Paisley Canal to Langbank via Kilbarchan, Quarrier's Village, Kilmacolm & Finlaystone Park

The first part of this route follows the Sustrans 75 from Paisley Canal Station to Kilbarchan. Here at Kilbarchan, just follow the high street up to the right (north) which will take us past the Weaver's Cottage and the Steeple to the road on the left marked beneath in green on the map. This quiet back road takes us towards Lawmarnock. Take the next right into Bridge of Weir where we can rejoin the Sustrans path until the Quarrier's Village cut-off. Take the little path into Quarrier's Village and then just keep to the green route marked out below.

The road from Kilmacolm to Finlaystone is beautiful. I didn't encounter one car on its short length. The first part up to the reservoirs is uphill though not too steep before sweeping down to Finlaystone House and its wonderfully wooded grounds.

The Weaver's Cottage (builded anno 1723 by Andrew & John Brydein) in Kilbarchan.

There are some wonderful old houses in Kilbarchan and a real village feel. This feel would be a lot stronger, and a lot more intimate if you didn't have so many cars running through the high street as if it were a drag strip. Personally, if I had anything to do with it, I would ban cars from the village with only local traffic and delivery vans allowed. Through traffic from Johnstone or Bridge of Weir would have to take the A761 which would not put them out of the way at all, and would leave Kilbarchan with its soul unscathed.

I do believe that T.C.F Brotchie when walking through Kilbarchan some time during the 1910s had a similar feeling towards the traffic which let's face it, would have been a lot less. He mentions this in his wonderful book Glasgow Rivers & Streams.

 

Just as Paisley had Tannahill, Kilbarchan had its own weaver poet, Robert Allan. The son of a flax dresser, Robert Allan was born in Kilbarchan in 1774. For most of his life he lived and worked as a silk weaver in the old part of the village known as Tounfoot. In the eighteenth century Tounfoot was a thriving community occupied by weavers and other tradesmen. It had a female school, a poor house and a Baptist meeting house. Tounfoot was demolished in the late eighteenth century and is now part of Glentyan Estate. Allan decided in his mid sixties to emigrate to America with his young son, but died six days after arriving due to a chill caught at sea. The monument here was erected by the Kilbarchan General Society in 1935.

Love Street in Quarrier's Village. 

William Quarrier was, as Alexander Gammie writes in The Story of the Orphan Homes of Scotland, 'one of the most remarkable men Scotland has produced', full of all the Scottish attributes of 'grit and determination, a sturdy independence, ruggedness and strength of personality.' Quarrier wasn't just 'one of Scotland's leading philanthropists, but also, in a wider sense, one of the Greathearts of history.' As a boy who grew up in the slums of inner Glasgow and was apprenticed out to a shoemaker at age 7 his rise to success and his responsibility for the redistribution of the wealth that he created is surely one of the tales that all our schoolchildren should be told. Here was a man that knew, in the words of another great Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, that to die with riches was to die in disgrace, and that with great wealth (or even a little) came great responsibility for its redistribution into the corners of the community that actually needed it, and not for the spurious pursuit of non-essential luxuries.

Much of the village has been sold off as private residences, but the Quarrier charity still owns most of the land and a significant part of the village itself. It is certainly worth a visit for its old world feel and beautiful pastoral setting, and to remind us that the rich and the wealthy (the financially successful) have an obligation and a duty to return this wealth to the community, and to the land that gave birth to them and nurtured them during their formative years.

Judging from the Union Jack hanging limpidly above Duchal House, I guess the Lord and Lady who live here all year round will not be voting 'Aye' come referendum day. Apparently, after talking with the owner of the little gatehouse cottage at the entrance to the grounds, the Lord & Lady are not too fond of people cutting through their 'garden', but do not be afraid, you have every right to do so regardless of the big 'Private Road' sign they have put up at the entrance. One of the great things about Scotland's right to roam is that there really is no such thing as private, especially when it comes to large tracts of land being closed off simply because the residents suffer from guilt and fear complexes. If anyone dares to threaten you then you can simply suggest that they familiarise themselves with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. The bottom line is that you are allowed to go anywhere you want in this country as long as you conduct yourself in a responsible and respectful manner.

Duchal Houses itself, a home of considerable magnitude, dates back to 1768, and the route here past the front of Duchal House continues on a gravel driveway for another 500 metres or so to the gate (which was wide open incidentally). You then cross the main road and continue into Duchal Woods and past the Pinewood Trout Fishery. The path is a little bumpy but I will often get off the bike and walk through the woods so I can hear them and properly inhale all that coolness. It's a lovely path which, eventually, gently ejects you out onto the main street in Kilmacolm.

The idyllic Pinewood Trout Fishery in the peaceful Duchal Woods.

The Auld Kirk in Kilmacolm. The back road to Finlaystone is just on the right at Frank Munro.

The summit of the high road, now descending down to Finlaystone House and grounds.

Finlaystone House. The estate here is the patrimony of the Cunninghams of Glencairn, and was largely the work of John Douglas c.1760. However, the house did undergo some re-modelling between 1898-1903 by J.J. Burnet who added a loggia to the forecourt and a massively columned staircase hall. One of the windows of the library bears the scribbled inscription of Robert Burns' initials who was a guest here some time around 1790.

From the grounds of Finlaystone it's easy enough to get to the train station at Langbank about a kilometre away. Just follow the green route on the map above exiting the grounds to the north where the motorway is. Here there is a sliver of pavement which will take us the short distance east to Langbank station and the train back to Paisley or Glasgow Central.

All in all, arriving at Paisley Canal at 11.30am and ending up at Langbank at 3.50pm, the route took, with plenty of stops along the way, just over 4 hours. The perfect afternoon really :)

[For information regarding the country houses shown above see John Fyfe Anderson's The Country Houses, Castles and Mansions of Renfrewshire]