals), where you get a marvellous view, notjust of the loch, but also of the surroundingcountryside. The Highland Boundary Fault,which separates the Lowlands of Scotlandfrom the Highlands, passes through LochLomond from Glen Fruin on the west, toBalmaha on the east. The Balloch CastleCountry Park, northeast of Balloch, haslochside walks, gardens and a visitor centre.South from the town you can follow theLeven Valley Heritage Trail, taking youdown the valley of the Leven to Dumbarton,passing such small industrial towns asAlexandria and Renton.

In Alexandria is the Antartex VillageVisitor Centre. It incorporates a factorymaking sheepskin coats (with factory toursavailable), a mill shop and a small craftvillage. Close by is the Loch Lomond FactoryOutlets and Motoring Memories Museum,housed in a magnificent building where oneof Scotland’s former makes of car, theArgyll, was manufactured.

Renton has a special place in the hearts ofall Scottish football supporters. Not only wasRenton Football Club responsible for thefounding of the Scottish League, it became‘champions of the United Kingdom and theworld’ in 1888 when it beat West BromwichAlbion at Hampden Park.

The Hill HouseUpper Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh G84 9AJTel: 01436 673900 Fax: 01436 674685website: www.nts.org.ukThe finest of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s domesticcreations, The Hill House sits high above the Clyde,commanding fine views over the river estuary. WalterBlackie, director of the well known Glasgow publishers,commissioned not only the house and garden but muchof the furniture and all the interior fittings and decorative schemes. Mackintosh’s wife,Margaret MacDonald, contributed fabric designs and a unique gesso overmantel. The overalleffect is daring, but restrained in its elegance: the result, timeless rooms, as modern today asthey must have been in 1904 when the Blackie family moved in.

An information room interprets the special relationship between architect and patron andprovides a historical context for Inspirations, a dazzling exhibition in the upper east wing andthe gardens. It brings together exceptional pieces of domestic design by great livingdesigners, all of whom, in some way, pay homage to Mackintosh’s elegance and invention,Inspiring comparisons may,be drawn between the work of Mackintosh, now recognised asone of the geniuses of the early 20th century, and pieces that themselves have become 21st century icons.

The gardens have been restored to their former glory, and reflect features common toMackintosh’s architectural designs, They also contain a kinetic sculpture given to the houseby the artist George Rickey.

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Hills pile up behind the town, and on the slopesof Lyle Hill is a huge Cross of Lorrainemounted on an anchor, which was built in1946. It commemorates the Free French sailorswho sailed from Greenock and lost their lives inthe Atlantic during World War II. There areexcellent views out over the Firth of Clyde andas far north as Ben Lomond.

Customhouse Quay was the departurepoint for thousands of Scottish emigrantssailing away to America in the 19th and early20th century. The magnificent CustomHouse, built in 1810, reflects the port’simportance in bygone days. It now houses amuseum dedicated to the work ofHM Customs and Excise. Another museumis the McLean Museum and Art Galleryon Kelly Street, which features exhibits onlocal history as well as paintings by Courbin,Boudin and the Scottish Colourists. The WattLibrary in Union Street is named after thetown’s most famous son, and is the place togo for genealogical information.

In Greenock cemetery is the grave ofHighland Mary, whose real name was MaryCampbell. Robert Burns had met her at a lowpoint in his life in Mauchline and had askedher to accompany him to the West Indieswhen he thought of emigrating. However, ona trip home to Dunoon to makearrangements for her departure, she died. Shewas previously buried in the kirkyard of theformer Old West Kirk, but was exhumed andreburied in 1920. When the Old West Kirk,which dated from the late 16th century, wasdismantled in 1926, some of its stones wereused to build the new Old West Kirk on theEsplanade. The church has some wonderfulstained glass and woodcarving.

Around Greenock

PORT GLASGOW4 miles E of Greenock on the A8A Newark Castle G Sir Patrick Maxwell

E Finlaystone Estate

Before the Clyde at Glasgow was canalisedand deepened, this town was Glasgow’s mainport. Newark Castle (Historic Scotland) liesclose to the riverbank, and dates from the 16thand 17th centuries. Up until the 1980s, thecastle was completely surrounded byshipyards, testament to the importance of thisindustry to the town at one time.

It was originally built by George Maxwell inthe late 15th century, and upgraded in 1597 towhat you see today by its most notoriousowner, Sir Patrick Maxwell. He was anunsavoury man who was always quarrellingwith other families, most notably theMontgomerys of Skelmorlie near Largs. Infact he murdered two of them - Montgomeryhimself and his eldest son - in the one day. Healso treated his wife Margaret abominably. In1632, in front of the local minister, he struckher on the face so hard that she had to take toher bed for six months. As soon as sherecovered, he attacked her again, this time witha sword.

Many times Margaret had resorted to thelaw to have her husband restrained. Patrickeven had his son ejected from the castle whenhe tried to intervene. Eventually, after 44 yearsof marriage and 16 children, Margaret lefthim, choosing a life of abject poverty ratherthan suffer any more. This caused theauthorities to take an interest in his conduct,but before he could be brought to trial in

Loch Lomond. It was the scene of a battle in1602 when the MacGregors defeated theColquhouns with much loss of life. The originof the conflict occurred when two members ofClan McGregor were returning to LochRannoch from Glasgow in early winter, andstopped near the Loch Lomond end of GlenFruin to ask for hospitality from theColquhouns. This was refused, a blatant breachof the rules of Highland hospitality, so the twoMcGregors killed, then cooked and ate a sheep.On finding out, the Colquhoun chief orderedthat the two men be executed, even though theyhad offered to pay for the animal.

