Trails
BL-08 Bardowie Loch
In his Rambles Round Glasgow, published in 1854, Hugh Macdonald wrote enthusiastically about Bardowie Parish. Bardowie Loch he described as ‘Bardowie the Beautiful. . . . . . if a glance of it would not more than repay thee for a summer day’s journey’.
The general surroundings provides a locally unique example of that iconic Scottish image of a loch side and woodland setting for Bardowie Castle. In the Ordnance Survey name books for Stirlingshire 1858-61, it states that the
loch was at one time much larger.
If you have been fortunate to stay in Bardowie Castle, you may also have been lucky enough to see the Purple Lady, a figure which appears from time to time on the gable wall of the keep, the oldest part of the building. The origin of this lady is unknown, but rumour has it that she was a friend of Black Knee MacGregor, Rob Roy’s nephew and chieftain.
Fiona Howie, Baldernock Community
[QR-33]