The river Leven flows seven miles from its source in Loch Lomond to the Clyde at Dumbarton. It was used by Viking raiders who hauled their longships from Loch Long at Tarbet and, after marauding around the shore of Loch Lomond, sailed to the Clyde by the river Leven. The beauties of Loch Lomond brought some of the earliest tourists to the area in the eighteenth century and the Loch became a sought-after destination, despite the mean accommodation available in the local inns and crofts. Towards the end of the century, certain of the landowners who controlled the shores of the Loch began to build for themselves, substantial mansions. Accommodation for the public also improved, particularly after the publication of Walter Scott’s novel “Rob Roy” in 1817, and the introduction of the steamboat Marion to the Loch the following year. For example, the hotel at Inversnaid opened in1820 and was...

The River Leven is the only outlet from Loch Lomond and flows seven miles through the Vale of Leven until it meets the Clyde at Dumbarton Rock. At Balloch close to the Loch, the river flows broad and deep and has not attained the swiftness that marks Scotland’s second fastest river when it passes Bonhill a few miles closer to Dumbarton. It was an excellent place for crossing the river, but necessarily by boat, as there was no convenient ford. Cattle, brought from the highlands to the west had either to be ferried across at Balloch—the very name means “pass to the field of still waters”—from where they made their way by Drymen and the Endrick Valley to the Falkirk Tryst, or negotiate the ford at Bonhill where the alluvial fan from the burn provided sufficiently shallow water, and thence the path, from the “dripping grounds” near the Church was up the side of the burn and across the...

For some reason that I do not really understand, I have been interested in the transport of livestock by the steamships that frequent ports on the Clyde and Western Isles. Perhaps I have a buried memory of sharing the deck with some penned sheep on a journey from Arran on the Caledonia, wondering how the deck would be cleaned after the journey. At any rate, the business of transporting sheep, cattle and horses to and from remote communities was certainly an important aspect of trade. This little collection is an assembly of photographs of these occurrences. The legends to the postcards and photographs provide all the information I have on them. I’ve tried to place them in some sort of chronological order. Sheep at Lamlash, waiting for the ferry (Becket) Cattle on board Sultana at the Broomielaw Loading sheep on the steamer at Inversnaid on Loch Lomond (Gilchrist) A white horse on the...