Cardross

Cardross is a name of Brittonic origin.[5] The first part of the name is the Brittonic or Pictish *carden, generally meaning "a wild place, a thicket" (Middle Welsh cardden).[5][6] The second is the element -rōs, "moor, promontory" (Welsh rhos).[5] In other words, a thicketed promontory of land.

The settlement of Cardross developed around a 17th-century church. The mother kirk of Cardross Parish was relocated in 1653, 3 miles (5 km) west from its medieval site on the western bank of the River Leven to support a fledgling ferry community on the northern bank of the River Clyde.

Modern-day ‘Ferry Road’ runs the short distance between the A814 and the River Clyde at the easternmost extremity of Cardross Village (closest to Dumbarton).

The new settlement eventually took its name from the church, and the parish that it served, as the 17th-century worshippers headed for the re-located ‘Cardross’ every Sunday.

Today no remains of that original Cardross Village church can be found but the Graveyard is still in use and contains several 17th-century gravestones.[7]

Robert the Bruce purchased the portions of lands of Pillanflatt from the Earl of Lennox, lying on the western bank of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, in the Parish of Cardross, in 1326. In 1329, he died at the manorial house that he built there.

A field on the bank of River Leven south of the village of Renton, West Dunbartonshire, called the Mains of Cardross, is thought to have been the location of his royal manor, none of which remains today.[8] In 2017, Dumbarton Football Club's proposed new stadium was refused planning permission, with one of the objections being its likely placement on the medieval Bruce site.[9]

Two kilometres (1+1⁄4 miles) northwest of Cardross is a peninsula called Ardmore Point. This privately owned area of land has a nature trail and is considered a Regionally Important Geographical Site (RIGS) due to unique rock formations including an exposed sea cliff.[10] It is a popular fishing and bird-spotting area[11][12] inhabited by grey seals.[13]

There are nearly fifty listed buildings/structures in Cardross, two of which are category A.[18]

Some structures of note:

• The 14th century St. Mahew's Chapel. Most recently restored in the 1950s as a Catholic church which remains in use.[19]
• The former St. Peter's Seminary, designed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, is situated to the north of the village; it is closed to the public. Abandoned in the late 1980s, it is in a state of dilapidation, particularly internally. In early 2015 the site was handed over to the NVA with the intention that part of it will become an arts venue, however those plans failed due to a lack of funding.[20]
• The ruined 15th-century Kilmahew Castle that was built by the Napier Clan is situated just north of the village.
• The main road through the village goes over Moore's Bridge (1688) which carries the road over Kilmahew Burn.

• A. J. Cronin, the celebrated doctor and writer, was born in Cardross in 1896.
• The BBC sports presenter Hazel Irvine lived in Cardross during her youth.

• Video footage of Cardross railway station

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