Old Kilpatrick is a village and parish in Dumbartonshire which stands adjacent to the Clyde, 9 miles by road but 11 miles by rail, west-north-west of Glasgow. It was the birthplace of St Patrick. An interesting story relates that the Devil so beset Patrick that he fled to Ireland. When the Devil saw the Saint escaping he tore up a rock from Dumbuck Hill and threw it at him. Fortunately it missed and today it is known as Dumbarton Rock. The Clyde Navigation Trust don't quite go along with this. They agree that the Devil threw the rock but say that it landed in the middle of the River Clyde. They have placed a light on it and called it St Patrick's Stone Light.
Bowling or Bowling Bay is a village on the northern bank of the River Clyde. Where Old Kilpatrick marked the western end of the Roman Antonine Wall, Bowling marks the western end of the Forth and Clyde Canal which runs for 35 miles across Scotland and took 22 years to build. It was officially opened on July 28, 1790. Bowling is
3.5 miles east-south-east of Dumbarton and has a station on the busy commuter links between Glasgow and Helensburgh and Balloch.
The Littlemill distillery which is sited at Bowling, may be the oldest in Scotland. Among several claimants to being oldest, Littlemill claims the date for its foundation as being 1772. However the first clear records of its ownership date from 1817. It was rebuilt in 1875 though its overgrown, cottage-like buildings look older. Triple distillation was used until the 1930s.
The distillery closed for a year or so in the late 1980s but reopened in 1988/9.
Jackie Stewart's brother Jimmy was born in Bowling on 6/3/1931. Jackie himself was born in nearby Milton on 11/6/1939.
Opened on Friday 2 July 1971 by HRH Princess Anne, the Erskine Bridge spans the River Clyde between Old Kilpatrick on the northern bank and the village of Erskine on the southern bank of the river. For an outline of how it was built please visit my Glasgow website at http://www.personaltouch.freeserve.co.uk
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