Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in

East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of ...

, Scotland, southwest of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268.

History

Barrhead was formed when a series of small textile-producing villages (Barrhead,

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

, Grahamston and Gateside) gradually grew into one another to form one continuous town. According to local historian James McWhirter, the name "Barrhead" first appeared in 1750.

Glanderston House Glanderston House was a country house and estate in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, to the south of Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge ...

, to the south, at one time belonged to the Stewart kings of Scotland. In 1851 there was an explosion at the Victoria Pit colliery in nearby

Nitshill Nitshill ( gd, Cnoc nan Cnòthan) is a district on the south side of Glasgow. It is bordered by South Nitshill to the south, Darnley to the east, Crookston and Roughmussel to the north-west, Hurlet to the west and Househillwood and Priesthill t ...

, killing 63 men and boys who worked in the mine, many of whom lived in Barrhead. The victims were buried in a mass grave in the yard at St John's Church on Darnley Road, and although some bodies were later exhumed and reburied in other cemeteries, some may still reside at St John's in an unmarked grave. In 1890, with a rapidly expanding population approaching 10,000, various local residents formed a Barrhead Burgh Formation Committee. The status of

police burgh A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a "police system" for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975. The 1833 act The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 (3 & 4 Wm IV c.46). This ...

was granted in 1894 and William Shanks, proprietor of a local company, was elected as the first provost of Barrhead. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the town was a major centre for manufacturing, with industries including an iron

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

, and the Armitage Shanks porcelainware works, as well as Gaskell's carpet factory, employing generations of the town's residents. In the later 20th century, the decline and closure of nearly all of these industries caused a fall in local employment and population. In recent years, Barrhead has found new life as a popular residential commuter town for near Paisley and Glasgow. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a handful of bombs fell on Barrhead from German planes headed towards

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

and Yoker.

Governance

Burgh Court Hall and Burgh Chambers, Main Street, Barrhead (cropped)

In 1894 Barrhead became a

burgh of barony A burgh of barony was a type of Scottish town (burgh). Burghs of barony were distinct from royal burghs, as the title was granted to a landowner who, as a tenant-in-chief, held his estates directly from the crown. (In some cases, they might also ...

, meaning that it had its own town council. The council was based at

Barrhead Burgh Hall Barrhead Burgh Hall, also known as Barrhead Burgh Court Hall and Burgh Chambers and as the James McGuire Building, is a municipal complex in Main Street, Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. The complex was the headquarters of Barrhead Burgh C ...

. The burgh status was abolished in 1975 under the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

when Strathclyde Regional Council and

Renfrew District Council Renfrew District ( gd, Sgìre Rinn Friù) was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, which existed between 1975 and 1996.East Renfrewshire Council. Barrhead is a single council ward, electing 4 members to serve as part of East Renfrewshire Council. Barrhead is part of the county constituency of

, electing one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) to the House of Commons of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

Kirsten Oswald Kirsten Frances Oswald (born 21 December 1972) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader from 2020 to 2022. First elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire in 2015, she w ...

of the SNP was elected to represent East Renfrewshire in the 2019 UK General Election. In the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

, Barrhead forms part of the Renfrewshire South constituency, represented by Tom Arthur of the SNP. Barrhead is also represented by seven regional MSPs from the West of Scotland electoral region.

Geography

Barrhead forms part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Areas within the town include

, Auchenback, Gateside and Grahamston. The town is about from the edge of the

urban area ( Hurlet and Parkhouse neighbourhoods), separated by farmland and countryside, much of which is now part of the Dams to Darnley Country Park, encompassing the Balgray and Waulkmill Glen Reservoirs and the course of the Brock Burn.

Economy

Major businesses within the town include Barrhead Travel, Kelburn Brewing Company, and JM Murdoch & Son, among others. The town's largest employer is East Renfrewshire Council and the public sector. In 2002, part of the administration of East Renfrewshire Council relocated from Eastwood Park to Barrhead Main Street. There is a range of retail goods available within Barrhead, although some residents still rely on Paisley and the nearby Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow for the bulk of their purchases. The town has three supermarkets.