The execution was duly carried out, and,when word reached the McGregor chief,Alasdair of Glenstrae, he decided to seekrevenge. A party of 80 men set out for GlenFruin, where they killed two Colqhuouns anddrove off some sheep and cattle. The twoclans eventually met in battle at the east endof the glen, near Loch Lomond.

RHU10 miles W of Dumbarton on the A814E Glenarn Gardens

Rhu (pronounced roo) is a small, attractivevillage at the entrance to the Gair Loch. Itwas originally called Row, and in the 18thcentury was one of the ports on the Rhu toRoseneath ferry. Glenarn Gardens offGlenarn Road is a sheltered woodland gardenfamous for its rhododendrons.

LUSS11 miles N of Dumbarton off the A82A Church of St MacKessog

This beautiful little village - one of theloveliest in Scotland - was once the setting forScottish Television’s soap opera High Road, in

which it was called Glendarroch. It’s an estatevillage built by the Colquhoun family ofnearby Rossdhu Castle, and sits on the banksof Loch Lomond. On the opposite shore, themighty bulk of Ben Lomond can be seen. Itis the most southerly of Scotland’s Munros, ormountains over 3000 feet, and is acomfortable climb if you’re reasonably fit andactive. The Church of St MacKessog, builtin 1875 on the site of a much older church, iswell worth a visit. Luss used to be famous forthe longevity of its residents. A visitor in 1769found six people aged between 86 and 94, atthat time an almost incredible age.

GARELOCHHEAD14 miles NW of Dumbarton off the A814E Linn Botanical Gardens

This old village at the head of the beautifulGare Loch now finds itself in Argyll foradministrative purposes. However, along withthe picturesque Rosneath Peninsula, it was oncepart of the old county of Dunbartonshire, andit is to Dumbarton that it still looks forshopping and other services. It makes a finecentre for hill walking, bird watching andyachting. At Cove, on the Rosneath Peninsula,are the Linn Botanical Gardens.

GreenockC Cross of Lorraine A Custom House

B McLean Museum and Art Gallery

G Highland Mary A Old West Kirk

Situated on the south bank of the Firth ofClyde, at a point known as The Tail of theBank, Greenock is a bustling industrial townand port. It was the birthplace, in 1736, ofJames Watt, who perfected the steam engine.

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HamiltonA Hamilton Mausoleum A Chatelherault

E Chatelherault Country Park A Cadzow Castle

A Hamilton Parish Church A County Buildings

B Low Parks Museum G Sir Harry Lauder

Hamilton was once the county town ofLanarkshire, Scotland’s most populous andindustrialised county. It became a royal burghin 1548, though it lost this status in 1669. Ithas strong connections to one of the mostimportant families in Scotland, the Dukes ofHamilton, Scotland’s premier dukes. Up untilmedieval times, the town was known asCadzow, but gradually Hamilton took over asthe family grew in importance. By the 1920s,when it was demolished, the immenseHamilton Palace, home to the dukes, was thegrandest non-royal residence in Britain.

Not a stone now remains of it aboveground, though the Hamilton’s burial place,the grandiose Hamilton Mausoleum, stillremains. It is a curious building with animmense dome, and is full of Masonicsymbolism. It consists of a chapel above and acrypt below, and was built in the mid-19thcentury for Alexander, the 10th Duke(nicknamed Il Magnifico). He had hisancestors removed from the ruins (now gonecompletely) of the old Collegiate Church ofHamilton and re-interred in the crypt. Whenhe himself died, he was laid to rest in thesarcophagus of an Egyptian princess, whichwas placed in the upper chapel. A curious taletells of how the duke was found to be too tallto fit into the sarcophagus when he died, sohis legs were broken and folded over.However, that’s all it is - a tale. The duke wasindeed too big for the sarcophagus, but heknew this long before he died, as he used to lie

in it. So he had stonemasons enlarge it.The crypt is entered through the middle

arch of three arches. Above each arch is acarved head, representing life, death andimmortality.

The bodies were all removed from themausoleum in 1921, and the place can now bevisited. It was never used as a chapel, however,as it is reckoned to have the longest echo ofany building in Britain. One thing to note isthat the crypt doors lock from the inside. Thereason is simple - once a month a servant wassent from the palace to dust and clean thehuge coffins. To prevent ghoulish sightseers, apoliceman was stationed outside and theservant locked herself in.

A two-mile long Grand Avenue oncestretched from the palace all the way toChatelherault, pronounced Shattly-row, aHamilton hunting lodge east of the town.Most of the avenue is gone, but Chatelheraultsurvives, having been refurbished in the 1980sin the largest refurbishment project of its timein Britain. It was officially re-opened inSeptember 1987 by the Duke of Gloucester.Originally designed by William Adam in the1730s, the lodge once also housed the Duke’shunting dogs, and was therefore known as theDog Kennels. Now it houses a museum andinterpretation centre. The lodge got its namebecause the Dukes of Hamilton were also theDukes of Chatellerault near Poitou in France.The title was bestowed in 1548 by Henry IIof France in recognition of the part thefamily played in arranging the marriage ofMary Stuart to his son Francis, the Dauphin.The spelling of the name changed over theyears, and Chatellerault gradually becameChatelherault.

Surrounding the lodge is ChatelheraultCountry Park, with more than 10 miles of

Edinburgh he died of natural causes.Two miles west of Port Glasgow is the

Finlaystone Estate, where the present head ofthe Clan Macmillan lives. It is open to thepublic, and features gardens and 140 acres ofwoodland. Finlaystone House, at the heart ofthe estate, dates back to the 14th century,though it has been extended over the centuries.It can be visited by special arrangement.

