Neilston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jza84 (talk | contribs) at 16:17, 24 December 2007 (→‎History: ce). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Neilston
A view of the village of Neilston, with the City of Glasgow in the distance
Area0.45 sq mi (1.2 km2)
PopulationExpression error: "5,168 (2001 Census)" must be numeric
OS grid referenceNS480572
• Edinburgh51 mi (82 km) ENE
• London344 mi (554 km) SSE
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGLASGOW
Postcode districtG78
Dialling code0141
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland

Neilston is a village in East Renfrewshire, amongst the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Levern Valley, 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Barrhead, and 3.8 miles (6.1 km) south of Paisley, at the southwestern edge of the Greater Glasgow conurbation.

Mentioned in documents in as early as the 12th century, the development of Neilston coincided largely with the Industrial Revolution. Before the coming of textile industry around the middle of the 18th century, this former milling village was made up mainly of a series of single-storey houses, many of them thatched, with Neilston Parish Church at the centre of the community. Agriculture has, and continues to play a major economic role for Neilston; the annual Neilston Agricultural Show being an important trading and cultural event for farmers from southwest Scotland each spring.

Although heavy industry declined during the latter half of the 20th century, the population has continued to grow as a commuting community,[1] supported by its position between Paisley and Glasgow, from roughly 1,000 people in 1800 to 5,168 in 2001.[2] Neilston continues to grow due to several new housing developments.

History

The origin of the name of Neilston is a subject of speculation, and has been accounted for in various ways by local toponymists,[3] though is universally said to have derived its name from a warrior of the name of Neil.[4] Some toponymists derive the name Neilston from a General of King Haakon IV of Norway, named Neil, who, fleeing from the Battle of Largs (1263), was overtaken in this locality and put to death. According to the custom of the age a burial mound was erected over his grave and the locality ultimately received the name of the General.[3] Others find Neilston's origin in a stone erected over a supposed Highland chief, named Neil, who was allegedly killed at the Battle of Harlaw (1411), during the reign of Malcolm III of Scotland.[3] In his book Rambles Round Glasgow, Hugh MacDonald suggests that Neilston may have received its name from an individual with the Celtic cognomen of Neil, who may have resided in the locality at some period, and left his name as a legacy.[3] However, the Chartulary of Paisley Abbey, a document written many years before the Norwegian invasion of Scotland or the insurrection terminated at Harlaw, mentions that the Anglo-Norman[5] knight, Robert Croc of Crocstown (Crookston),[5] assigned the patronage of Neilstoun to the monks of St Mirren's in 1163, on condition that masses should be regularly said for the benefit of his soul.[3]

Before its recorded history began, and possibly before its founding, the territory of what became Neilston is known to have formed part of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde.[6] Evidence attests that Neilston is much older than its larger neighbour Barrhead,[6] the first recorded mention of Neilston being in the Chartulary of Paisley Abbey of 1163; Barrhead first appearing in 1750.[7] The chartulary dealt with the foundation of the Clunaic Monastery in Paisley and its relationship to a chapel in Neilston, which were both answerable to Rome via the Clunaic Movement.[6] Because of its chapel, which later became a parish church, Neilston was the most important settlement in the Levern Valley, and much of rural Renfrewshire.[6]

Neilston is said to have been of strategic importance during the Middle Ages, being located in what was known as the Barrhead Gap – a pass linking Ayrshire to Glasgow.[8] Indeed it has been put that Robert Croc may have had a fort or watchtower at Coldoun in Neilston in the 12th century; "doun" being a corruption of "dun" meaning castle or fort, and the prefix perhaps implying the lack of physical warmth within the tower or the welcome received by unwelcome guests.[8] Despite this distinction of local importance, Neilston remained a scattered community of small dwellings and farms, changing only with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, to which Neilston owes much of its history.[6]

Neilston became a centre for bleaching cotton and calico-printing in the 18th century and continued printing and spinning cotton into the 20th century. Textile processing brought rapid expansion, prosperity, and economic growth to the village. As early as 1780, cotton manufacturing and bleaching had become the main industry in Neilston; the clear busy waters of the River Levern being well suited for power and processing.[9]

Crofthead Mill (known locally as Neilston Mill) was established in 1792.[10] It was one of seven large cotton spinning mills on the banks of the River Levern between Neilston and Dovecothall, and today is the only industrial structure from this period still standing[11] (though it closed for business in 1992[10]).

