Baillieston
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Baillieston (55° 50’ N; 4° 7’ W) is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated on the north side of the Clyde, in the East End of the city.
It is the name of Ward 47 of Glasgow City Council within which there are currently three Community Councils - Garrowhill , Broomhouse and Baillieston. It also appears in the Glasgow Baillieston Constituency of the Scottish Parliament; and it forms part of the Glasgow East constituency of the UK Parliament. All current elected representatives are members of the Scottish Labour Party.
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[edit] Geographical position
The Baillieston district has relied in the past on the agricultural and mineral resources of its land, together with its position on major east-west communication routes. Today, its location makes it a successful dormitory town, whose inhabitants for the most part find work elsewhere.
Baillieston is situated west of a major interchange between the M8 and M73 motorways and the A8 trunk road, between the town of Coatbridge, and the neighbouring Glasgow suburb of Shettleston. There is a railway station as well as the (long filled and disused) Monkland Canal north of the district. At present the district - which also encompasses Barrachnie, Garrowhill and Swinton - has a population of approximately 17,500 people.
[edit] Population
In 2005, the population of Baillieston (Ward 47) was 18,088, of whom 53.1% were female. Some 35% of the district's residents were under 30 years old and 19.6% were of retirement age. In 2004, 2.1% of the working age population were unemployed (and claiming benefit) with the male unemployment was higher at 3.2%; both figures are substantially below the national average. There is an even spread of occupational levels, the largest groups (at just over 15% each) being Lower Managerial and Professional and Semi-routine Occupations. Just over 67% of the population owned their home and just over 56% owned one or more cars[citation needed].
[edit] Schools
The local schools are
- Bannerman High School,
- Caledonia Primary School
- St Francis of Assisi Primary School
- Garrowhill Primary School, Springhill Road, and
- St Bridget’s Primary School, Camp Road .
[edit] Churches
There are a number of churches including the original ( 1833 ) but disused Baillieston Old Parish Church in Church Street and the new (1973-76) St Andrew Parish Church in Muirhead Road.There is a St Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Chapel, at the bottom end of Crown St, and St Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church in Swinton Road, which was built by the Pugin company in 1891 - 1893 . There is a small Episcopal Church of St John also in Swinton Road, built in 1850. The Mure Memorial Parish Church in Garrowhill was built as part of the garden suburb opened in 1940.
[edit] Buildings
- Calderbank House, situated on the lands formerly known as Blackyairds above a ravine on the North Calder Water, was an early 19th century house in Baronial Style which burned down in a fire in April, 2002.
- Crosshill parish church in Church Street built in 1833 and though now superseded by the new St.Andrew's church nearby is still standing and surrounded by its graveyard.
- St Catherine’s House in Swinton Road was the original Mure Memorial Miners’ Church built in 1882 and is now a home for the elderly.
- The 18th Century Rhindmuir House was demolished to make way for the M8 motorway in the 1970's.
[edit] Other constructions
[edit] History
Baillieston was situated within Old Monkland Parish described in the Statistical Account of Scotland of 1791-1799, in which its minister records the huge expectations, subsequently realised, attendant upon the opening of the Monkland Canal in 1790. He reminds his readers that the eastern part of the Parish lands originally belonged to the Cistertian monks of Newbottle Abbey. However he omitted to mention that the western part of the parish - including the Baillieston district was part of the Bishopric of Glasgow until after the Reformation when the lands came under the Crown, eventually being feud out to various individuals.
The modern name comes from Baillieston House which was situated a half mile to the west of the later village. The name comes from a merchant called John Baillie, of London, who purchased the lands later to become known as Baillieston in 1732.
The origins of the village date from 1795 with the opening of the toll bar on the new Glasgow to Edinburgh turnpike and adjacent toll keeper's house. Thereafter its expansion into a small village was due to the demands of the hand-loom weaving industry and the incoming workers that were attracted to that work. By 1830 it was a substantial settlement and grew rapidly in conjunction with the opening up of the coal field in the surrounding farmlands.
In 1833 a chapel-of-ease was built on part of the land of Crosshill farm and this later became a Quoad Sacra parish in 1872. Immigration from all over Scotland and later Ireland proceeded apace and housing began to swallow up the local hamlets and farmsteads. By 1900 the population was 5,000. Following the First World War, government assisted housing developments spread to Swinton, the Rhinsdale estate and Muirside. Coal mining began to decline in the 1920s and has now completely disappeared, as have alternative sources of employment in Finlay's Nurseries and a McFarlane Paton's jam- and sweet-making factory. Baillieston House was destroyed by fire and demolished in 1964 - a housing estate now stands on the site. Long part of Lanarkshire , Baillieston was incorporated into Glasgow (against some local opposition) in 1975.
[edit] Football
Baillieston Juniors was founded in 1911 and played at Station Road until the 1980s when the ground was sold off for housing. The team carried on, and, though they are not currently in business, they may still return to Junior football. Their greatest season was 1979 - 1980 , when they won the Scottish Junior Cup, the Glasgow Dryburgh Cup and the McLeod Cup. The star player, Davie Wilson was signed from the Juniors to Glasgow Rangers FC in 1956 and played for Scotland. In 1987, Alan Dinnie left the Juniors to play for Partick Thistle F.C. and was also capped for Scotland.In the same year, Tommy Elliott was transferred from Baillieston Juniors to Partick Thistle.
A Baillieston Thistle team preceded the Juniors in the late 19th century and won the Scottish Junior Football League twice - in 1893 and 1894 . Its name is kept alive by the Scottish Amateur Football Association team Baillieston Thistle AFC. Another amateur team, Red Star Baillieston AFC plays at Stepford Edinburgh Road. There is a Baillieston Girls Football Club and Baillieston Ladies Football Club, both of whom have supplied players to the national teams.
[edit] Transport
Baillieston is served by Baillieston railway station on the Whifflet Line, offering regular servies to Glasgow Central. Baillieston is also servied by numerous bus routes. Access to the M8 motorway and to the proposed extension of the M74 motorway are nearby.
[edit] References
Williamson, Elizabeth, Riches, Anne, and Higgs, Malcolm The Buildings of Scotland- Glasgow Penguin (in association with the National Trust for Scotland) 1990 ISBN 0-14-071069-8.
- The Statistical Account of Scotland; Parish of Old or West Monkland, No. XXXVIII. (1791-1799)
The Rev. John Bower.
- National Archives of Scotland; sasine records RS.42.584 (John Baillie).
- The Diocesan Registers of the Barony of Glasgow, 1507-1570.
[edit] External links
- [1] contains statistics on Ward 47.
