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The recumbent (lying flat) stone just right of centre in the foreground is a memorial to Robert Nairn, a Covenanter. The picture was taken in the kirkyard of Bonhill Parish Church: [[359427]].

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To the memory of Robert Nairn, of Bonhill, who died 15th April, 1685, of illness occasioned by severe hardships and privations to which he was subjected for his steady adherence to the cause of truth and religious liberty, and in token of respect for the piety, patience, and Christian fortitude for which he was distinguished in that period of peril and persecution.

Patriots have toiled, and in their country's cause
Bled nobly; and their deeds, as they deserve,
Receive good recompense;
But martyrs struggle for a brighter prize,
And win it with more pain and suffering,
Yet few remember them.
____________________

The stone was erected in 1826, and was restored later that century. Robert Nairn's story is recounted by Robert Wodrow in "The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution" (1722). Nairn had been a shoemaker in Napierston ([[2045072]]). At Ferry of Balloch, in 1681, he had been fined 20 Scots pounds for nonconformity; he had not been attending the church, with its Episcopalian services. Despite paying the fine, he was obliged to leave his house and family, dismiss his servants, and abandon his employment. Sheriff officers frequently searched his house, taking away many items. Nairn narrowly avoided capture, concealing himself in woods about a mile from his house, but his long exposure there to the elements gave rise to the illness that caused his death. Nairn's family also suffered greatly: for example, in February of 1685, as a result of a night-time visit from officers, "his wife with sucking child was forced to flee to the open fields"; on another occasion, she was held in prison. See Wodrow's book for the whole story.

©Lairich Rig

The photo was taken from near one end (the junction with George Street), and shows the view towards the other end, where it meets Main Street.

©Lairich Rig

Dist:0.1km<br/>Bonhill church

©Eddie Mackinnon

Dist:0.1km<br/>View across the River Leven.

©Richard Webb

Dist:0.1km<br/>View of Campbell Street in Bonhill from Main Street looking east.

©George Rankin

Dist:0.1km<br/>Riverside flats, Alexandria.

©Richard Webb

Dist:0.1km<br/>Bonhill Church Vale of Leven FC ground and Vale of Leven Academy

©Eddie Mackinnon

Dist:0.2km<br/>View of present day Burn Street, Bonhill. Compare this with the view of Old Burn Street which is also on this web page.

©George Rankin

Dist:0.2km<br/>This is a view of Burn Street, Bonhill in the late 1800's, the open burn came from the Pappert hills behind Bonhill and ran down the side of the Quarry which lay just behind these houses. The burn was later covered over and runs into the river Leven. Nowadays only one or two modern houses survive this scene.

©George Rankin

Dist:0.2km<br/>Home of Vale of Leven Football Club. The current junior club was founded in 1939 after the famous senior club finally folded. In the 19th century, Vale of Leven and Queen's Park dominated Scottish football.

©Richard Webb

Dist:0.2km<br/>View of George Street Bonhill looking South. On the left can be seen Bonhill Veterans Bowling Club

©George Rankin

Dist:0.2km<br/>This artwork can be found in Bonhill, on the outside wall of the Veterans Bowling Club in [[477484]] (it can been seen, left of centre, on the wall in that photograph).

Although there is no explanation accompanying the artwork, it represents the chorus of an old song called "The Braes o' Bonull" [i.e. Bonhill], whose complete words can be found at http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/valesongsandpoems.html

All of the elements mentioned in the chorus appear in the artwork; even the bull is visible in the background, at the upper right. As for the whole song, the sole obscure reference in it is to "The Slunger": this was the name of a local road, now long gone, whose course more or less corresponded with that of the modern Northfield Road; see the following, under the heading "Slunger": http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/scottishplacenames/Svale_names.html

Northfield Road, mentioned above, begins just north of the location shown in the photo, on the other side of Main Street (which is shown in red on the map), and runs NNE past the club house of a golf course. The road was once called Slunger Hill Road, a name that is connected to the textile industry that was once prominent in that area (as I learned from an exhibition on that industry). To "slunge" or "slounge" meant, in Old Scots, to "souse with water", and it was an activity that was carried out in the local bleachfields.

Finally, note that "Bonull", as used in the song, is not a corruption of the present-day form "Bonhill", as might be thought. It is, in fact, an older form of the same place-name; the name Bonhill does not really refer to a hill. Other old spellings ("Bullul" and "Buchnul") are preserved in charters of the Earls of Lennox, while the Atlas of Scotland (as mapped by Timothy Pont in the 1580s and 1590s, but published by Joan Blaeu in 1654) shows the "Kirk of Binnuill".

©Lairich Rig

Dist:0.2km<br/>View of Springcroft Grove, Bonhill from George Street this development is built on the site of the former McDougall's Lemonade Factory which produced lemonade from a local spring.

©George Rankin

Dist:0.2km<br/>The area is called Riverside. The large building left of centre is being built on what was previously a grassy area in front of [[2935763]] (visible at the far left in the present photograph). The [[1479533]] are on the right.

©Lairich Rig

Dist:0.2km<br/>These flats are located in the aptly-named Riverside area; the nearer two stand on Thomas Street, and the other on Angus Street. The lower buildings at the left-hand edge of the picture are part of St Ronan's Lane.

National Cycle Network route 7 is visible in the foreground.

For a similar view about a year later, see [[1479533]].

©Lairich Rig

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