Following its period of rapid industrialisation, in 1904 about 400 mill houses were constructed forming Lintmill Terrace and its neighbouring streets in what was then the non-contiguous Holehouse area of the Parish of Neilston. Additional housing schemes in the 1920s and 1930s led to Holehouse and old Neilston becoming one whole connected village.[6]

Governance

The territory of what became Neilston anciently formed part of the Kingdom of Strathclyde.[6] Lying within the county boundaries of Renfrewshire from a very early time, from 1845 until 1975, Neilston formed its own parish.[12] Neilston Parish was for many years under the lordship of the Mure family of Caldwell whose tombs are at the parish church.[13]

From 1975 to 1996, Neilston was in the regional council area of Strathclyde. Since 1996 it has formed part of the East Renfrewshire council area; East Renfrewshire Council is the local authority. Neilston remains part of Renfrewshire for purposes of registration and Lieutenancy.

The village lies within the 'North Neilston and West Arthurlie' electoral ward.[14] Neilston has one of East Renfrewshire's ten Community Councils.[15] The Neilston Community Council's statutory role is to communicate local opinion to local and central government.[15]

Neilston forms part of the county constituency of East Renfrewshire, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Jim Murphy of the Scottish Labour Party is the MP for East Renfrewshire.[16] Before the constituency's creation in 2005, Neilston lay in the Eastwood constituency, represented by Jim Murphy. For purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Neilston forms part of the Eastwood constituency, which is represented by Kenneth Macintosh MSP, also of the Labour party.[17]

Geography

Neighbouring towns, villages and places.

At 55°47′4″N 4°25′24″W / 55.78444°N 4.42333°W / 55.78444; -4.42333Invalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (55.784663, -4.423396) Neilston lies 430 feet (131 m) above sea level,[18] 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Barrhead, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of Paisley, and 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Glasgow. It forms part of the Central Lowlands. The chief river is the Levern, which has its source in Loch Long, and for a few miles divides parts of the area, passing Neilston eastwards towards the town of Barrhead, and uniting its waters with those of the White Cart Water.[18]

The soil in the eastern parts of Neilston is a dry loam, occasionally intermixed with gravel. Amongst the hilly areas of the village, the soil is less fertile, whilst in all other parts, the land is moss covered moor.[18] The topography of Neilston is irregular; to the east nearly flat, and to the south and west, rising to heights of 400 feet (122 m) to 900 feet (274 m) above the level of the River Clyde.[18] In parts the ground forms hills of mixed elevation, of which the highest are Neilston Pad and the Corkendale-law, the first about 800 feet (244 m), and the second about 900 feet (274 m), above sea level.[18] Between these hills lies the narrow valley of the River Levern, along which passes the turnpike-road to Glasgow and Paisley.[18]

Neilston experiences a temperate maritime climate, like much of the British Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. Regular but generally light precipitation occurs throughout the year. Several lakes and small lochs are around Neilston; Long Loch, Loch Libo, and Loch Cawpla. Aboon the Brae (Scots language for "above the hill") is the site of a spring.[18]

Neilston's built environment is characterised by its mixture of 19th- and 20th-century detached cottages, single and two-story buildings and mansion houses for the owners of former mills and factories.[1] There is a mixture of suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Neilston, but overwhelmingly the land use in central Neilston is sub-urban. The territory of Neilston is not contiguous with any other settlement, and according to the General Register Office for Scotland, does not form part of Greater Glasgow, the United Kingdom's fifth largest conurbation.

Demography

Neilston compared[19][20]
UK Census 2001 Neilston East Renfrewshire Scotland
Total population 5,168 89,300 5,062,011
Foreign born 1.5% 3.8% 3.8%
Over 75 years old 4.8% 6.9% 7.1%
Unemployed 3.5% 2.5% 3.9%

According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the census locality (village and sub-area) of Neilston had a total resident population of 5,168, or 6% of the total of East Renfrewshire.[19] This combined with an area of 0.45 square miles (1.2 km2), provides Neilston with a population density figure of Template:Pop density mi2 to km2.