GOUROCK2 miles W of Greenock town centre on the A770A Cloch Lighthouse C Granny Kempock’s Stone

This little holiday resort is now more or less asuburb of Greenock, though at one time itwas a separate burgh. It is on a most attractivepart of the Clyde, opposite Kilcreggan, theGareloch and the entrance to Loch Long,where the mountains tumble down towards

the sea. The Firth of Clyde is a famousyachting area, and the town is the home of theRoyal Gourock Yacht Club, which is situatednear the Promenade. At Cloch Point, fourmiles to the southwest, is the ClochLighthouse of 1797, a famous landmark forships sailing on the Clyde. Between CastleGardens and Kempock Street in the town isthe curiously named Granny Kempock’sStone, which dates from prehistoric times. Itis shaped like a cloaked figure, and to walkround it is said to bring good luck. However, italso has associations with witchcraft. In 1662,a young woman was burnt to death after sheadmitted that she was going to usesupernatural powers to throw the stone intothe waters of the Firth of Clyde in order tocause shipwrecks.

The town is the one of the ferry terminalsfor Dunoon, across the Clyde in Argyll.

FUSION2 Hopeton Street, Gourock, Renfrewshire PA19 1PGTel: 01475 633998e-mail: [email protected] offers “a style of cooking that combinesingredients and techniques from very different cultures orcountries”. The restaurant was the brain child of MaryRobb and Evelyn Docherty who trained to be chefs atGleddoch House in Langbank after leaving school. Theyworked their way up the ladder to become Head Chefs atthe country club and then cooked at various high profilerestaurants around Glasgow before opening Fusion inwhat was originally a coach house. Mary and Evelyn’sManager, Kirsty Beckett, had worked with them beforeand made such a great team they decided to continuetheir excellent working relationship at Fusion.

Depending on the season, their menu is based onmeats such as Perthshire beef and venison and Highlandbeef from the Hebrides. To accompany your meal, there’sa good choice of ales from Loch Fyne Ales Brewery atCairndow in Argyll as well as an excellent selection ofwines from Alliance. In addition to the main restaurant, there is another room available for privateparties. Fusion is open from 12 noon until 2pm for lunches, Tuesday to Friday; from 5pm until late,Tuesday to Saturday for Dinner. Closed on Sunday and Monday.

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built between 1770 and 1794, and at one timewas the most profitable in Scotland. TheNorth Calder Heritage Trail runs fromSummerlee to Hillend Reservoir, and passesmany sites connected with the past industry ofthe area.

The Time Capsule is one of the largestleisure centres in the area. In the DrumpellierCountry Park there is a visitor centre,butterfly house, formal gardens, golf courseand pets’ corner.

MOTHERWELL AND WISHAW3 miles E of Hamilton on the A721B Motherwell Heritage Centre

E Strathclyde Country Park C Roman Bathhouse

E Amazonia B Carfin Pilgrimage Centre

B Shotts Heritage Centre

The twin towns of Motherwell and Wishawwere, up until 1975, included in the one burgh.They were steel-making towns, though thesteelworks at Ravenscraig have now gone. Theaward-winning Motherwell Heritage Centreon High Road has a number of exhibitions,and hosts varied activities with a heritagetheme. To the west of Motherwell, adjoiningthe M74, is the 1100 acres of StrathclydeCountry Park, built on waste ground in theearly 1970s. Within it there is an international-sized rowing lake where the rowing events ofthe 1986 Commonwealth Games were held.On its banks are the remains of a RomanBathhouse. There are guided walksthroughout the year, as well as nature trailsand a camping and caravanning site. M&D’sTheme Park is located near the north banks ofthe loch.

Amazonia is Scotland’s only indoor rainforest attraction and houses reptiles, insectsand animals connected with the Amazonrain forest.

A mile northeast of Motherwell is thesmall industrial village of Carfin, where youwill find the Lourdes-inspired CarfinPilgrimage Centre and Grotto, created inthe 1920s by Fr Thomas Nimmo Taylor, thelocal priest, helped by out-of-work miners.There are displays and exhibits that helpexplain the notion of pilgrimage, not only inthe Roman Catholic religion, but also in allmajor religions.

The Shotts Heritage Centre is in BenharRoad in Shotts, eight miles to the west ofMotherwell and Wishaw. There are displays onthe history of this former mining town. Kirko’ Shotts, built in 1820, lies to the east of thetown, and can easily be seen from the M8motorway. Its future is in jeopardy, as it isbadly in need of restoration. Within itskirkyard is a gravestone marking the lastresting place of William Smith, a Covenanterwho fought at Rullion Green in 1666.

DALSERF7 miles SE of Hamilton town centre off the A72A Dalserf Parish Church

Once a sizeable village with inns and a ferryacross the Clyde, Dalserf has now shrunk tono more than a few cottages and a church.Dalserf Parish Church, with its whitewashedwalls, looks more like a house than a place ofworship, and dates from 1655, though anancient chapel dedicated to St Serf stood herebefore that. The building is a rare survivor ofa mid 17th-century Scottish church. Mostfrom that period were simply built, with earthfloors and a thatched roof. In the 18th and19th centuries they were usually demolished tomake way for something more imposing.Dalserf has lasted because the parish was apoor one, and couldn’t afford to rebuild,preferring instead to upgrade whenever itcould. In the kirkyard is a pre-Norman hogs

woodland walks. The ruins of CadzowCastle, the original home of the Hamiltons,and where Mary Stuart once stayed, can beseen within the park. There are also theremains of an old Iron Age Fort and theCadzow Oaks, which are very ancient. In afield in front of Chatelherault is a small butfamous herd of White Cattle.

Hamilton Parish Church, within the town,was designed by William Adam in the early1730s at the same time as he was designingChatelherault. It is an elegant building in theshape of a Greek cross, with a cupola over thecrossing. The pre-Norman Netherton Crossstands at the church entrance, and in thekirkyard is the Heads Monument,commemorating four Covenanters beheadedin Edinburgh after the Pentland Rising of1666.

