Place Names (D) Dalmoak Castle - Dummy's Brae

Dalmoak Castle, Renton

Dalmoak estate features in charters and books from the middle ages onwards. It was part of Robert the Bruce's hunting park and is mentioned in a charter of the mid 1500's. Although called a Castle, it is unlikely that there was ever a fortified castle on the site. Its owner in the mid 1600's, John Semphill, who as Provost of Dumbarton was a high profile Covenanter in Parliament, led the forces that captured Dumbarton Castle from the Royalists in 1639, and he could have done with one.

The present castellated Gothic mansion was built in 1868-9 by an Ulsterman James Aitken, who was a manufacturer of alcoholic beverage, hence the nickname of Brandy Castle. It is claimed that its stained glass window depicting the red hand of Ulster is the largest stain glass window in a private house in the UK, and derives from Aitken's origins.

During the Second World War, the RAF used the Castle. After the war it was owned by Young the farmer at Dalmoak Farm, and was used in the immediate post war-housing crisis to accommodate 9 local families. When they left it was put to more agricultural uses such as a hayloft and byre. It fell into a period of disuse and vandalism before being rescued by its present owners about 25 years ago, and restored to its former condition. Since then it has been a private care home for the elderly.

Dalmonach Farm, Road and Estate, Bonhill

The name means “the field of the monks” and first appears in charters in the middle ages relating to fishing rights on the River Leven granted by the King to the monks of Paisley Abbey. Lumbrain Hole is mentioned and the field referred to as “Dalmonach” has been taken by history to be on the east bank of the Leven at and around Lumbrain hole.

There is a Dalmonach Farm in Dalmonach Road at the top of the Dummy's Brae and Steps. It still stands but the land associated with it has been completely taken up by housing. The first phase of this housing was about 1880 when the villas in Dalmonach Road and Scott Street were built. The houses in Union Street and Hall Street followed, although it was 1900 before the Co-op houses in Union Street were built. About 20 years later came the council houses on both sides of an extended Burn Street.

Dalmonach Housing Estate was built in the late 1940's. To begin with it was a mixture of aluminiums (prefabs) and conventional houses, with the aluminiums at the south end of the estate. In the Vale, almost all of the aluminiums were in either Tullichewan or Dalmonach Estates.

Many of the street names require no explanation - First, Second and Third Avenues, Elmbank Drive etc. Golfhill Drive refers to the nearby golf course, Woodside Crescent to the former Woodside Farm, Northfield Road to Northfield Cottage on the hill, and Sandbank Drive to the nearby area of Sandbank, which is the boundary between Jamestown and Bonhill.

Dalmonach School, Bonhill

This listed building, backing onto the Leven at Dalmonach Works south gate has survived the demolition and deservedly so. It is not only a fine building in its own right, it played a very important role in the educational and cultural development in the Vale for much of the 19th century. The partners in Dalmonach Works opened it in the 1830's on the site of an old smithy just outside the front gate of the works.

It catered not just to basic education needs of the children who worked in Dalmonach but was also the first home, until the Public Hall opened in 1862, of the Mechanics Institute and Library which was founded about 1835. With the growth of other schools in the Vale it closed in 1870 and was converted into a public reading room. It has been used for a wide variety of functions over the years, and is now a Listed building.

Dalmonach Works, Bonhill

Dalmonach Works were opened in 1785 by John Black & Son, located on the east side of the Leven just north of Bonhill Bridge. The original works were much smaller than those that largely survived until being destroyed by fire and then demolished in mid 2006. It wasn't the first time they had been burned down since fires were quite a common occurrence in most of the Vale bleaching and dyeing works over the years. Dalmonach was burned down in 1812 and rebuilt by Henry Bell of the paddle steamer Comet fame, when machine printing with engraved cylinders was introduced.

Dalmonach was an innovative works in terms of technology and education, and was highly regarded by its peers in the Vale. It was for many years regarded by most people in the industry as the most important works in the Vale. At its peak the works employed more than 800 people. It passed through a number of owners and name changes in mid century but by 1871, it reverted to James Black & Co., the name it retained until it closed in 1929.

In 1899, the Calico Printers Association, (CPA), was formed in Manchester by 46 British textile companies, 32 English, 14 Scottish. The aim was to use size to protect everyone's commercial interests. The expected benefits did not materialise. The words of an irate shareholder at the third AGM of the CPA cannot be improved upon to describe the situation: “the shareholders have received nothing for the last two years, and the shares have depreciated to the extent of £3,000,000. The position of the Association represents a disaster unparalleled in the commercial annals of Manchester”.

