Top’o’th’Clone
Clone Moor separates the Nith Valley from Cairn Valley, NW of Dumfries. The Clone Road is actually the A702 between the village of Penpont and the hamlet of Kirkland, between Thornhill and Moniaive. At the summit there is a small tree at the side of the road, and looking west, you can see the artificial loch created by the Maxwelton estate.
In 1896, knowing that Cairn Valley was building its branch line from Dumfries to Moniaive, a deputation of interested parties submitted a statement in support of building a railway line between Moniaive and Thornhill. Three routes were suggested, one via Tynron, one via Holywood further down the Cairn Valley, and the other via the Clone.
In their submission they wrote:
“This route has been fully surveyed, the survey proceeds from Thornhill by way of Stepends to Penpont, thence through Grennan Estate to Ford, thence skirting the top of the Glen to Shancastle, and onwards through General Sir George Walker’s Estate to Moniaive. For the first 51/2 miles the proprietors of the land on this route are known to be favourable towards the proposed line, and the proprietors of the remaining 31/2 miles are at prrsent advocating the alternative line to Dumfries hereafter referred to. (The Holywood route)”
It was never built. The Moniaive to Dumfries line lasted from March 1905 to July 1949.
Clone Moor is criss-crossed with good walks, and the small village of Tynron rests in the valley below, although nowadays there is no shop. The river down below is the Shinnel, winding its way from the higher reaches of Shinnel Glen which you can see across the road to NW, through Tynron to join The River Nith near Penpont.
Room in the cache for trackables and swappables.