In Almada Street you’ll find the town’s mostprominent landmark - the County Buildings.They were built in the 1960s for the thenLanarkshire County Council, and weremodelled on the United Nations building inNew York. It is one of the few 1960sbuildings in Scotland to be listed.

Based in an old 17th-century coaching inn,once known as the Hamilton Arms, is the LowParks Museum, which has displays andmemorabilia on local history. It also houses alarge display on Lanarkshire’s own regiment -the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Raised as aCovenanting force in 1689, it took its namefrom Richard Cameron, a Covenanting ministerwho opposed bishops in the Church ofScotland and the king being its head. It chose todisband itself in 1968 rather than amalgamatewith another regiment. Most of the Low Parks,which at one time formed some of HamiltonPalace’s parkland, has been given over to a hugeretail development that includes a multi-screencinema and supermarket.

In the Bent Cemetery is the simple graveof one of Scotland’s best-known entertainers,Sir Harry Lauder. Born in Portobello nearEdinburgh in 1870, he at one time worked inthe coalmines in Quarter, a village nearHamilton. He died in 1950. Nearby is theplot where the members of the Hamiltonfamily who formerly lay in the mausoleumare now buried. The 10th Duke, who had themausoleum built, still lies in his Egyptiansarcophagus.

Hamilton is the start of one of Scotland’s10 national tourist routes, the Clyde ValleyTourist Route. It follows the Clyde Valley allthe way south to Abington on the M74.

Around Hamilton

AIRDRIE AND COATBRIDGE7 miles N of Hamilton on the A89G John Reith B Summerlee Heritage Centre

J North Calder Heritage Trail I Time Capsule

E Drumpellier Country Park

The twin towns of Airdrie and Coatbridge areindustrial in character. In Coatbridge, in 1889,John Reith, the first general manager of whatwas then the British Broadcasting Companywas born. Single-handedly he shaped thecharacter of the organisation.

The town is home to the SummerleeHeritage Centre, built on the site of the oldSummerlee Ironworks, which traces thehistory of the area’s old industries - steelmaking, coalmining and the manufacture ofheavy plant. Tramlines have been laid out andthere is a small collection of trams from allover Europe. There is also a short section ofthe Summerlee branch of the MonklandsCanal (now closed), which ran from Glasgowto the Lanarkshire coalfields. The canal was

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old village, and now it has a population ofabout 70,000. It is renowned for its shoppingfacilities, and has four shopping malls, PrincesMall, the Plaza, the Olympia Centre andCentre West, which together make up thelargest undercover shopping area in Scotland.

In the Calderwood area of the town isHunter House, birthplace in the 18th centuryof the Hunter brothers, John and William,pioneering surgeons and anatomists whoworked in both Glasgow and London. Thehouse has a small display and museum aboutthe two men and their lives. The HunterianMuseum in Glasgow is one of their legacies.

On the outskirts of the town is CalderglenCountry Park, based on Torrance House(private). It has play areas, nature trails and achildren’s zoo. To the north of the town is theJames Hamilton Heritage Park, with a16-acre boating loch. Behind it is the restoredMains Castle (private), which was built by theLindsay family in the early 15th century andsubsequently sold to the Stuarts of Torrance.Up until the 1970s it was a ruin. Close by, theScottish Museum of Country Life is basedaround Wester Kittochside Farm, which washome to the Reid family from the 16thcentury. In 1992, the last of the family,Margaret Reid, gifted it to the National Trustfor Scotland. Run jointly by the NationalMuseums of Scotland and the National Trust,it explains rural life in Scotland throughout theages and has a huge collection of farmimplements and machinery. The elegantfarmhouse of Wester Kittochside, which datesfrom 1783, is also open to the public.

EAGLESHAM9 miles W of Hamilton on the B764A Parish Church G Rudolf Hess

The conservation village of Eaglesham was

planned and built by the Earl of Eglinton inthe mid 1700s. It is shaped like a huge A, withthe point facing the moorland to the west ofthe village. Between the two arms of the A is alarge village green area known as the Orry, onwhich a cotton mill once stood. The lovelyperiod cottages and houses in the village makea perfect picture of Scottish rural life, thoughthe village has largely been colonised bycommuters from Glasgow and Lanarkshire.The Parish Church, which dates from 1788,has the look of an Alpine church about it, andit is reckoned that while planning Eagleshamthe 10th Earl was influenced by villages he hadadmired in northern Italy.

It was in a field near Eaglesham in 1941 thatRudolph Hess, Hitler’s deputy, landed afterhe parachuted from an ME 110. He was foundby a local farmer called David McLean, whotook him home and treated him firmly butpolitely. Hess gave his name as Alfred Horn,but his real identity was soon established. Hesaid he was on a secret mission to speak to theDuke of Hamilton, and a map he possessedshowed that he had been trying to reachDungavel House, one of the Duke’s huntinglodges near Strathaven.

He was then taken to Maryhill Barracks inGlasgow, where he was sometimes in thecustody of Corporal William Ross, who wenton to become the Secretary of State forScotland in the Wilson government. Hess waslater moved to Buchanan Castle near Drymenin Stirlingshire, where he was interrogated.

BOTHWELL2 miles NW of Hamilton off the M74A St Bride’s Parish Church G Joanna Baillie

A Bothwell Castle C Battle of Bothwell Bridge

In the centre of this small town is St Bride’sParish Church, with a chancel dating from

back grave slab, which was dug up in 1897,and also a memorial to the Rev JohnMacmillan, sometimes called ‘the last of theCovenanters’. He died in 1753.

STONEHOUSE6 miles S of Hamilton on the A71G Patrick Hamilton A Old St Ninian’s Parish Church

This former weaving village still has rows of18th- and 19th-century weaving cottages. Onone side of the main door is a large window,that allows plenty of light into the room whichhoused the loom, and on the other is a smallwindow, which allowed light to enter the mainliving quarters.

