Shandon is an affluent settlement of houses forming a village on the open sea loch of the
Gare Loch
The Gare Loch or Gareloch ( gd, An Gearr Loch) is an open sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland and bears a similar name to the village of Gairloch in the north west Highlands.
The loch is well used for sailing, recreational boating, list of w ...
in
Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...
, Scotland. Shandon overlooks the Rosneath Peninsula to the west and is bordered by Glen Fruin ( gd, Gleann Freòin) to the east, which is the site of the
Battle of Glen Fruin
The Battle of Glen Fruin was a Scottish clan battle fought on 7 February 1603 between the Clan Gregor and its allies on one side, and the Clan Colquhoun and its allies on the other. The Clan Gregor (or MacGregor) and Clan Colquhoun were at feud ...
, one of the last clan battles in Scotland, fought on 7 February 1603, in which an estimated 300 warriors on foot from the
MacGregor Clan claimed victory over an estimated 600–800 men from the
Colquhoun Clan on horse-back.
Shandon is northwest of Helensburgh, west of Loch Lomond and northwest of Glasgow city centre. Formerly in the county of
Dunbartonshire
Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...
, it developed alongside other similar settlements in the area, in the 19th century, from a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
to a fashionable residential area for wealthy Glasgow merchants and several mansion houses still remain.
Shandon Castle and Faslane Castle, dating from the Medieval age once occupied prominent positions in the area.
West Shandon House, built in the 1840s by
John Thomas Rochead
John Thomas Rochead (28 March 1814 – 7 April 1878) was a Scottish people, Scottish architect. He is most noteworthy on a national scale for having been the designer of the Wallace Monument.
Life
He was born in Edinburgh, the son of John Ro ...
for
Robert Napier, often described as 'the father of Clyde shipbuilding'
was a prominent landmark and was renowned for housing Napier's extensive art collection. It later became a
hydropathic institution,
Since the 1960s,
His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde has been based between the outskirts of Shandon and the village of
Garelochhead
Garelochhead ( sco, Garelochheid,
at
Faslane
His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...
, and it occupies the whole of the former grounds of West Shandon House.
Shandon House, designed by Charles Wilson for William Jamieson, became a reform school named St Andrew's, from 1965 until 1986. It is currently owned by the Ministry of Defence who had plans to make it into accommodation for Royal Marines serving at the Naval Base nearby. It lies behind
Faslane Peace Camp
Faslane Peace Camp is a permanent peace camp sited alongside Faslane Naval base in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It has been occupied continuously, in a few different locations, since 12 June 1982. In 1984, the book ''Faslane:Diary of a Peace Cam ...
, derelect and boarded up.
External links
West Shandon HouseTURKISH baths at Shandon Housein the Helensburgh Heritage
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References
{{authority control
Villages in Argyll and Bute