The CPA had to act to save itself from going broke, and what it did was exactly what some people in the Vale had warned against when James Black joined it: Because it was dominated by English firms, it gave work to them first. The works were now in steady decline and finally closed in 1929, another victim of remote management, but not the last in the Vale.

However, James Black's closure was by no means the end of the Dalmonach site. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Dalmonach was taken over as a barracks for the duration. It housed mainly English regiments, and a number of soldiers who were stationed there married local girls and settled in the Vale after the war. After the war, the buildings housed a number of local organisations that provided useful services and jobs. These included:

• The Vale fire station - a full time unit was located there until the new fire station was built in Dumbarton in the late 1950's.
• Paddy Caulfield's sand and quarrying business was based there.
  
• J & W Greig wool merchants, whose name could be seen on the side of one of the buildings beside the main road until May 2006, ran a busy operation from the1950's.
• Alan Methven's car repair business was there until 2006 when it relocated to North Street Alexandria.
• Reid & Robertson's agricultural supply business which in the summer of 2006 moved to what had been Ballagan bus garage
• A second-hand furniture business still operates in Dalmonach School

Dalquhurn Estate, and House, Renton

Dalquhurn Estate dates from medieval times, when it also included the lands of Cordale. Its main house, Dalquhurn House, is thought to have stood on the northern edge of what is now the Dalquhurn Factory site, but it has long since been demolished, and its exact location is uncertain.

It was bought by James Smollett in 1692, 8 years after he had bought Place of Bonhill, and it became the family home of his offspring. Its claim to fame is that it was the birthplace of one of the earliest novelists in the English language, Tobias Smollett, who was born there in 1721. He died in Livorno (Leghorn) in Italy in 1771, and during his lifetime was regarded by people such as Dr. Johnson, who contributed to the wording on his memorial in Renton, as one of the greatest writers of his age. His reputation has always been strong in literary circles throughout the world (except Scotland of course) and indeed seems to be enjoying something of an upsurge at the moment.

However, that didn't save the original Dalquhurn House from the demands of Dalquhurn Factory and it was demolished sometime in the mid 19th century - we don't even know when. Perhaps excavations for the new Dalquhurn housing estate will shed some light on the House.

Dalquhurn Housing Estate, Renton

As this is being written in late 2007, a new housing estate is being built on the site of the old Dalquhurn Works. The project on the 30-acre site is a joint venture between Cordale Housing Association (“CHA”), backed by Communities Scotland, the national social housing agency, and Turnberry Homes, a local builder that has built many other Vale private estates, and indeed is developing the Dalmonach site concurrently with Dalquhurn. About 280 private and rented houses will be built to a formula already finely tuned elsewhere in Renton by CHA.

It is fair to say that the Association is one of the Vale's greatest success stories since it started over 10 years ago, and in social terms an exemplary one for the rest of Scotland. It also has been a well-kept secret, although that is changing. Officials are now coming from all over Britain, and even a few from Europe, to see the transformation worked in Renton by the Association. The visual impact at the north end of Renton is unmissable, but the economic impact is equally impressive. When the Association started, 90% of its tenants received housing benefit, that figure is now 40%.

Adding the 280 houses to its existing 328 is going to be its biggest challenge yet. Not for economic or social reasons, but because nearly 300 years of industrial use have left the site polluted. Almost all of the initial effort is to clear the site of the pollutants and to leave it as pristine as it was before the bleachers first arrived in 1715. Regular progress reports will be posted.

Dalquhurn Point, Renton

This large bend on the river is the place where the Leven is deemed to stop being tidal, or in Ordnance Survey terms where the Normal Tidal Limit (“NTL”) occurs. The tide's effect is felt further upstream, but practically no sea water flows beyond Dalquhurn Point.

In the days of sailing ships, when ships and barges had to be towed up the river by horses, ships could be sailed up to Dalquhurn on an incoming tide. Beyond there the horses took over. In the old days, therefore, the towpath started at Dalquhurn.