Patrick Hamilton, Scotland’s firstProtestant martyr, was born in Stonehouse inabout 1503. He was burned at the stake in StAndrews in 1528. The Alexander HamiltonMemorial Park was opened in 1925, the gift ofa local man. It has a bandstand, which wasoriginally made for the Great GlasgowExhibition of 1911.

The remains of the Old St Ninian’sParish Church are to the north of thevillage, surrounded by an old kirkyard. Aprehistoric burial kist was once dug up in thekirkyard, showing that the site may have hada religious significance long beforeChristianity came to the area.

STRATHAVEN7 miles S of Hamilton on the A723A Strathaven Castle B John Hastie Museum

C Battle of Drumclog D Spectacle E’e Falls

Strathaven (pronounced Stray-ven) is a realgem of a small town, which sits at the heartof Avondale. The ruins of Strathaven Castle(also known as Avondale Castle) are all that isleft of a once large and powerful 14th-century

stronghold. It was built by the Douglas family,then passed to the Stewarts, who became Earlsof Avondale, and eventually came into thehands of the Hamiltons. A legend says thatbefore the Reformation, a wife of one of theowners was walled up alive in the castle, andwhen parts of a wall fell down in the 19thcentury, human bones were found among therubble. On the edge of the John Hastie Park isthe John Hastie Museum, which has localhistory collections.

Close to the cemetery is the James WilsonMonument. James Wilson was born inStrathaven in 1760, his father being a weaver.He was a free thinker on the matter ofreligion, and was also a radical reformer,something of which the local landowners didnot approve. In 1820, a band of reformers, ofwhich he was a member, posted a bill on thestreets of Glasgow that was held to betreasonable. He was arrested near Falkirk andexecuted in 1820.

To the west of the town, at Drumclog, theBattle of Drumclog was fought, at whichan army of Covenanters overcamegovernment troops in 1679. A memorial on aminor road off the A71 commemorates theevent. At the small village of Sandford, twomiles to the south, are the lovely 50-feet-highSpectacle E’e Falls on the Kype Water, atributary of the Avon.

EAST KILBRIDE5 miles W of Hamilton on the A726A Hunter House E Calderglen Country Park

E James Hamilton Heritage Park

B Scottish Museum of Country Life

East Kilbride is the largest and undoubtedlythe most successful of Scotland’s new towns.Work started on laying it out in 1947 round an

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1398. It was built as part of a collegiate churchby Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas,and has a roof made entirely of stone. A yearafter it was built, it was the scene of a royalwedding when David, son of Robert III,married Archibald the Grim’s daughterMarjory. Outside the west end of theVictorian nave is a monument to JoannaBaillie, a playwright and poetess born atBothwell manse in 1762. She was praised byScott as being one of the finest writers of the18th century. Her work, though at times filledwith humour, is dark and sometimes violent,with murderous, paranoid characters, andmore than one critic has wondered where aseemingly prim daughter of a minister foundthe material to write such stuff.

On the banks of the Clyde, some distancefrom the town, are the massive andimpressive remains of Bothwell Castle(Historic Scotland), which historians haverated as one of the most important secularmedieval buildings in Scotland. It was mostlikely built in the 13th century by Walter deMoravia who was granted the lands ofBothwell by Alexander II. It later passed tothe Douglas family, who rebuilt andstrengthened most of it. In the 15th century,when James II overthrew the Douglases, itpassed to the crown.

Upstream is Bothwell Bridge, scene, in1679, of the Battle of Bothwell Bridgebetween the Royalist forces of the Duke ofMonmouth and a Covenanting army. TheCovenanters were heavily defeated, withmore than 500 being killed and 1200 takenprisoner. The bridge you see today is basicallythe same bridge, though much altered andwidened. A memorial on the Bothwell side ofthe bridge commemorates the event.

BLANTYRE3 miles NW of Hamilton on the A724A David Livingstone Centre

Blantyre is a former mining town, whichnowadays is visited because of the DavidLivingstone Centre (National Trust forScotland). Here, at Shuttle Row the Africanexplorer and missionary David Livingstonewas born in 1813. A great cotton mill oncestood here, and Shuttle Row was a tenementblock that housed some of the workers. Thegreat man was born in a one-room flat,though the whole tenement has now beengiven over to displays and mementos about hislife and work. Within the centre there is alsoan art gallery, social history museum, Africanplay park, tearoom and gift shop.

LanarkI Lanimer Day I Whuppity Scoorie I Het Pint

F William Wallace D Falls of Clyde

B Royal Burgh of Lanark Museum

G William Smellie A New Lanark G Robert Owen

E Scottish Wildlife Trust Visitors Centre

Set above the Clyde Valley near the upperreaches of the Clyde, the ancient royal burghof Lanark received its royal charter in about1140, making it one of the oldest towns inScotland. But even before this it was animportant place, because, in 978AD, KennethII of Scotland held the very first recordedmeeting of a Scottish parliament here.

This small town, with a population of justover 8000, keeps alive several old customs.Every year in June, the townspeople celebrateLanimer Day, which originated as a ceremonyof riding the boundaries of the burgh. And onMarch 1 each year, the Whuppity Scoorie

SHIRREFFS LTD.5 Broomgate, Lanark, South Lanarkshire M11 9ETTel: 01555 660005A little gem of a shop, Shirreffs Ltd stocks a dazzlingly diverse range if items. It is owned and runby June Shirreffs and her two daughters Lynn and Tracy, June and Tracy are both artists. Soamongst the unusual stock you’ll find some of their attractive oil paintings on display and for sale,picture framing is also available.

