Shandon, Argyll

Shandon is an affluent settlement of houses forming a village on the open sea loch of the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Shandon overlooks the Rosneath Peninsula to the west and is bordered by Glen Fruin (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Freòin) to the east, which is the site of the Battle of Glen Fruin, 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

The former St Andrew's School, Shandon House
Shandon
Location within Argyll and Bute
OS grid referenceNS267840
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHELENSBURGH
Postcode districtG84
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament

Shandon is 4 miles north west of Helensburgh, 9 miles west of Loch Lomond and 33 miles north west of Glasgow city centre. Formerly in the county of Dunbartonshire, it developed alongside other similar settlements in the area, in the 19th century, from a hamlet 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 for Robert Napier, often described as 'the father of Clyde shipbuilding'[1] was a prominent landmark and was renowned for housing Napier's extensive art collection. It later became a hydropathic institution,[2][3] It was discussed to be demolished, however protests stopped the process and the building still stands to this day in disrepair.

Since the 1960s, Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde has been based between the outskirts of Shandon and the village of Garelochhead at Faslane, and it occupies the whole of the former grounds of West Shandon House.

See also

References
  1. Osborne, Brian D (1991), Robert Napier: The Father of Clyde Shipbuilding, Dumbarton, Scotland: Dumbarton District Libraries, retrieved 21 April 2010
  2. Bradley, James; Dupree, Mageurite; Durie, Alastair (1997). "Taking the Water Cure: The Hydropathic Movement in Scotland, 1840-1940" (PDF). Business and Economic History. 26 (2): 429. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  3. Shifrin, Malcolm (3 October 2008). "Shandon Hydropathic Establishment: Dunbartonshire, Scotland". Victorian Turkish Baths: Their origin, development, and gradual decline. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
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