Dalquhurn Works, Renton

The textile industry, which dominated life in the Vale for almost 250 years, started at Dalquhurn in Renton. In 1715, a larger-scale bleaching operation was started in the fields at Dalquhurn, using water from the River Leven. By 1727-28 more serious operations were undertaken at Dalquhurn. Walter Stirling & Archibald Duncan established the Dalquhurn Bleaching Company, with government financial assistance of £600. Workmen were brought over from Holland, which was the world leader in bleaching at the time, to advise in the process, but they disappeared again, leaving no traces.

In 1771 it was bought by William Stirling & Sons, who already owned Cordale, and the two factories were run in tandem for the next 120 years. The mid to late 19th century was the heyday of Dalquhurn when it was engaged in Turkey Red dyeing and bleaching, and employed about 1,000 people. It was also then that it developed from the few, small, scattered buildings shown in the early engravings of the Smollett Monument, to the large imposing factory buildings, which were its final image.

By 1897 when William Stirling & Sons joined with the Orr Ewings to form the United Turkey Red company (UTR), world trading conditions in textiles were already changing, but Dalquhurn managed to survive the early 20th century slumps. After the First World War, conditions were worse and the Depression bit hard, leading to industrial unrest as workers conditions and wages got worse. Dalquhurn was the centre of a UTR-wide strike in 1931 which turned nasty with violence and arrests.

The UTR management were not up to the challenges of their world markets, and were in terminal decline. During the 2nd World War the UTR sold its Dalquhurn interests to the English Bleachers Association, and it was effectively closed by 1942. After Dalquhurn had changed hands, part of it was let to CF Taylor, worsted spinners, of Yorkshire, who operated there for many years and employed about 200 people.

In 1947, a new UTR subsidiary, Lennox Knitwear, was set up and housed in Dalquhurn. It employed about 300 people at its peak, and lasted slightly longer than the UTR itself, hanging on until 1962, while the UTR was bought over and closed in 1960. Also, Antartex moved into Dalquhurn in the early 1950's before moving to larger premises in the ex-UTR's Alexandria Works in the 1960's.

In later times, it housed a number of retail outlets including the Dalquhurn Shop, which was very well known as a convenient source of a wide range of fabrics. Everyone has moved now as work has begun to clear the site for Dalquhurn Housing Estate, for which there is a separate entry.

Dalvait Balloch / Jamestown

Dalvait means the “field of boats” and was originally the area more or less opposite the foot of the Heather Avenue, on the east bank of the Leven, straddling the Carrochan Burn where it enters the Leven. It is mentioned in charters as far back as the 16th century.

From time immemorial there was also a ford across the Leven at Dalvait, and the Earl of Argyll on his ill-fated Argyll Rising expedition of 1685 used it. In later times the ford was also used by drovers wishing to avoid paying road and then bridge tolls, or ferry charges. From medieval times it was also close to salmon shots - hence the field of boats - and fishermen who worked these shots had houses there, and a recognisable community grew up on the river bank.

In the early 1800's this community started to be surrounded and then eroded by the building of Lennoxbank Works, which soon became Levenbank Works. The 3-storey manufacturing buildings of Levenbank, and it's lade, eventually swamped most of the original Dalvait. However, that part closer to Dalvait Road survived until about the 1920's and its ruins were visible after the 2nd World War.

Dalvait Road, Balloch and Jamestown

Dalvait Road runs from the Front of Balloch (properly known as Balloch Road) to Main Street, Jamestown in a wide semi-circle. It originally ran much nearer to the river on the north side of the Carrochan Burn, joining Balloch Road just about opposite Balloch Hotel. However, when Lennoxbank and Dalvait Houses were being built in 1825, the alignment of the road was moved further east to provide these mansions with firstly, a garden and secondly, privacy.

It was an important road, providing the shortest connection between Dumbarton, and points south, and the east side of the Balloch Ferry. For much of its time it was also an important commercial road with Jamestown Mill Dam, Jamestown Corn Mill and an entrance to Levenbank Works all on its south-eastern stretch. At the Balloch end, the hamlets of Knowehead and Bankhead sat astride it, and Balloch Ferry and Inn were at its terminus.

After the road alignment was changed, for most of the 19th Century the only building at its northern end is the one that has now evolved into the Dog House Bar, having served many functions in between such as shop, tea room and transport café. In the early years of the 20th century the red sandstone buildings at its northern (Balloch) end were built. 1906 saw the building of the two red sandstone buildings by the Vale of Leven Co-operative Society, which was a few years after Charles Terrace had been built by the Orr-Ewings for their foremen employees. Charles Terrace is called after an Orr-Ewing who also happened to be the Conservative MP for Ayr.