A popular choice in the shop is a range of stylish French ladies wear that includes blouses,scarves, hats and Italian leather gloves. There are handbags byFiorelli, Padavano, Kipling and Mary Francis, other designer namesinclude Little Earth, Tony Perotti, Yoshi and Ciccia. There’s alsojewellery by Storm, Pilgrim, and Dyreberg Kern, there is also chinapets by Pets with Personality, wall sconces and plaques, Woodwickcandles, rainbow maker crystals, handmade glass coasters, Scottishcards and soaps and much much more.

A great place tobrowse and you canbe sure, whateveryour tastes, you willfind something.

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Site of New Lanark. It was here, in 1785,that David Dale founded a cotton mill andvillage of 2500 people that became a modelfor social reform. Under Dale’s son-in-lawRobert Owen, who was manager, there weregood working conditions, decent homes, fairwages, schools and health care available.

The mills were still in production up to1968. Under the care of the New LanarkConservation Trust, it has become one of themost popular tourist destinations in Scotland,even though people still live in some of theoriginal tenements and cottages.

Attractions include a Visitors Centre(including a Textile Machinery Exhibition andthe New Millennium Ride that introducesyou to Robert Owen’s original vision), theMillworker’s House, the Village StoreExhibition and Robert Owen’s House. Otherbuildings have been converted into craftworkshops, and there is also a hotel housedin a former mill. A presentation called AnnieMcLeod’s Story is shown in what was RobertOwen’s School, and uses the latest in 3-Dtechnology. The ‘ghost’ of 18th-century mill

girl Annie Macleodreturns to tell the storyof her life in the daysof Robert Owen. Alsoin the village is aScottish WildlifeTrust Visitors Centre.

The mills were at onetime powered by theClyde, and close by arethe Falls of Clydewaterfalls, the mostfamous being CoraLinn and Bonnington.A hydroelectric schemenow harnesses the

power of the water, and the falls are onlyseen at their most spectacular at certain timesof the year.

A few miles north of the town is Carluke,which stands above the Clyde Valley. It isnoted for its orchards, introduced in medievaltimes by the monks of Lesmahagow Priory.The bell tower of the former parish church,built in 1715, still stands.

Around Lanark

BIGGAR10 miles SE of Lanark on the A702B Biggar Gas Works Museum

B Moat Park Heritage Centre

A Greenhill Covenanter’s House

B Gladstone Court Museum

B Albion Motors Archives G Hugh McDiarmid

I Biggar Puppet Theatre A St Mary’s Church

Biggar is a small, attractive market town thatstill has its original medieval layout. It sitsamong the rich agricultural lands of South

Lesmahagow Priory, Lanark

celebrations are held when the children of thetown race round the 18th-century StNicholas’s Church waving paper balls abovetheir head, then scrambling for coins thrownat them. Nowadays, it is the opening event inthe Whuppity Scoorie Storytelling Festival, butit may have had its origins in pagan times,when it celebrated the arrival of Spring.

Another custom is the Het Pint, held onJanuary 1 each year. Citizens of the town meetat 10am and are given a glass of mulled wine.Anyone wishing to do so, can also claim apound. The tradition goes back to the 17thcentury, when Lord Hyndford gave money tothe town to be used each year for pious oreducational purposes.

High on a wall of St Nicholas’s Church is astatue of William Wallace the Scottishfreedom fighter. It recalls an event that tookplace when the town’s castle (now gone) wasgarrisoned by English troops. Wallacecommitted some misdemeanour that broughthim to the attention of the English sheriff ofLanark, Sir William Hesselrig. He fled, andwhen Wallace’s wife Marion Braidfute (someversions refer to her as his lemman, orgirlfriend) refused to divulge where he was,Hesselrig killed her and her household. Wallace

later returned and killed the sheriff in revenge.The supposed site of Wallace’s House is nowmarked by a plaque near the church.

In the Westport you’ll find the RoyalBurgh of Lanark Museum, which explainsthe incident, as well as the town’s history. Nearthe centre of the town are the ruins of StKentigern’s Church, the original place ofworship. It is said that Wallace married MarionBraidfute within the church, though there isno proof of this. However, there certainly wasa real Marion Braidfute living in the area at thetime, referred to as the ‘heiress of Lamington’,a village to the south of Lanark.

In St Kentigern’s kirkyard is buried WilliamSmellie (pronounced Smillie), the father ofmodern midwifery. He was born in Lanark in1697, and was the first obstetrician to teachmidwifery on a formal basis as a branch ofmedicine. He also pioneered the use of forceps.He began life as a doctor in Lanark, but thenstudied in Glasgow and Paris beforeestablishing a practise in London, where he alsolectured. He was a kindly man, and frequentlydelivered the babies of the poor of Londonwithout charging them. He died in 1763.

On the banks of the Clyde below Lanarklies the village and UNESCO World Heritage

TEA TIME1 Hyndford Place, Lanark ML11 9EATel: 01555 660484e-mail: [email protected] in the heart of this ancient Royal Burgh,Tea Time is an inviting place to enjoy Scottishhospitality at its best. Here, in a relaxingenvironment, owner Andrea Wilson offers anexcellent choice of home-cooked dishes based onfresh local produce. Try to get one of the windowseats which provide grand views of the town. Thereare 8 tables, seating up to 34 customers, and a takeaway service is also available. Tea Time isopen from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

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Lanarkshire, and was granted its burghcharter in 1451.

It must have more museums per head ofpopulation than any other place in Britain. TheBiggar Gas Works Museum, housed in thetown’s former gas works dating from 1839,explains how gas was produced from coal informer times, and the Moat Park HeritageCentre has exhibits and displays about thetown and its immediate area from the time thelandscape was formed millions of years agoright up to the present day. GreenhillCovenanter’s House used to stand at Wiston,10 miles away, but was transported to Biggarstone by stone, and is now dedicated to thememory of the Covenanters. These were menand women who, in the 17th century, resistedthe Stuart monarchs’ attempts to imposebishops on the Church of Scotland. Theysometimes paid with their lives for theirconvictions. The Gladstone Court Museumhas re-created a Victorian street, with adressmaker’s shop, boot maker’s shop and aschoolroom.

