Places

ONCE upon a time there was a vibrant hamlet — now Glenmallan on Loch Longside is the scene of a massive civil engineering project, using giant cranes.

The £63 million scheme is to rebuild Glenmallan Jetty, built in the early 1960s to service the Royal Naval Armament Depot at nearby Glen Douglas, so it is fit for use by the largest ships in the Royal Navy today to load and unload ammunition.

THE TWO big mansions at Finnart overlooking Loch Long, with first-class views of the rugged landscape known as Argyll's Bowling Green and beyond, were within shouting distance of each other.

By no means identical twins, they did have a lot in common, and both had interesting residents.

A MANSION called Arddarroch is in use as offices in the middle of the Finnart Ocean Terminal on Loch Longside . . . and one of its early owners was in the centre of a huge row over landscape pollution.

It has a magnificent backdrop of the rugged Argyll's Bowling Green and the Arrochar Alpss, but now has the trappings of modern industry all around.

THE SALE and recent modernising renovation and expansion of the Old Milligs Tollhouse at the top of Sinclair Street in Helensburgh as a private residence brought focus to a fascinating class of buildings.

They actually hold a unique place in the story of local roads in this area.

IT BEGAN as a mystery and ended as a mystery . . . but there were some fascinating discoveries in between.

The starting point was the desire by a group of local people to have a memorial for those who lost their lives in the Battle of Glen Fruin on February 6 1603, and they wanted to confirm a long-held local belief that a burial mound in the glen was where dead Colquhoun clansmen were buried.

HIS is a name well known in Glasgow . . . because of a decision he made at his Coulport home.

Visitors to the Botanic Gardens beside the city’s Great Western Road marvel at the huge Kibble Palace greenhouse, but it was first erected on the shores of Loch Long.

IT HAS not been possible to find out where the original of the burgh charter is held, if indeed it still exists.

Sir Malcolm Colquhoun does not have it, and many years ago the Luss Estates papers were given to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow; they do not have it either.

FIFTY YEARS ago, in the early hours of Monday January 15 1968, Hurricane Low Q hit Helensburgh and Garelochside and caused unbelievable damage.

It was the second major hurricane of the 20th century to hit the area, and it is still vividly remembered by countless local people who were unable to sleep through it.

A BOOK which gives one man’s fascinating memories of Garelochhead was published late in 2017.

Entitled “Recollections of Garelochhead 100 Years Ago”, it is based on the memoirs of William Hamilton, who was born in the village in 1889, edited by his nephew Graham.

PAINTING of coastal rocks to enhance an existing feature is a particular form of artistic and cultural expression — and one of the great examples is ‘King Tut’ on the shore at Kilcreggan.

Painting rocks happens elsewhere, but there is a remarkable concentration and variety on the Clyde Coast.

IT IS hard to imagine what was arguably Helensburgh’s most important building becoming a delicatessen and restaurant . . . but that is what is going to happen.

Glasgow-based grocery chain Peckham’s have been given the go-ahead by Argyll and Bute Council to convert the B-listed former Municipal Buildings at the corner of East Princes Street and Sinclair Street.

A DESIGNED Landscape by William Boutcher dated to 1732 has recently been recognised on the slope of Tom na h-Airidh to the north of Helensburgh.

The question is — is Boutcher’s designed landscape the genesis of Helensburgh's grid plan layout?