File:The former Pillanflatt - geograph.org.uk - 1725100.jpg

English: The former Pillanflatt The "Atlas of Scotland" (published by Joan Blaeu in 1654, but based on the surveying work of Timothy Pont in the 1580s-90s), in its "Levinia" (Lennox) map, shows "Pillonflett" with "Dalmowack" (modern Dalmoak) to the south and "O. and N. Dalwhurn" (Over and Nether Dalquhurn – cf. 1661480) to the north. The name is spelled in various ways in different documents, but it is usually now given as "Pillanflatt"; the name is not in use today, except in discussions of the history of this area.

In recent times (from about 2009), claims that King Robert the Bruce's "Manor House" may have been located in these fields have received extensive newspaper coverage.

Other uses of the area in more recent times are well-attested; just to the north, on the far side of a track called the Howgate (1723864), was the site of Dalquhurn Dye Works, which were established in the early eighteenth century. Much of the area that was formerly known as Pillanflatt was used as bleachfields for the dye works.

In its entry for Renton (on page 796), the book "The Making of Scotland" (Smith/Hume/Lawson, 2001) says that the softness of the Loch Lomond water was one factor in the decision to create a bleachfield site the River Leven in 1715; "Fine linen was treated there from 1727, financially aided by the Trustees" (this is a reference to the Board of Trustees for Manufactures, which was formed in 1727).

As explained in "A Short History of Dumbartonshire" (Dr I.M.M.MacPhail, 1962), large bleachfields (12 acres in extent) were laid out at Dalquhurn in 1727-28 "with the help of a government subsidy of £600. Workmen were brought over from Holland to introduce Dutch methods, which at that time involved laying out the unbleached linen on hedges between which water was brought in narrow channels so that the linen could be soaked at regular intervals and dry again in the sun, the process taking several weeks in summer time". By the end of the eighteenth century, cotton was being treated, rather than linen. For a more detailed account, see http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/renton.html (at the Vale of Leven website); see also 1751264.

[In 1828, the Dalquhurn works were extended; this marked the beginning of the local Turkey-red textile dyeing industry, for which the Vale of Leven would become renowned. Pages 297-304 of D. Bremner's book "The Industries of Scotland – their Rise, Progress and Present Condition" (1869; A & C Black, Edinburgh) are devoted to the Dalquhurn Dye Works and Cordale Printfields, and give a detailed description of the processes involved in Turkey-red dyeing.]

The water channels of the bleachfields are depicted on the first-edition OS map of 1864, but not on subsequent maps. The dual carriageway and its associated slip roads overlie much of the original bleachfield area. Of those parts that are still exposed, there appear to be no visible traces of most of the old water channels; some apparent exceptions turn out to be places where later walls or fences had been built along the course of the old channels; it is probably the traces of those later boundaries that are currently visible. For more details, see the end-note for a link to an annotated satellite view showing the locations of various features depicted on the OS maps between 1864 and 1938; the individual features on that map have accompanying notes which provide further information.

Note, also, the raised course of the cycle route in the foreground of the photograph. This was shown as an embankment on the 1864 map; it appears originally to have served to contain the bleachfields (again, see the annotated satellite image for the details). Appropriately, then, when this field occasionally floods (as can happen when an incoming tide meets a River Leven that is swollen by prolonged rainfall), the cycle route alone may remain usable, with the land on each side of it submerged: 1727570.

Although the field otherwise appears, at first sight, to be relatively flat and featureless, signs of several of the walls or fences that are shown on the 1:10560 OS map of 1938 can still be seen. For example, the clump of trees at the right-hand side of the image is an indication of one such boundary (labelled C2 on the annotated view), and the line of that boundary can be followed across the part of the field that lies on the other side of the cycle route. For other such traces, see 1725125.

The field is currently used for cattle grazing, and is associated with Dalmoak Farm (447777).

The houses in the distance are in the Tontine Park area of Renton, and the background hills are Carman Hill and neighbouring moors.