At the Jamestown end there were only a handful of houses - Elmtree House, which is still there, and the Lochiel Bar and houses above it, which were demolished a few years ago to be replaced by flats. In the 1960's and 70's, two new housing estates were built on the east side of the road, one on each side of the Carrochan Burn, and therefore one in Jamestown and one in Balloch. The Jamestown one is called the Carrochan Estate, although it has access to Dalvait Road, the one in Balloch is the Dalvait Estate - it has vehicular access only onto Dalvait Road.

Also in the 1970's, the Red Fox estate of private houses was built. A little later, the houses in Levenhowe Road and Riverside Court, which includes a conversion of the sole remaining Levenbank Factory building, were built. In the 1980's and 90's houses were built on the old Dalvait House ground, and the new road there was called Dalvait Gardens. In the late 1990's, the old Lennoxbank House was finally demolished and replaced by an attractive new block of flats of the same name.

Darleith Estate

Darleith Estate and House will be virtually unknown to most Vale folk, and yet they lie in the parish of Bonhill. Darleith House is in fact the most westerly house in the Parish and because it lies on the westerly slope of the Vale's western hills, it looks out over the Clyde rather than the Leven and Loch. All of its lines of communication go west to Cardross. Indeed, its address is Cardross. It has hardly featured in the Vale's history and is another example of how the initial drawing of Parish boundaries in the middle ages took no account of geographic features or topography.

Davidson Road, Jamestown

Built in the 1970's as a final part of the Haldane estate, although in Jamestown, it is named after Nat Davidson a local councillor for Balloch and Jamestown, firstly Independent in the 1940's, and then from the mid 1950's, Labour. In terms of streets named after councillors, he had the almost unique distinction in the Vale of living for all of his life at Bankhead, down Dalvait Road, only a few hundred yards from the Road now named after him.

Davies Drive, Alexandria

This is the main thoroughfare in the private housing estate that was built on the old Torpedo Factory site in the second half of the 1990's. It is named after Alan Davies, who amongst many other community activities was the founder and driving force for many years behind the Haldane Film Society.

Founded in the early 1960's and originally based in Haldane School, and then the Alexandria Community Centre, this was recognised as one of the leading film societies in Scotland. It punched well above its weight, and gave the Vale cultural kudos, which no other organisation did. Together with the other roads on the estate - Lindsay Gardens, Hogarth Court and Leckie Place, it has one of the finest collections of gardens in the area.

Devils Elbow, Alexandria

This long gone building at the corner of Susannah Street and Bank Street was given its nickname because of its peculiar shape. It probably dated from about 1820 and was demolished to make way for Weir's Buildings, which were completed in 1893, and were themselves demolished in the 1970's redevelopment.

Dillichip Close, Bonhill

This is a 1980's housing development on a green-field site, entered from the west side of south Main Street, Bonhill shortly before it joins Stirling Road. Apart from the fact that it overlooks the old Dillichip Works, and just about everything to the immediate north of it is called Dillichip, it has no connection with the old Dillichip Works.

Dillichip Loan, Bonhill

Leading off Main Street Bonhill, just north of Dillichip Terrace, Dillichip Loan leads down to Dillichip Works, and was the main entrance to the Works. On it stood the Women's House (see separate entry).

Dillichip Terrace, Bonhill

This two storey, red sandstone terrace building standing at the south end of Main Street, Bonhill was another of the terraces built by Sir Archibald Orr Ewing for his workers. It was built about 1880, and unlike many of the others, it is still going strong.

Dillichip Works, Bonhill

Turnbull & Arthur founded Dillichip Works in the1820's. The Works had an uneven history, but in the late 1830's 565 people, including 63 children were employed there. In 1866 Archibald Orr Ewing took them over and business improved. In 1875 a branch railway line was built into the centre of the works, from the main line just south of Alexandria station. This entailed building a new railway bridge across the Leven, Dillichip Bridge or the Black Bridge, as it is now known.

It became part of the UTR when that was formed in 1897. It closed in 1936, but the buildings have largely survived. During the war it was taken over by the REME. From 1947 - 1956 it was used by the Paisley based textile company of JP Coats as a warehouse, suffering a huge fire in September 1950. Since the late 1950's it has been in use as a whisky bond.