The Albion Building houses the AlbionMotors Archives, the records of the Albion

Motor Company, which was started locally in1899 by Norman Fulton and T B Murraybefore moving production to Glasgow. It soongrew to be the largest manufacturer ofcommercial vehicles in the British Empire.

At Brownsbank Cottage, a mile and a halffrom the town, lived the Scottish poetChristopher Grieve, better known as HughMcDiarmid. He died in 1978, and his wifeValda continued to live there until her death in1989. The cottage has been restored to exactlyhow it looked when the poet lived there, and itis home to a writer-in-residence. It can bevisited by appointment only.

In Broughton Road is the professionally runBiggar Puppet Theatre, which has aVictorian-style theatre seating up to 100people, plus a museum. Purves Puppets, whichowns it, is Scotland’s largest puppet companyand regularly presents shows all over Britain.

St Mary’s Church was founded in 1546 byMalcolm, Lord Fleming, Chancellor ofScotland. It was formerly collegiate, and is agraceful, cruciform building. It was the lastchurch to be built in Scotland before theReformation. In the kirkyard is a gravestone

CORMISTON FARMCormiston Road, Biggar, ML12 6NSTel: 01899 221507e-mail: [email protected]: www.cormistonfarm.comListed by Historic Scotland, Cormiston Farm is a 4 starbed and breakfast surrounded by the rolling hills of theClyde Valley. It lies within 2 acres of mature garden andwoodland, 2 miles from the town of Biggar. Two large,double bedrooms , one with a four poster, overlook the hills to the south. A full Scottish breakfastis included: from fresh seasonal fruit, porridge and free range eggs laid by our own hens, to bacon,sausage, home-made marmalade, and the finest teas and coffee. Dinner is a seasonal four-courseset meal and much of the produce is from the walled kitchen garden or from local markets. Wehave a select wine list, as well as excellent beers from the local Broughton Brewery. All majorcredit and debit cards accepted.

THE ELPHINSTONE HOTEL145 High Street, Biggar, Lanarkshire ML12 6OLTel: 01899 220044e-mail: [email protected]: www.elphinstonehotel.co.ukStanding on Biggar’s broad main street, theElphinstone Hotel is a handsome whitewashedbuilding with a long and illustrious history that goesback more than 400 years. The owners, Robert andJanette Allen, along with their son, Michael, havebeen at the heart of the business for more thantwenty years and they offer a warm and homely welcometo all visitors and locals alike. The family pride themselveson the continued patronage of a busy local trade with a highlevel of repeat custom which clearly tells its own story.

A major attraction here is the quality of the food onoffer. The menu is wide and varied with every effort madeto source and utilise the best in fresh, local produce. Takeyour pick from two dozen starters and more than twice asmany main courses. Delicious Cullen Skink, Black Puddingwith a Smoked Bacon in a red wine jus, Smoked Salmoncornets are among the list of popular starters. Mains includetasty Chicken and Haggis with a wholegrain mustard sauce,Fishermans Pie and Stuffed Loin of Pork . Using local butcher, Jimmy Bogle, the chef will also cookyou “the best steak you’ve had in years”. Fresh haddock, and mince and tatties are also on themenu, as is a range of oriental dishes, thus ensuring every taste is catered for. A well balanced andreasonably priced wine list is also available.

The hotel lounge is in the style of a traditional old inn and is full of character. Here, as well asin the restaurant, meals are served or you can just sit in front of a roaring fire enjoying a glass ofwine, a rusty nail or even a hot toddy.

The accommodation at ‘The Elph’ comprises 9 guest bedrooms, all bright and clean and allbenefiting from recent complete refurbishment of the bathrooms. There’s a choice of double, twinor single, and all rooms are equipped with en suite facilities digital television, direct dial telephone,broadband access, tea and coffee making facilities. Hairdryers and ironing facilities are available.

The hotel also has a first floor function room which can comfortably seat sixty for a full sitdown meal and up to around ninety where a less formal buffet style of service is required.

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commemorating the Gladstone family,forebears of William Ewart Gladstone, Britishprime minister during Victoria’s reign.

To the west of the town, just off the M74,are the twin settlements of Abington andCrawford, which have a number of services,and make ideal stopping off places whenheading north or south along the motorway.

LEADHILLS18 miles S of Lanark on the B797G William Symington

Like its neighbour Wanlockhead (which is inDumfriesshire), Leadhills is a former leadmining village. It has the highest golf coursein Scotland, and is full of old 18th- and 19th-century lead miners’ cottages. It forms oneterminus for the Leadhills and WanlockheadLight Railway.

The Allan Ramsay Library is the oldestsubscription Library in Scotland, and is namedafter the famous poet born here in 1684. Inthe graveyard is the grave of John Taylor, alead miner who lived to be 137 years old. Nextto the cemetery is a monument to WilliamSymington, who was born in the village in1764. He worked as an engineer in the mines,and was a pioneer of steam propulsion inships. His paddleboat the Charlotte Dundas waslaunched at Grangemouth in 1802.

CARMICHAEL4 miles S of Lanark on a minor road west of theA73A Carmichael Parish Church

B Carmichael Visitor Centre

The small Carmichael Parish Church datesfrom 1750, and has an interesting laird’s loft.One of the past lairds, the Earl of Hyndford,left a sum of money called the HyndfordMortification to provide the localschoolmasters with a yearly pair of trousersand a supply of whisky. The CarmichaelVisitor Centre is situated on the CarmichaelEstate, and has a display of waxwork models(formerly housed in Edinburgh) that illustrateScotland’s history from the year 1000 to thepresent day. There are also displays about thehistory of the Carmichael family, which ownedthe lands of Carmichael since the 13thcentury, and others about wind energy.

