Bowling (Scots: Bowlin,[1] Scottish Gaelic: Bolan)[2] is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the north bank of the Firth of Clyde, between the towns of Clydebank and Dumbarton. It is at one end of the Antonine Wall and therefore represents the extreme limit of the Roman Empire on the west coast of the island of Great Britain. A play about the history of the Dumbarton area was called The Romans Stopped At Bowling.
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Bowling is the location of the western terminus of the Forth and Clyde Canal, opened in 1790, and it is the western gateway to the Lowland canals.
In 2008, British Waterways Scotland, in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire, have completed a £1.4 million regeneration programme at Bowling Basin and have provided additional moorings and improved customer facilities. There are plans for future use of an area of ca. 140 acres (0.57 km2) of land on the north side of the Clyde, adjacent to Bowling, and in conjunction with Clydeport.[3]
In June 2008, Lord Provost Denis Agnew, groups of school children, and local community groups celebrated the completion of a £163,000 project to improve seven kilometres of towpath on the Forth & Clyde Canal from Bowling Harbour to Whitecrook.[4]
In 2007, Bowling welcomed the "Vital Spark", one of only five surviving Clyde puffers, and the first of its kind to sail into Bowling Harbour for more than 40 years. The Forth & Clyde Canal is regarded as the birthplace of the puffers which have appeared in the "Para Handy" books and television series.
The railway station opened in 1850 when the line ran via Dumbarton to Balloch. In 1858 the line was extended to progress to Glasgow to the east, and Helensburgh to the west. Today it is known as the North Clyde Line. Between 1896 and 1951, the village was also served by a second station, on Caledonian Railway's Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway line.[5] Its former trackbed now forms a footpath and cycleway through the village.
Today First ScotRail services call at Bowling, two trains per hour each direction.
Bowling Church is in the same parish as Old Kilpatrick Church.
The village has an annual Gala Day in June, at which a girl is crowned Queen for a day. The ceremony starts at Bowling Memorial Park and continues to Bowling Hall.