Race to snap up Sir Jackie’s boyhood home
Bungalow where our greatest F1 star lived before he found track success
IT’s the solid, signature property of suburbia, not a high-octane home you would normally associate with life in the fast lane. Yet the bungalow near Dumbarton harboured childhood dreams which would later burst into life on the glamorous race tracks of Monza, Brands Hatch and Monte Carlo. For his first 23 years, Rockview was home to Sir Jackie Stewart, the motor racing legend who helped establish Scotland as the breeding ground for F1 champions.
He won the World Championship on three occasions, in 1969, 1971 and 1973 and took the chequered flag no fewer than 27 times.
There’s a blue plaque on the wall of the bungalow, a recognition afforded to properties where occupants have made a significant difference to Scotland and its people.
Jackie Stewart was actually born in the house… and on the dining room table at that.
The house, in Milton, by Dumbarton, is just a gear change away from the garage Jackie’s father built up at Dumbuck, and is at present in the hands of Stewart family friends Elaine and Damon Lindsay.
Mrs Lindsay explains: ‘My father-in-law, John, is a childhood friend of Sir Jackie’s.
‘John was a mechanic in the Stewart family garage but he and Jackie always kept in touch. John would go to a lot of Grands Prix with him – they’re off to Monza together again quite soon.
‘As the years went on, John took on the garage and then the house.’
Mrs Lindsay says the former world champion often visits during his trips to Scotland. She added: ‘It would be rare for him to be in the area and not pop by. The house has so many memories, so it really means a lot to him.’
In fact, Sir Jackie has spoken about his time there. He said: ‘I was born on the dining room table in the room nearest the garage, which we called the living room.
‘It was also where we ate and sat at night in front of the fire. I lived there until I was 23. I shared a room with my brother upstairs.’
As the house was architect-designed for the Stewarts, it is easy to trace some of the domestic arrangements the family insisted upon during construction.
For example, the entrance hall is unusually generous for a bungalow of this size. It has been suggested that Sir Jackie’s mother hailed from a wealthy family and so was accustomed to impressive approaches to any given property. Either side of the hallway lies the dining room and living room.
The downstairs accommodation is completed by the kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms.
There is a further bedroom upstairs – the one Sir Jackie shared with his brother Jimmy, though the selling agents suggest this space could be ripe for redevelopment.
Unusually, there is no lock-up for storing a car, but this is because the Stewarts would keep their vehicles in their adjacent garage.
The bungalow is situated just off the main A82 Glasgow to Loch Lomond route, which means it is in pole position to offer petrolheads either fast motorways or twisting country roads.
Offers over £199,500 to Sarah Calderwood at McArthur Stanton. Tel 01436 678822 or email sc@mcarthurstanton.co.uk Sir Jackie’s achievements are celebrated in a blue plaque on the front of Rockview, circled