DOUGLAS8 miles SW of Lanark on the A70A Castle Dangerous A The Sun Inn

A Old St Bride’s B Douglas Heritage Museum

It was in Douglas, in 1968, that theCameronians (Scottish Rifles), a proudScottish regiment, was disbanded. Theceremony took place in the grounds of Castle

CABBAGE PATCH FABRICSCoulter Park, Coulter, Biggar,Lanarkshire ML12 6HNTel: 01899 221234Are you looking for new curtains or just bits andpieces for upholstering a chair or makingcushions, then Cabbage Patch Fabrics is theplace to visit.

The farm steading conversion on the edge ofCoulter village makes a wonderful setting for displaying our fantastic selection of fabrics.

Our opening hours are 10-5, Mon-Sat, if you need any further information please phone us.

HOLMLANDS COUNTRY HOUSE22 Carlisle Road, Crawford, by Abington,South Lanarkshire ML12 6TWTel; 01864 502753e-mail: [email protected]: www.holmlandscountryhouse.co.ukBeautifully located beside the River Clyde andcommanding some grand views of the Clyde Valley,Holmlands Country House is a substantial Edwardianproperty built in 1903 and set in an acre of landsurrounded by rolling hills. There is a pleasant gardenwhere guests can enjoy afternoon tea and homemadecakes and admire the stunning views across thevalley. Inside, there is a spacious lounge with an openfire for all to enjoy.The owners of Holmlands, Verena and GrahamSoanes , extend a very warm welcome to theirguests on arrival. The house has a very comfortablefeel and visitors are able to relax and enjoy their stayin a beautiful part of the Scottish countryside, greatfor quiet walks by the river. The accommodation is reached by a handsome oak staircase andcomprises of 4 elegant bedrooms, all with en-suite or private facilities. The rooms are equippedwith colour TV, tea & coffee making facilities and all have pleasant views. Evening meals areavailable from 6.30 pm to 9pm, a typical menu may include homemade soup and pate’, Scottishsalmon and Game, a good cheeseboard and various delicious sweets. Meals are prepared on sitefrom local produce or from the kitchen garden. Holmlands is also a perfect setting for that specialcelebration, catering for up to 20 guests, suitable for private dining, lunch or dinner, business orpleasure.There is also a Tearoom at Holmlands which is open daily, noon to 5pm except Tuesdays. Themenu is varied and offers good homemade food, such as soup, salads with gammon , beef orsalmon and bread made on the premises. Cakes and puddings are also available. Free Fly- Castingtuition is on offer to residents, there is plenty of local fishing available, the Clyde River is fished forBrown Trout in the summer and Grayling in the winter. There is ample off-road parking and secureareas for cycles and motorbikes.

Holmlands is open throughout the year and is the ideal locationfor that special quiet weekend in the country.

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where Mary Stuart once stayed. It was built inthe 1530s by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart,illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earlof Arran and ancestor of the present Dukesof Hamilton. He was the master of works toJames V, who gave him the lands of Draffanon which the castle was built. However, theking later suspected that Hamilton had beenplotting against him (which was probably nottrue), and had him executed.

Dangerous, ancestral home of the Douglases,of which only a tower now survives. It washere, in 1689, that the regiment was raised byJames, Earl of Angus. His statue now standsin the village.

The centre of Douglas is a conservationarea, with many old cottages and houses. TheSun Inn of 1621 was once the village’sTolbooth, where justice was meted out. Old StBride’s is the choir of the former parishchurch dating from the 14th century. Within itare memorials to members of the Douglasfamily, including Archibald, the 5th Earl ofAngus. He was killed at Flodden in 1513, andhad the curious nickname of Bell the Cat.There is also a memorial to ‘the Good SirJames of Douglas’, killed by the Moors inSpain while taking Robert the Bruce’s heart to

the Holy Land for burial. The clock in theclock tower was gifted to the church by MaryStuart in 1565, and is the oldest workingpublic clock in Scotland.

Douglas Heritage Museum, in Bell’sWynd, is situated in the former dower houseof the castle. It is open on Saturdays andSundays by prior appointment. It has displayson the Douglas family and on theCameronians (Scottish Rifles).

CROSSFORD4 miles NW of Lanark on the A72A Craignethan Castle

This lovely little village sits in the heart of theClyde Valley, on the banks of the river. Aboveit you’ll find the substantial ruins ofCraignethan Castle (Historic Scotland),

Craignethan Castle, nr Crossford

The castle then passed to the crown, andwas subsequently given to the 2nd Earl ofArran, Sir James’s half-brother and theRegent of Scotland.

Sir Walter Scott is reputed to have usedthe castle as a model for his TillietudlemCastle in Old Mortality, though he laterdenied any link.

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ACCOMMODATION, FOOD ANDDRINKCormiston Farm, Biggar pg 33East Lochhead, Lochwinnoch pg 15Elphinstone Hotel, Biggar pg 32Fusion, Gourock pg 22Holmlands Country House, Crawford, Abington pg 34Tea Time, Lanark pg 30

FASHIONSShirreffs Ltd, Lanark pg 29

GIFTWAREShirreffs Ltd, Lanark pg 29

HOME AND GARDENCabbage Patch Fabrics, Coulter, Biggar pg 35Tea Time, Lanark pg 30

JEWELLERYShirreffs Ltd, Lanark pg 29

PLACES OF INTERESTThe Hill House, Helensburgh pg 19Pollok House, Glasgow pg 12Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour, Glasgow pg 8



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Documents

GlasgowCentral - trav0052