The Horseshoe Door
This unique doorway is actually situated in the village of Dunmore, approximately 2 miles west of Airth.
This building was the blacksmith's shop and the older people of the area remember, as children, watching the horses being shod.
For the purists, the door actually depicts a pony shoe (four nails each side).
The village of Dunmore was built by Catherine, Countess of Dunmore in the 19th century to house workers on the Dunmore Estate. The Countess had spent much of her life in England hence the distinctly English-style hamlet of cottages set neatly round a village green. In England, the game traditionally played on the village green is cricket. Scots never took to cricket, so the game played was, and still is, bowls.
It is not known what the Countess thought of the choice of game but she, thoughtfully, provided a drinking fountain to quell the thirst of the players.
The fountain, recently restored, still stands in the middle of the green.
It bears the inscription:-
"Here quench your thirst and mark in me,
an emblem of true charity;
Who, while my bounty I bestow,
am neither heard or seen flow,
Repaid by fresh supplies from heaven
for every cup of water given."
Dunmore is a beautiful, peaceful village well worth a visit, if only for the tranquillity to be found there.
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