DALREOCH QUARRY
///goat.spend.woven
The remains of this small quarry is located on Renton Road just beyond Dalreoch Station. It is overgrown and barricaded, but has some surprising historical significance. We rely heavily in this website on Lairich Rig writing on Geograph.com and the following is taken from there too.
He points out that Dalreoch Quarry appears to be one and the same as the Jamesheid Quarry that is referred to in a 1609 charter by James VI.
He then refers to Donald MacLeod's "Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, and Loch Lomond" (1884) where the author describes a walk from Dumbarton to the Vale of Leven. From his description, it is clear that he was following the NS3876 : Renton Road, and he writes that "when the auld toon o' Dumbarton, in our journey Renton-wards, was left half a mile or so in our rear, we passed the centuries-old quarry of Jamesheid, from which the stones were taken to build the brig o' Dumbarton". This can only be a reference to what was later called Dalreoch Quarry; there is no other in the area.
The 1609 charter already mentioned runs to great length, but the relevant portion relates to the "water works" (the flood defences against the River Leven – see NS3975 : View to Broadmeadow Industrial Estate), and grants to the Provost, Bailies and Councillors of Dumbarton the right "to dig stones in the common quarry called Jamesheid lying within our property of the lands of the lordship of Cardross, to cast turf there, with power to transport the said stones and turf by the better way to the said work through any part of the foresaid lands without any impediment to be made to them by us or any person whatsoever". The text of the charter as quoted here is from the second volume of Joseph Irving's "Book of Dumbartonshire" (1879), and has clearly been modernised by the author. Note also that in 1609, when the charter was made, the quarry was within Cardross Parish: see NS3975 : The ruins of St Serf's Church.
In 1719, the embankment at the Broadmeadow that served as flood defences against the River Leven were seriously damaged; ..... for a discussion of the "Drowned Lands". Stone was to be taken from this quarry to repair the defenses. As described in the second volume of Joseph Irving's "Book of Dumbartonshire" (1879):
"In the early part of 1719, the embankments on the Broad Meadow were seriously damaged by storms and floods; and for the purpose of having them put into proper repair, the Provost suggested that a tax of two pennies Scots might be levied upon the pint of such ale as was brewed and consumed in the burgh. The resolution, or some one equivalent thereto, appears to have been adopted, as in October the necessary 'quarry graith', or quarrying implements, is ordered to be prepared for taking stones from Jameshead(*) quarry to the works then being carried on at the Meadow."
Lairich Rig notes that Dumbarton Bridge, Dumbarton West Kirk and Dumbarton LIbrary were built from stone quarried here.
The disused quarry is now designated a "Locally Important SINC" (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation).
LAIRICH RIG - Geograph website. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3356985