The median age of males and females living in Neilston was 37 and 38 years respectively, compared to 37 and 39 years for those in the whole of Scotland.[19] Forty six percent were married, 3.2% were cohabiting couples, 11.3% were lone parent families and 25.5% of households were made up of individuals.[21]

The place of birth of the village's residents was 98.5% United Kingdom (including 94% from Scotland), 0.35% Republic of Ireland, 0.37% from other European Union countries, and 0.75% from elsewhere in the world.[19] The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 45.4% in full-time employment, 11.4% in part-time employment, 5.2% self-employed, 3.5% unemployed, 4% students with jobs, 4% students without jobs, 11.4% retired, 4% looking after home or family, 6.8% permanently sick or disabled, and 3.5% economically inactive for other reasons.[22] Compared with the average demography of Scotland, Neilston has low proportions of people born outside of the United Kingdom, and people over 75 years of age.

Following the Scottish Reformation in 1560, there was no Roman Catholic place of worship in Neilston until 1861; it has been said there was no resident Roman Catholic community in the parish during this time.[23] It was not until the Industrial Revolution, when the demand for labour was great, that Irish people began to come to Neilston and other parts of Scotland in increasing numbers, many of them because of The Great Hunger early in the 19th century.[23] As a result, Neilston, like neighbouring Glasgow, is home to a significant number of Catholic Irish-Scots.[24] St Thomas's, was built around 1861 to accommodate the new Catholic community.[23]

Economy

Long existing as a village in a rural setting, Neilston's economy was historically driven by farming, though a trade in Handloom woven garments from the village's cottage industry also existed from very early times.[6] Grain mills and watermills were operating in Neilston as early as 1740.[6]

Due to its supply of water power from the River Levern, Neilston, like neighbouring Barrhead was developed with factories and cotton mills with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution. Neilston fostered a flourishing textile processing industry. At the peak of business, the River Levern was lined with bleachfields, cotton mills and calico printfields.[6]

The Neilston Agricultural Show is a Cattle show held close to the village on the first Saturday of every May with a tradition stretching back more than 170 years. It began life as a result of a dispute between two farmers from the village. Both the farmers had a prized bull that each said was better than the others. In a bid to settle the argument, the farmers arranged a contest that would be judged by the other farmers in the area. It is not documented who had the best bull, but the contest grew into an annual event that has continued as a local custom.[25]

Landmarks

Neilston Parish Church, known to have existed as the site of a Christian place of worship since 1163

Neilston Parish Church was first recorded in 1163 in a charter of Paisley Abbey. It was commissioned by Anglo-Norman Knight, Sir Robert de Croc, as part of a feudal requirement by the High Steward of Scotland, Walter fitz Alan.[26]

The only ancient part of the building is a Gothic window in a back wall and the burial vault of the Mure family.[26] Between 1796 and 1798 the roof was taken off and an additional storey constructed making space for a gallery to accommodate the growing population of Neilston.[26] The old graveyard is centuries old and has a stone dating back to the 15th century.[26]

Neilston Parish Church has passed through some turbulent times. In 1559, during the Scottish Reformation, an image of Mary mother of Jesus was taken from the church and thrown into a pool of the River Levern. The pool ever since has been known as the Midge Hole.[26][6] The church today is part of the Church of Scotland.

Transport

Neilston railway station

Travellers historically used the Levern Valley as a route to and from the Ayrshire coast. An ancient road from Glasgow to Kilmarnock known as the Flush was the most common path and can still be seen near Neilston.[6] Today, the major A736 road (Lochlibo Road) from Irvine to Braehead runs to the north of Neilston, whilst the nearest motorway is the M77 of which Junction 4 at Newton Mearns is the interchange for Neilston.

Neilston railway station, opened 1 May 1903, is the terminus of one branch of the Cathcart Circle Lines from Glasgow Central station. The station is managed by First ScotRail[27] and lies 11.7 miles (18.8 km) southeast of Glasgow Central. It was constructed when the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway built its line through the village to the coast at Ardrossan.[28] Neilston Low was a railway station in the locality that closed in 1966. It lay on the former Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway.

Education

Neilston has two primary schools, and no secondary schools. St Thomas' Primary School is a feeder Roman Catholic primary school, for St. Luke's High School in Barrhead, whilst Neilston Primary School is a non-denominational feeder primary school, for both Barrhead High School in Barrhead and Eastwood High School in Newton Mearns.[29]

Neilston Primary School was built in the late 1960’s with an open-plan extension completed in 1991.[29] The school roll was 350 in June 2005.[29] St Thomas's Primary, linked with the local Catholic chapel of the same name, was built in 1964 in Broadlie Road beside the chapel where the old building was demolished.[26] The school roll was 186 in 2007.[30]

Sports

See also: List of football clubs in Scotland

Neilston F.C. is a football team within the Scottish Junior Football Association based in Neilston.[31] Formed in 1945, they operate from the Brig O' Lea Stadium and play in red strips. After winning the Scottish Junior Football West Division One championship in season 2005-06, they will compete in the Scottish Junior Football West Premier League in the forthcoming season.

