Bishopbriggs

infobox UK place
country = Scotland
official_name= Bishopbriggs
gaelic_name=Coille Dobhair
scots_name= Bishops' Riggs
os_grid_reference= NS615705
latitude=55.908141419438444
longitude=-4.215062882679799
population= 23,500
unitary_scotland= East Dunbartonshire
lieutenancy_scotland= Dunbartonshire
post_town= GLASGOW
postcode_district = G64
postcode_area= G
dial_code= 0141
constituency_westminster= East Dunbartonshire
constituency_scottish_parliament= Strathkelvin and Bearsden
static_

static_image_caption=
london_distance=
edinburgh_distance=

Bishopbriggs is a commuter suburb in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Though once an independent burgh, its close proximity to Glasgow effectively makes it a suburb of that city. Bishopbriggs grew from a small village on what is now the A803 road from Glasgow to Stirling during the 19th century, incorporating adjacent villages like Cadder and Auchinairn. It currently has a population of approximately 23,500 people.

History

Bishopbriggs was first documented in Cadder Parish records of 1655, and according to one historian only had eleven residents in the mid-1700s. Even more than a century later, after substantial growth, the village was still being referred to in the terms of its mother parish of Cadder. Despite fears that the village would end up being swamped by nearby Glasgow, this was instead the fate of Cadder, a gift from King William the Lion to the Bishop of Glasgow in 1180, with 2,000 acres (800 hectare) being absorbed by the City of Glasgow during the 1920s and 30s. The town has also been known as 'Bishopbridges' and was so described in published maps up to the mid-1850s. The arrival of the North British Railway heralded a change, although the first printed tickets called the station Bishopbridges, platform signage showed Bishopbriggs and it has remained so ever since. By 1793, the introduction of new farming techniques had improved yields. While crops such as oats, barley, potatoes and flax flourished, Cadder's population fared less well; a decrease of around 600 from the mid-1760s was attributed to new agricultural methods which combined smaller farms or Run rigs and swept away independent tenants, known as the Lowland Clearances. By 1836 there were 'almost no cotters' with the largest farms employing no more than ten people, and some of those as maid servants. Land reclamation (through drainage) changed the landscape so that crops could grow, where once there was only marshland. Dairy products, dispatched to Glasgow markets, were relied upon to cover ground rents.

19th century development

Development during the 19th century was slow compared to the industrial expansion of other nearby areas, such as Springburn, and in 1836 Bishopbriggs population stood at 175, compared to neighbouring Auchinairn Village's 284. The missing factor was coal, but since this was transported to the village via the area's excellent communication links (the canal, road and rail links), there was little incentive to invest in discovering it. Bishopbriggs train station, opened in 1842, underlined its status as the emerging focus of the parish although expansion was slow throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The Carron Company (an iron and mining concern), was the district's main employer, building the Hamlet (place)
hamlets of Mavis Valley and Jellyhill to accommodate its workers, and there were also many small mining communities in the area, including quarries in nearby Cadder, Crowhill, Huntershill and Kenmure.

As a result the town was a major centre for freestone quarrying during the 19th Century, supplying many major municipal building projects in Glasgow, such as Sir George Gilbert Scott's Glasgow University main building (the second largest Gothic Revival building in Britain), via the Forth and Clyde Canal until the exhaustion of the quarries around 1900.

20th century development

Heavy industry didn’t fare for long, however and Bishopbriggs suffered a decline in the early decades of the twentieth century. With the working out of the quarries around the turn of the century, what mines it had closed systematically thereafter, throughout the 1920s. Luckily, manufacturing industries arrived after the First World War to soften the blow, with engineering firms, a wire-rope factory, Trebor Bassett, and Blackie and Sons Publishers amongst those providing alternative employment.

In 1929, new printing works for the Blackie company were erected on Kirkintilloch Road, and retaining the original name 'The Villafield Press', were built on this 13 acre site, opposite Cooper's Fine Fare supermarket (now Asda). During the Second World War, Blackie & Son Ltd used part of their Bishopbriggs works for the manufacture of 3.45" shells for the Ministry of Supply. They also undertook some toolmaking for another Glasgow company, William Beardmore and Company; and, for a short time, produced aircraft radiators. By 1960 the publishing and administration section of the company relocated to join the printing section in Kirkintilloch Road, Bishopbriggs, and in 1971, new premises were occupied in Wester Cleddens Road, eventually becoming the headquarters of the company. The printworks were now no longer required and earmarked for demolition, following a demand for residential property in the area. The Villafield name lives on in the housing estate now on the site.