Doctor's Loan, Alexandria

We’ve been trying to pin down the location of Doctor’s Loan for a couple of years now, partly because it was the location of Cameron’s Park, the Vale of Leven Football Club’s very first pitch from 1872 until 1874-ish, and partly because although it is mentioned often enough in old books and newspapers no one actually says where it is – they obviously didn’t have to since their readers knew where it was, as a modern reader wouldn’t need an newspaper to explain where Bank Street was. Nor do any old maps or Valuation Rolls mention it and the “usually reliable sources” couldn’t come up with an answer either. However, we’ve come across an article by JG Temple, who later went on to co-author The Old Vale & Its Memories and the Epilogue to the Old Vale with John Ferguson, which makes it clear that the Doctor’s Loan was an extension of Bridge Street at its western end. It could have become Upper Bridge Street or even Upper Smollett Street, but from his description it certainly was one or the other. Unfortunately the article doesn’t say exactly where Cameron’s Park was other than it was in Doctor’s Loan. Presumably it was called Doctor’s Loan because it led to the house of at least one doctor and since it already had the name by 1872 he must have lived there some time before that.

Dooky, The Balloch

This was a pool in Carrochan Burn, just before it joins Ballagan Burn just behind Balloch Library, which was used for swimming by children in the 1940's and 50's. The building of the adjoining Haldane estate saw it being polluted with junk and it fell into disuse by the late 1950's.

Douglas, Water & Glen

The Douglas Water rises only three quarters of a mile from Loch Long, but instead of dropping that short distance into Loch Long, it then runs nearly five mile east by southwards to enter Loch Lomond just a few yards north of Inverbeg Hotel. It forms an impressive small glen, with steep hills on both sides. On the north side there are Tullich Hill, Ben Vreac (2,233 ft) and Stob Goblach (1,413) while on the south are three hills over 2,000 feet - Doune Hill, Mid Hill and Ben Dubh.

It was its very steepness, which attracted its most notable residents - the Ministry of Defence. The Glen Douglas Depot was built from about 1960-63, and at the same time a small village was built to house workers at Depot. These houses were vacated nearly 20 years ago. For nearly 100 years a drove road crossed Glen Douglas coming from Arrochar to Glen Fruin and then Stoneymollan, thereby avoiding the tolls on the A82. There are still a number of working farms in the Glen.

Drill Halls - Alexandria / Bonhill / Jamestown / Renton

With the exception of Balloch, each Vale town and village had a Drill Hall for the use, initially, of the Volunteer Movement Reservists, and then their successors, the Territorial Army. The Volunteer Movement was started in 1859 to provide a Reserve force for the British Army, similar to the ones that France and Germany both already had. The Vale was quick off the mark, forming 4 companies in each community. However the Drill Halls date from about 30 years later. Some were still in use by the Territorial Army until the late 1960's.

They were located as follows: Alexandria, it was on the south west side of the Overton Road / Middleton Street junction. It has been a house for about 35 years, but before being converted, the council made modest use of it as a sort of Community Hall for a few years. Bonhill, the Hall is still discernible as such. It lies between Hillbank Street and Burns Street where Burns Street and Hall Street meet (Hall Street is named after the Drill Hall). It is now used as a garage, and was for many years before that a storage unit for the Co-op.

Jamestown Drill Hall was in Milton Loan, but it was demolished many years ago and a private house now occupies the site. Renton Drill Hall was in Alexander Street and housed an Argylls Territorial Unit until well into the 1960's. It was demolished and replaced by a block of flats.

Drumkinnon Bay, Balloch

This is the south-western shore of Loch Lomond, and runs from the mouth of the River Leven to the point at the eastern end of Cameron House Marina. There is no agreed derivation of the name - “drum,” means a ridge in Gaelic, and Kinnon could be someone's name, so “the ridge on Kinnon's land” is at least plausible.

In 1846, the steamer company chose the Bay as its southern terminus, and built a 100-yard pier out into the Loch to allow passengers to walk onto the steamers. It was the steamer trade that attracted the railway to the Vale and when the railway was built in 1850, it was aimed directly at the Pier. The railway terminus was thus Balloch Pier Station. The station continued to operate with little change for over 130 years, although the pier had to be rebuilt a couple of times on its original and present site.

A second, wooden, pier was erected about 60 yards west of the first pier, to berth additional steamers. Parts of it are still just about visible, but it was still in use until the 1950's. The Winch House for the steamer slipway was originally the pump house for extracting water for Alexandria's water supply, and the railway acquired it about 1909 when the Vale moved its supply to Glen Finlas.

