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EIUS ILLINC
    (FR)ATRIBUS CAROLO ET
GULIELMI
    (LATA). HIC CONDI VOLLUIT.
    (Note: letters in brackets were found to be illegible.)
    Translated, this reads: ‘Here is buried George Scott, son of a gallant merchant, late of Glasgow. He lived for fifteen years in India, and died immediately on his return
to London, Great Britain, on6 November 1787. His age was 37 years. His remains brought by his brothers Charles and William from latter place (London?), he wished to be
preserved here.’
    Local historian Graham Hopner has meticulously researched the subject and has reached the conclusion that George Scott was one of three brothers – George, William and Charles – all
of them born at Dalquhurn Cottage. Their parents were Lawrence and Margaret Scott, and Charles, having accumulated a small fortune from the bleachworks, purchased Dalquhurn House from the Telfer
Smollett family in either 1774 or 1775.
    In 1969, an article featured in the
Country Reporter
led four anglers on the River Leven to claim that at the end of a night’s fishing they had been touched by a weird and ethereal
white form which afterwards had vanished in the direction of Dalquhurn. Soon afterwards, another correspondent wrote in to say that his wife had seen a mystical figure resembling a woman, standing
upriver from George Scott’s tomb. Other reports soon followed, all involving a woman in black.
    The legend of the Black Lady has been circulating around the Renton district for well over 200 years. But who was she, this Black Lady? And what connection did she have to the final resting
place of George Scott?
    One possibility is that the Dalquhurn tomb, which measures sixteen feet square, might contain more than one occupant. There is the suggestion that Scott might have returned from India with a
companion, a lady friend or even an ayah with whom he had formed a relationship.
    Such speculation, however, was discounted when it was confirmed that only one body was interred in the Scott mausoleum. So was George Scott perchance a transvestite? Or was it simply that he
wore his hair long, in the fashion of the eighteenth century?
    In 1991, a Balloch businessman, having purchased the site of the Dalquhurn Bleach Works for redevelopment, applied for permission to remove the tomb. Nobody can confirm for
certain what then took place, but following a prolonged correspondence with the local authority, it seems that George’s grave was desecrated and his skeleton deposited a few miles away, in
the Alexandria Cemetery.
    When word of this got out there was outrage among the local community, especially when some Renton schoolchildren were found playing with human bones. By this stage, an impasse had been reached
between the businessman and the council, and what made matters worse was a ruling that since the tomb was on private, not public, land, there were no legal requirements for it to be maintained
irrespective of the last wishes of its occupant.
    Since then, the site of the tomb of the Black Lady has remained untouched, which is not so surprising when you consider that generations of Renton weans have been told that if they do not
behave, the Black Lady of Dalquhurn will get them. Meanwhile, the grisly relics of George Scott are being stored in Alexandria. Is it any wonder that the Black Lady of Dalquhurn, whoever she or he
might be, walks the Dumbarton Road at night looking for the despoilers of his or her last resting place?
    The advice I would therefore offer to anyone finding themselves on the Renton stretch of the Dumbarton Road after sunset is simply to maintain a healthy stride. When driving a car, be certain to
keep your eyes firmly fixed on the highway ahead.
    Under absolutely no circumstances should you feel tempted to pull over and offer someone a lift.

8
TO TRIUMPH IN GLORY WITH THE LAMB
    When a man’s soul is certainly in hell, his body will scarce lie quiet in a tomb, however costly; some time or other the door must open, and the