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Old milestone at Dumbuck

This milestone stands on the southern side of NS4174 : Glasgow Road at Dumbuck, between the road and some bonded warehouses; see the last-cited link for a view of the stone in context. The present picture was taken from the other side of the road (for a view from another angle, see NS4174 : Old milestone at Dumbuck).

The picture does not give a sense of scale, but the stone is fairly large; it is about 2.5 metres wide (a little over eight feet) and 1.1 metres high. Mainly as a result of being situated near bonded warehouses (see NS3980 : Warehouse Staining Fungus), it has a very dark surface.

There is no writing on its far side. On its near side, which must only rarely be sunlit, a couple of index hands can be discerned; the upper one points to the left, and the lower one to the right. The text on this side of the stone is as follows:

←
GLASGOW
13 MILES
→
DUMBARTON
CROSS
1 MILE

A milestone is recorded at this spot on the first-edition OS map, which was surveyed in 1860. The one shown in this photograph appeared to be very old, and it is almost certainly the same one.

The stone is an indication that this part of the present-day road follows what was already, in the late nineteenth century, the main road from Dumbarton to Glasgow. Other structures reveal that this route was being used at a much earlier date: about 1.4km to the WNW, and likewise lying on the course of the modern road, some bridges had been built in the early seventeenth century (and perhaps earlier): see NS4075 : Gruggies Burn.

Compare the similarly-shaped NS3181 : Old milestone in Craigendoran and old NS3280 : Milestone at Colgrain, near Helensburgh.