In 1932 the town saw the opening of its first (and only) cinema, The Kenmure. Located on Kirkintilloch Road it had an impressive towering facade and a single auditorium with capacity for 1000 patrons. Eventually the clientele dwindled after the arrival of television (in 1953) and by 1958 a decision was made to close it down. It lay derelict for a number of years, before being demolished to make way for the Churchill Way shopping centre which was constructed in 1962. The entrance to the cinema was where the Remax estate agency now stands.

In the 1930s Bishopbriggs emerged as an administrative centre for local government, although the final stage of its expansion was yet to come. The last major boost to the town's population came about as a result of the large-scale building programmes of the fifties and sixties which replaced Balmuildy, Cadder and Woodhill farmlands with private housing.

Modern Bishopbriggs

The Town centre is known as Bishopbriggs Cross and the principal retail area of Bishopbriggs Cross is the Triangle shopping centre. This was a redeveloped area made possible by the demolition of older tenement housing stock on the eastern side of the Cross to facilitate the construction of new council offices, retail units, and a Morrisons (formerly Safeway) supermarket in the early 1990s. Tenement buildings dating from the Victorian era are still present on the western side of Bishopbriggs Cross. There is also an Asda superstore and a 300,000sq ft Retail Park, including a B&Q Warehouse, located to the north of the town at Cadder. The town also contains one diplomatic mission, a Danish consulate [ [http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/ConsularRepresentationoutsideLondon1.pdf Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Diplomatic Missions] ] .

There is also a pedestrianised area at Cross Court which includes the war memorial, erected in 1920 by the Stirling family, once major land owners in the area. The family seat was Kenmure House (now demolished) in parkland which is now Bishopbriggs Golf Course. Cadder House, built in 1654, was also a Stirling family residence. It is now the clubhouse of Cawder Golf Club [ [http://www.cawdergolfclub.co.uk/view_header.asp?fld_masthead_id=1 Cawder Golf Club ] ] . Bishopbriggs is also notable for its superior villas, constructed by the North British Railway during the 1850s, adjacent to the then recently completed Bishopbriggs Station on the Glasgow-to-Edinburgh Railway, its art deco 'Garden Suburb' on the former Brackenbrae and Balmuildy Estates, and also for its large scale post-war housing developments.

In the last decade or so, major housing developments in the nearby village of Robroyston, adjacent to the M80 motorway, have led to residents of that area relying on Bishopbriggs for most vital services such as churches, schools, and recreational facilities. As a consequence there have been calls in recent years for Robroyston to be formally incorporated within Bishopbriggs and transferred from the City of Glasgow to the control of East Dunbartonshire Council. [ [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=593672003 The Scotsman - 'Ignored' suburb wants to leave city] ]

The area is served by seven Primary schools, which are Auchinairn, Woodhill, Wester Cleddens, Balmuildy, Meadowburn, St Helen's and St Matthew's. There were also three Secondary schools, which are currently being rebuilt as the result of a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) investment into education infrastructure, with support from the Scottish Government. The Roman Catholic Secondary, Turnbull High School, is currently being rebuilt on its present site at Brackenbrae. The two non-denominational Secondary schools serving the town were amalgamated in 2006 to form a single new school named Bishopbriggs Academy which was originally scheduled to be built at the site of the original Bishopbriggs High School campus near Bishopbriggs Cross. However, after representations from the contractors, the build site was relocated to the site of the former Thomas Muir High School site at Woodhill. The decision to change the location of the new school went against public opinion and caused significant local controversy at the time. The relocation will, however, make available a large area of land adjacent to the Cross ready for further development, including proposals for additional retail outlets and housing. This will require the demolition and rebuilding of the present Morrison's supermarket building and adjacent car park.

