Thorntonhall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thorntonhall is a small village to the west of East Kilbride, in South Lanarkshire, but directly adjacent to the border with East Renfrewshire. It is served by its own railway station. It also lies close to the village of Jackton.

Thorntonhall has a very interesting history reflecting the social changes of the last 400 years and in particular the last 120 years. It was originally just a farm that had added to it some major buildings. The then 'hall' was bought and greatly improved by a grocer called Cooper who had shops throughout the west of Scotland. Another grand house was built at Ravenscroft , again on a small hilltop. These two and the railway station were probably the catalyst for a great plan to build a mini-edinburgh style suburb of crescents and avenues. Only three houses were completed and then World War I intervened.

Pre- and during World War II it was one of the sites selected for relocation of government depts to avoid bombing raids.

Post war it became part of the East Kilbride New Town and this led to a large number of individual houses in this free standing village. That relative isolation led to more very up market housing development on a small scale throughout the period 1970 to 2000.This situation and the lack of council housing may be why the proportion of millionaires in Thorntonhall is the highest in Scotland. In 2006, G75 8** (Thorntonhall) was identified as the most expensive postcode for a house within the Scottish property market.

Thorntonhall has a tennis club which is in the heart of the community, both in terms of its geographical location and emotionally to the residents. The clubhouse itself is modest but boasts catering facilities, a dining room and a members lounge. The wooden walls are decorated with rackets of previous club champions.

Thorntonhall enjoys a temperate climate all year round. Average temperatures in July are 14.5 degrees Celsius, while in January they average 3.5. Average annual rainfall is 889 mm. This relatively high rainfall can present some problems for motorists on some of the poorly drained B roads that surround the area.

There is an hourly train service to Glasgow Central on the East Kilbride line that departs from Thorntonhall railway station. The train station itself has been subject to vandalism in the form of graffiti and also littering in recent years, much to the dismay of many residents.

[edit] External links

Languages