Old Road to St Machan's Church
Start location: Crosshouse Road, Clachan of Campsie (NS 611 795)
End location: Crow Road, Lennoxtown (NS 628 786)
Geographical area: Campsie Fells, Strathclyde and Lanarkshire
Path Type: Leisure Path, Rural Path
Path distance: 2km
Accessibility info: Suitable for pedestrians
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Route DescriptionNewsflash! The Heritage Paths (Campsie Fells) Project is very pleased to announce that we have a lovely Campsies map leaflet showing this old path and other routes in the area. To get your hands on one, simply send us an SAE c/o ScotWays (see address top-right) and we'll post one out to you.
Starting at Clachan of Campsie, signposts indicate the right of way along Crosshouse Road. The first part of the track to Crosshouse itself is fine and stiles, together with one or two path indicator posts are reasonably easy to follow as far as Hole Farm and the nearby house which lies at the T-junction with a vehicle track (which leads in a short distance to the A891 where a conspicuous sign indicates that it too is a public right of way). The route continues in a southeasterly direction along a grassy track and then turns sharply north between widely spaced hedges. This section has been hard-going in the past when heavily used by cattle. The path bends northeastwards to reach the ruined steading of Capieston. It then turns southeast with a burn on the left and, eventually with no clear indication, reaches a gate and stile on a short track leading on to Crow Road. This last section can be very muddy if the cattle have been congregating at the gate.
OS Landranger 64 (Glasgow, Motherwell & Airdrie)
Heritage Information
Up until about 1840 there was a road running from what is now Cumroch Road in Lennoxtown to Clachan of Campsie. It had been the historic route from the east to St Machan's Church. The medieval church is said to have been erected over the final resting place of St Machan, a ninth century missionary. However, the parish's population expanded with the establishment of printworks at both Newtown and Milton of Campsie from 1785. This ultimately resulted in the moving of the congregation to a larger and more central church at Lennoxtown (as Newtown of Campsie had become known) in 1828. The old road was closed off by the proprietors when it was replaced by the construction of a new statute labour road from Lennoxtown to Campsie. Both roads are shown on John Thomson's map of Stirlingshire (1820).
In July 1992, the present line of the right of way via Capieston was vindicated in the Sheriff Court, Glasgow. The right of way between Clachan of Campsie and Lennoxtown was found to have continued in use for at least the previous sixty years for a variety of purposes - travel to and from work and school, attending the former agricultural show at the Clachan, recreation, shopping and to avoid the busy public road between Lennoxtown and Clachan of Campsie.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 required that each local authority draw up a plan for a system of paths. The continuing importance of this historic right of way has been recognised by its designation as one of East Dunbartonshire Council's core paths.
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