In addition to these schools, St Mary's is a secure residential school for Young offenders on remand, under sentence and Children's Panel Orders. It is a modern, purpose built secure unit for 36 young people aged between 11 and 16 [ [www.stmaryskenmure.org.uk/cfyf/ St. Mary's Kenmure] ] Recently the school has experienced some difficulties in containing and controlling inmates resulting in violence and rioting with serious injuries to staff, this has widely been reported in the media. [ [http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/tags/st-mary's-kenmure/ Daily Record - St. Mary's] ]

There has been further controversy over the decision by NHS Greater Glasgow to downgrade facilities at the local Stobhill Hospital in nearby Springburn to an Ambulatory care facility, which will result in the nearest Accident and Emergency and inpatient facilities being located at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the city centre, as well as the development of an inpatient Psychiatric hospital at the site. This resulted in Jean Turner's election as the Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament for Strathkelvin and Bearsden on this single issue in 2003, however she eventually lost her seat to Labour's David Whitton in the 2007 elections for the Scottish Parliament.

Other amenities include a municipal library, which forms a prominent local landmark, housed in the B-Listed former buildings of the Bishopbriggs School, which was converted to a library when the new Bishopbriggs High School opened in 1965 [ [http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=956&articleid=660055 Kinkintilloch Herald - New chapter begun at Bishopbriggs Library] ] . The library has been enhanced by a £400,000 refurbishment in recent years. Bishopbriggs also has a large sports centre, the 'Leisuredrome' which is one of the best equipped facilities of its kind in Scotland. Located near Bishopbriggs Cross are the former playing fields of Allan Glen's School, which continue to be used by local rugby clubs. There are also numerous football pitches and an Athletics track located on the site of a former quarry at Huntershill in the South of the town.

Lowmoss Prison was located on the outskirts of the town at the site of a former World War II RAF Barrage balloon station, near to the Strathkelvin Retail Park and Lowmoss Industrial Estate. In early January 2007, it was announced that the Scottish Executive had overruled the initial objection by East Dunbartonshire Council for the prison to be extensively modernised and extended, and after completion will be three times its present size, capable of containing 700 inmates in a medium-security facility. The prison closed in May 2007 and work on its replacement has currently stalled pending a review by the new Scottish Government [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6384669.stm BBC News - Low Moss prison to close in May] ] . Whilst HarperCollins publishers in the Westerhill area of Bishopbriggs remains a notable local business, currently employing some 340 people, and nearby Norwich Union's and RAC plc customer service centre currently employs over 1,000, Bishopbriggs still remains very much a commuter suburb of Glasgow, with around 80% of its workforce commuting to work in the city itself.

The Church of Scotland has three churches and parishes in the town, Cadder, Kenmure and Springfield Cambridge. Colston Wellpark also serves the southern end of the town at the Glasgow boundary. The Free Church of Scotland worships at its church at Auchinairn Road. The Scottish Episcopal Church of St James The Less is situated on Hilton Road, having tranferred from Springburn in 1980 [ [http://www.stjamesbishopbriggs.org.uk/ St James The Less] ] . There are also two Roman Catholic Parishes in the town, St Matthew’s parish was founded in 1946 and the church building was opened in 1950. To reflect the ongoing expansion of the town, St Dominic's parish was established in 1973 and the church building completed in 1977 [ [http://www.bishopbriggschurches.org.uk/churches.html Bishopbriggs Churches Together] ] .

Noted Residents

Famous residents born or lived in the area have included the actor and writer Dirk Bogarde between 1934-1937, television presenter Jenni Falconer, singer Amy Macdonald, the Oscar-winning director and actor Peter Capaldi, humorists Sanjeev Kohli and Hardeep Singh Kohli, poet Jackie Kay, musicians Paul Buchanan and Paul Joseph Moore from The Blue Nile, bassist Jack Bruce of seminal 60's supergroup Cream, Owen (Onnie) McIntyre, rhythm guitarist and vocalist with The Average White Band, poet Jackie Kay, and the political radical Thomas Muir of Huntershill, after whom one of the local Secondary schools had previously been named.