There was a large sandy beach just west of the piers, which was quite definitely the Vale's beach, as well as hosting many day-trippers from Clydeside. Just beyond the beach there was until the 1950's Hogg's Boatyard. On land, from there round the western shore was a field, some trees and the driveway from the Lodge on Cameron Brae to Cameron House. In the water of the Bay, there were about 20 free-swinging moorings for cruisers.

All of this was, of course, swept away by two developments. Firstly, Cameron Marina was built in the early 1980's and its jetties extended into what had previously been clear water. However, the major change came with the Loch Lomond Shores development, which opened in 2002. Not only was the beach rolled into the development, but also the Loch shoreline, which everyone had previously believed to be sacrosanct, was substantially altered. About 10,000 square yards of shoreline and land were excavated to create what seems to be a boating pond.

This was mostly on the land on which Hogg's boatyard had stood. Apart from Lomond Shores, there is also a National Park ranger service building and public slipway, which handles information, boat registration, Loch byelaw adherence, and boat launching. This facility is named after Duncan Mills, a Vale Labour Councillor from the 1960's to the 1990's. Duncan was vice chairman of the Country Park and the working group which set up the National Park, as well as serving for many years on the Loch Lomond Association. Duncan spent many of his childhood years on a houseboat at the mouth of the Leven, and knew the Loch and its issues as well as anyone, and far better than most.

Drumkinnon Huts, Stoneymollan.

For some time now we have been aware of the existence from the mid 1920’s until the mid 1950’s of what the Valuation Rolls describe as “Huts at Drumkinnon”, but we couldn’t find where they were. There was no sign of them in either maps or aerial photographs around the shore of the Loch at Drumkinnon Bay, and no one with any knowledge of that part of the Loch could remember them. Now the mystery has been solved by a photograph which pointed us in the right direction. The accompanying photo, provided by Bobby Turner, shows that the huts were not at the shore, but were actually some way up Stoneymollanoverlooking Drumkinnon Bay.

In the photo taken in the early 1950’s Bobby’s father, Bob Turner a gamekeeper on Smollett’s Cameron Estate, who lived nearby at the South Lodge, is seen talking to one of the Hut’s occupants who is obviously working on something in the hut’s foundations. That is a cock pheasant in Bob Turner’s left hand, so it looks as if he’s coming down off of the hill and has stopped off for a chat. Although it wasn’t part of his official duties he kept an eye on the huts.

The Huts were the property of the Glasgow Holiday Fellowship Association which was founded in 1917. It now styles itself the Glasgow HF Outdoor Club whose main activity is walking and hill walking, and it is from the Club’s web-site that this part of the story is taken. The Club acquired a site in 1925 which it describes as Drumkinnon Camp at Stoneymollan. It initially consisted of a cook-house and 2 bell tents. Two more 8-person tents followed later. Because of the rickety nature of the cook-house the camp was nicknamed “Auchenshoogle”. In 1955 the Glasgow Holiday Friendship Association moved the Camp to a new site which it called “Aber”, close to the Aber Shore at Gartocharn.

All of that ties in with what the Valuation Rolls (“VRs”) and the photograph show. However the VRs give a lot of additional information. By the mid-1930’s, and probably earlier, these tents had been replaced by wooden huts - 19 of them by the mid 1930’s. We also have the names and addresses of the occupants; there were 1 or 2 from Clydebank, but nearly all of them were from Glasgow – Partick, Dennistoun, Townhead, Springburn, Shawlands, Cumberland and Duke Streets - all coming down from the city at weekends and holidays to the clean air and open spaces of Loch Lomondside. The land on which the huts stood was rented, but the huts themselves are shown as being owned by the occupants. Women as well as men are listed as hut owners. The Valuation Roll prepared in mid-1953 still refers to the Huts but without any names, but within 2 years they had all gone from the Rolls, which ties in with the HF web-site information.

The Drumkinnon Huts were only a part of a “Hutters” movement which arose immediately after WW1 around Glasgow, and in which the Glasgow Holiday Fellowship Association played a large part. The best known, and still surviving, of these Hut Camps, was at Carbeth on the Stockiemuir Road. The first Huts were erected there in 1919 and have continued in use in various forms of ownership ever since. In the aftermath of the Clydebank Blitz in 1941 the Carbeth Huts provided temporary accommodation for evacuees, and it is possible that the Drumkinnon Huts did so too, because we know that the Loch steamers moored nearby in Drumkinnon Bay were pressed into service to give shelter to Clydebank families.

