Dunglass Castle (1)
I have long wanted to visit this castle, but it has been almost impossible to get to for decades. Almost! This is Dunglass Castle, which stands on the north shore of the Clyde estuary, nearly two miles downstream from the Erskine Bridge and less than half a mile west of the railway station at Bowling.
The problem is that the castle site is entirely surrounded by what used to be an ESSO oil storage depot. Why this should still make the site inaccessible, I'm not entirely sure, because the tanks and piping have been entirely dismantled and removed. The site, which was a tank farm for over a century, unsurprisingly, was contaminated, however ESSO have been conducting "bioremediation work" - which supposedly has been completed. They have apparently also been talking to the local community about what should happen to the site once it is opened up to the public again.
In the meantime, the site remains difficult to get into. It is bounded to the south by the estuary and to the north by a railway line. The gateway and only crossing over the railway, is very secure. South of the railway, enclosing the west, north and east sides of the site, there is a jaggedy steel fence topped with barbed wire, seven feet high. However, where there's a will there's a way, and the local fishermen long ago recognised the value of this quiet and increasingly well wooded shoreline, so if you cross the footbridge at Bowling railway station, to the south platform and go through the little gate, the path beyond follows the east fence of the ESSO site, and almost immediately there is a place where the steel pickets have been forced apart enough to get through.
Once inside, although vegetation is springing back up all over the site, it is easy enough to head westward, rounding the head of an old dock. After this the vegetation gets very thick again for a while, as you approach a stand of old trees, beyond which is another steel picket fence, which divides the site in two. There is no way through this fence, however I simply went round the southern end of it, where it meets the estuary. After this fence, the country is completely clear of vegetation and has presumably been recently decontaminated. When there used to be a security man at the gate, this open ground would have been a problem, but he appears to have gone now, so it is a straight forward walk to the castle.
As the photo above shows, even when you reach the castle site, getting a look at the castle is still a problem. Firstly, it is surrounded by yet another jaggedy steel and barbed wire fence, and secondly, vegetation is growing up everywhere it can get a foothold, obscuring most of the building.
Dunglass Castle (1)
I have long wanted to visit this castle, but it has been almost impossible to get to for decades. Almost! This is Dunglass Castle, which stands on the north shore of the Clyde estuary, nearly two miles downstream from the Erskine Bridge and less than half a mile west of the railway station at Bowling.
The problem is that the castle site is entirely surrounded by what used to be an ESSO oil storage depot. Why this should still make the site inaccessible, I'm not entirely sure, because the tanks and piping have been entirely dismantled and removed. The site, which was a tank farm for over a century, unsurprisingly, was contaminated, however ESSO have been conducting "bioremediation work" - which supposedly has been completed. They have apparently also been talking to the local community about what should happen to the site once it is opened up to the public again.
In the meantime, the site remains difficult to get into. It is bounded to the south by the estuary and to the north by a railway line. The gateway and only crossing over the railway, is very secure. South of the railway, enclosing the west, north and east sides of the site, there is a jaggedy steel fence topped with barbed wire, seven feet high. However, where there's a will there's a way, and the local fishermen long ago recognised the value of this quiet and increasingly well wooded shoreline, so if you cross the footbridge at Bowling railway station, to the south platform and go through the little gate, the path beyond follows the east fence of the ESSO site, and almost immediately there is a place where the steel pickets have been forced apart enough to get through.
Once inside, although vegetation is springing back up all over the site, it is easy enough to head westward, rounding the head of an old dock. After this the vegetation gets very thick again for a while, as you approach a stand of old trees, beyond which is another steel picket fence, which divides the site in two. There is no way through this fence, however I simply went round the southern end of it, where it meets the estuary. After this fence, the country is completely clear of vegetation and has presumably been recently decontaminated. When there used to be a security man at the gate, this open ground would have been a problem, but he appears to have gone now, so it is a straight forward walk to the castle.
As the photo above shows, even when you reach the castle site, getting a look at the castle is still a problem. Firstly, it is surrounded by yet another jaggedy steel and barbed wire fence, and secondly, vegetation is growing up everywhere it can get a foothold, obscuring most of the building.