Notable people

Gregor Fisher, acclaimed comedian who portrayed Rab C. Nesbitt, was raised by his aunt and uncle in Neilston.[32] Shamus O'Brien was a Scottish American football striker born in Neilston in 1907.[33] During his career in the United States, O’Brien spent eight seasons in the first American Soccer League and another five in the second American Soccer League. John Robertson who built the engine for the steamship PS Comet in 1811, was born in Neilston in 1782.[34]

References

  1. ^ a b "Neilston". portaltothepast.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  2. ^ United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). "People of East Renfrewshire" (PDF). eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e McDonald, Hugh (1910). Rambles Round Glasgow. John Smith & Son. p. 197. ASIN B0000EEFKR.
  4. ^ Taylor, Charles (2003). Views of Neilston Parish: the Levern Delineated. The Grimsay Press. ISBN 0-90266471-9.
  5. ^ a b Barrow, G.W.S. (2003). The Kingdom of the Scots: Government, Church and Society from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0748618033.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Burgess, Moira (1992). Discover Barrhead & Neilston. Renfrew District Council. ISBN 0-86122-010-2.
  7. ^ McWhirter, James (1970). Mine Ain Grey Toon - A Story of Barrhead from Prehistoric Times to 1914. Barrhead: W. Neilly Ltd. ISBN 978-0950189604.
  8. ^ a b Neilston (Map) (1895 ed.). Cartography by Ordnance Survey. Alan Godfrey Maps. 2006. § Renfrewshire Sheet 16.02. ISBN 1-84151-862-X.
  9. ^ "Development of the Village". neilston.org.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  10. ^ a b "Bobbins & Threads; The History and Memories of Neilston Mill Workers". bobbinsandthreads.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  11. ^ "Portal to the Past; East Renfrewshire's Heritage Collection; Mills". eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  12. ^ A Vision of Britain through Time. "A vision of Neilston". Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  13. ^ East Renfrewshire Council. "Neilston". eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  14. ^ Office for National Statistics. "Area: North Neilston and West Arthurlie (Ward)". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  15. ^ a b East Renfrewshire Council. "Neilston Community Council". eastrenfrewhire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  16. ^ "Jim Murphy; Labour MP for East Renfrewshire". jimmurphy.labour.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  17. ^ "Ken Macintosh MSP". scottish.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Samuel (1846). A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland; 'Nairn - Newburgh'. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 298–309. ISBN 978-1845946098.
  19. ^ a b c d "Comparative Population Profile: Neilston Locality, Scotland". scrol.gov.uk. 2001. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  20. ^ "Comparative Population Profile: East Renfrewshire Council Area, Scotland". scrol.gov.uk. 2001. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  21. ^ "Comparative Household Profile: Neilston Locality, Scotland". scrol.gov.uk. 2001. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  22. ^ "Comparative Employment Profile: Neilston Locality, Scotland". scrol.gov.uk. 2001. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  23. ^ a b c "Churches". neilston.org.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  24. ^ Devine, T. M. (1997). Irish Immigrants and Scottish Society, 1790-1990. John Donald Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0859763189.
  25. ^ Neilston Agricultural Society (2007). "About Neilston Show". neilstonshow.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  26. ^ a b c d e f "Portal to the Past; East Renfrewshire's Heritage Collection; Churches". eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  27. ^ National Rail (2007-01-23). "Station Facilities: Neilston (NEI)". nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ "History of Neilston Station 1903 - 2003". barrhead-scotland.com. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  29. ^ a b c Neilston Primary School. "Standards and Quality Reports". ea.e-renfre.sch.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  30. ^ "School Information". ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  31. ^ "Neilston FC". nonleaguefooty.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  32. ^ Fulton, Rick (2006-11-17). "Smash 'n' Rab". dailyrecord.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-11-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ National Soccer Hall of Fame. "Shamus O'Brien". soccerhall.org. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  34. ^ East Renfrewshire Council. "Famous People of East Renfrewshire". eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-13.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neilston&oldid=179969122"