Governance

In terms of local government, Bishopbriggs was originally part of the historic county of Lanarkshire, which continues to function as a Lieutenancy area, a successful campaign by the local Ratepayers Association won Bishopbriggs its late bid for independent Burgh status in 1964, in order to avoid being absorbed into the City of Glasgow's boundaries, resulting in the formation of Bishopbriggs Town Council. Following local government reorganisation, dissolution of the burgh system, and the creation of Regional and District Authorities, as a result of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, Bishopbriggs became part of the Strathclyde Region in 1975. The local Ratepayers Association again played a major role in keeping Bishopbriggs outwith Glasgow district and within the Strathkelvin district of the Strathclyde Region, along with Kirkintilloch and Lenzie. With the introduction of the present unitary local government system in 1996, and the dissolution of the Regional and District setup, as a result of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, Bishopbriggs became part of the East Dunbartonshire Council area. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, it is now represented on the council by two Wards; Bishopbriggs North & Torrance and Bishopbriggs South, represented by three Councillors each [ [http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/Web+Site/Live/EDWebLive.nsf/LU-AllContent/KRAE-5F2C6E?OpenDocument East Dunbartonshire - List of Councillors with Map of Wards] ] . A Bishopbriggs South Councillor, Labour's Alex Hannah, is currently Provost of East Dunbartonshire, whilst a Bishopbriggs North & Torrance Councillor, the Conservative's Billy Hendry, is deputy-Provost.

In terms of national government, Bishopbriggs is represented by the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency of the Scottish Parliament with the MSP being David Whitton of the Scottish Labour Party, as well as the 16 additional list MSP's that make up the West of Scotland region. The town is represented at Westminster by the East Dunbartonshire constituency of the House of Commons, with the MP being Jo Swinson of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, both constituencies are considered to be Marginal seats, with relatively high numbers of Swing votes. As Scotland comprises a single European Parliament Constituency, Bishopbriggs participates in electing 7 MEP's using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation every 4 years.

Demographics

NRS Social Classifications are used to determine the social classes stated above.

Toponymy

The derivation of the name Bishopbriggs has caused some controversy over the years. Although entirely Scots in origin, some prefer the explanation that it was named after 'the Bishop's Bridge', supposedly that over the Callie Burn that runs through Bishopbriggs Park. Early 19c engraved maps show the settlement as 'Bishopbridges'. However others believed the middle 'b' was a corruption. This, so the argument goes, appeared because it rolls off the tongue more easily than the claimed original name of 'Bishop's Riggs'. In this alternative "riggs" refers to the lands which the Bishop of Glasgow raised teinds from.

Transport

Air

Glasgow International Airport, at Paisley, is the nearest commercial airport serving the Greater Glasgow region, however a private landing strip at Cumbernauld Airport services smaller aircraft and helicopters.

Road

Bishopbriggs is connected to the UK motorway network at Junction 2 of the M80 motorway at Robroyston. This interchange will connect with the planned Bishopbriggs Relief Road. The main road through the town is the A803 which connects Glasgow to Falkirk and Grangemouth.

Rail

The town is served by Bishopbriggs railway station, and is the first stop for local trains departing from Glasgow Queen Street station on the Croy Line to Stirling. All rail services are provided by SPT. Despite being on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line, no Inter-City services call here. Journey time to Glasgow is just 11 minutes.

Canal

The Bishopbriggs section of the Forth and Clyde Canal opened in 1775 and when completed, connected the River Clyde, at Dalmuir, to the River Forth, at Grangemouth. Junctions at Falkirk with the Union Canal and at Maryhill to the Monkland Canal completed the network. The canal reopened in 2003 to non-commercial navigation as part of the Millennium Project.

Bus

Bus services are plentiful through the town for all services through the Kelvin Valley (Kirkintilloch, Kilsyth), long-distance services to Stirling and Falkirk are on an hourly basis. Bus companies include First Glasgow, McKindless (Harestanes to Glasgow), as well as a local service from John Morrow Coaches that runs a circular service around the town from 0800-1700 Mon-Fri. Defunct operator Kelvin Scottish Buses had their headquarters in the town.

Twin Town

*flagicon|France Corbeil-Essonnes, France

References

External links

* [http://www.glasgowguide.co.uk/images_bishopbriggs_01.html Images of Bishopbriggs]
* [http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/ East Dunbartonshire Council]
* [http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/ldb/sumdep.aspx?T=BBG Live train departure information]
* [http://www.woodhillresidentsgroup.org.uk/ Woodhill Residents Group]