The site of Drumkinnon camp was well hidden from view, even from walkers going up and down Stoneymollan, since it lay in a hollow in the ground. It was well away from the old A82, but now its site is much nearer to the new A82. It was just uphill from where the lay-by and bus-stop now are on the west side of the A82, just north of the footbridge which takes walkers up Stoneymollan.

Drumkinnon Road, Balloch

This cul-de-sac, which runs off Balloch Road just before the Lomond Shores roundabout, was built in the 1930's to house managers from the adjacent Silk Factory, which opened in 1929. It is named after nearby Drumkinnon Bay.

Drymen

Drymen's origin is in the Gaelic for “on the ridge” which remains a pretty apt description for Drymen village to day. It is an ancient community having its first documented mention in a charter of 1238. Its bypass on the A811 was opened in the early 1980's, but Drymen remains a gateway to the eastern Lochside and the Trossachs, as it was when frequented by Rob Roy.

Drymen Road, Balloch

Drymen Road is the eastward continuation of Balloch Road. It begins at Balloch Park gates and runs to its junction with Lomond / Stirling Road at the old Mill of Haldane. There were buildings on it by the end of the 18th century, including a tenement called Port Royal, a school in the area of the entrance to the Lawrence Estate, and a small farm on the south side near the Mill. All of these were long gone before the present villas began to spring up in the early years of the 20th century.

Most houses on the Road's south side date from before the First World War. On the north side, most belong to the 1920's and 30's. One or two date from the 1950's. They were built for local businessmen and professionals. In the late 1950's, Lawrence the builders started to build on Mollanbowie Farm land, and the first entrance to what was initially called the Castle Avenue Estate was via a short road from Drymen Road, now called Lawrence Drive. In the 1970's Drymen Road was also used as the entrance for the new houses in McKenzie Drive, etc.

Duck Bay, Loch Lomond

This bay lies on the north side of Cameron Point, and its name is of comparatively recent origin - probably dating from the late 1800's. In the early 20th century a wooden tea-room with a corrugated iron roof was built adjacent to what was then the A82, and took the name Duck Bay Tea-room. It was only open during the summer, but was particularly popular with cyclists and walkers between the wars.

During World War Two it was frequented by marines and commandos - but as a target to be captured on their training exercises. Most of them came from the camps on the Gareloch, and landed on the Loch in Sunderland flying boats, which were based on the Gareloch, came ashore on boats and attacked the Tea-room.

Duck Bay was also the finishing line for Scotland's first international standard 2,000-meter rowing course, and both Loch Lomond Regatta and the Scottish Championships were held on that course until Duck Bay Marina was opened. Two locals built this, David McCowan owner of Auchenheglish House, which he had converted into the Lomond Castle Hotel, and Jay Scott of Inchmurrin who was a champion on the Highland Games circuit. Jay Scott had dropped out by the time the Marina opened in 1968.

Prior to the building of the Marina there was neither pier nor moorings in the Bay, but that soon changed. A local man, Bobby Cawley, bought the Marina from David McCowan in the early 1980's. The flooding of December 2006 had a devastating effect on the Marina and it was closed for several months to allow better flood defences to be built and refurbishment to take place. It has now re-opened.

Dumbain Farm / Road, Crescent, Balloch

Dumbain Farm (Dunbain on Roy's map of 1750) has been in existence for at least 250 years, and is still going strong. It survived the building of the Haldane virtually intact unlike the neighbouring Milton Farm, which completely disappeared under housing.

Dumbain Road and Dumbain Crescent, which mark the northern and then eastern perimeter of the Haldane, are named after the Farm. Dumbain Road was one of the earliest builds in the Haldane, dating from about 1954, and was the northern entrance road to the scheme.

Most of Dumbain Crescent was built a few years later. The 5-storey flats - one of which lost its roof in the storm of January 1968 - are later still. From the entrance to the Haldane at the old blacksmith's shop to just before Dumbain Farm, Dumbain Road follows the line of the Tinker's Loan.

Dummy's' Brae and Stairs

Tradition says that this road and set of stairs, linking Bonhill's Main Street and Dalmonach Road, are named after the four sons of the farmer in the Hill Farm, in the early 19th century, all of whom were born unable to talk. There is little corroboration for this, but it is quite possibly true.