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

is located just outside the town centre with Lidl close by, while Asda opened a store on Main Street in 2014. East Renfrewshire Council committed nearly £100 million to a masterplan to redevelop and modernise Barrhead's economy between 2007 and 2017. The Glasgow Road corridor is being redeveloped into a dedicated business district which includes Crossmill Business Park, Blackbyres Court, and the former Bowerwalls housing area. There are four industrial estates: Robertson Street Industrial Estate, Levern Industrial Estate at Cogan Street, Muriel Street, and the Barrhead Cargo Centre and Shanks Industrial Park, located on the former site of the Armitage Shanks factory. In 2005 local businesses created the Barrhead Business Forum, which liaises with East Renfrewshire Council, Barrhead Community Council, and East Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce. The administration and collection of business rates for Barrhead is undertaken by Renfrewshire Council. In October 2016, Barrhead businesses voted in favour of becoming a Business Improvement District (BID), which is a model proving successful for town centres across the UK and beyond. The Barrhead BID is called 'All About Barrhead' and is the third BID in East Renfrewshire, following Giffnock which established in 2013 and Clarkston which is now in its second term, establishing in 2010. The town is part of the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board. The nearest accident and emergency unit is located at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

Transport

Barrhead is accessible via Junction 2 (Pollok) or Junction 3 (Darnley) of the M77 motorway. Local bus services,

McGill's Bus Services McGill's Bus Services is a bus operator based in Greenock, Scotland.Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Paisley,

Neilston Neilston ( sco, Neilstoun, gd, Baile Nèill, ) is a village and parish in East Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, south of Paisley, and south-southwest of Renfrew, at t ...

, and Newton Mearns.

Barrhead railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Barrhead-030908.jpg , caption = View from Platforms 2 and 3 at Barrhead railway station, looking towards Kilmarnock , borough = Barrhea ...

, which serves the town, is on the

Glasgow South Western Line The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride. History The line was built by several railway compan ...

. Trains from Barrhead run north-east to Glasgow Central and south to

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

, and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

. At the beginning of the 20th century, several railway lines ran through Barrhead to accommodate the town's manufacturing industries: the Glasgow Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway and the Glasgow and Kilmarnock Joint Railway, which merged to become the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway; the

Glasgow & South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was a railway company in Scotland. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle. It was formed on 28 October 1850 by the merger of two earlier railways, ...

, which built Barrhead Central railway station as the terminus of its short-lived Barrhead branch; and the Caledonian Railway. Evidence of these lines can still be seen within the town, including two standalone sections of railway viaduct, one near the Tesco store and the other now carrying a footpath between Springhill Road and the Woodside Park in Upper Auchenback (known locally as the Jerries). Barrhead was formerly served by routes 14 and 28 of the once extensive

Glasgow Corporation Tramways Glasgow Corporation Tramways were formerly one of the largest urban tram, tramway systems in Europe. Over 1000 municipally-owned trams served the city of Glasgow, Scotland, with over 100 route miles (160 route kilometres) by 1922. The system clo ...

system. Trams ran from Barrhead to Glasgow and Paisley. Glasgow tram service 14 was once the longest in Great Britain, running from Milngavie on the far north-western edge of Greater Glasgow, through the city centre and then through Thornliebank, Spiersbridge, Barrhead and Paisley to reach Renfrew Ferry on the south side of the Clyde. Tramway services in Paisley and Barrhead were withdrawn in 1957; the entire system was dismantled by September 1962.

Education

Barrhead has five primary schools: Carlibar Primary School, Cross Arthurlie Primary School, Hillview School, St. John's Roman Catholic Primary School and St. Mark's Roman Catholic Primary School. In 2007, St. Mark's received an outstanding report from HM Inspectorate of Education with 11 "excellents" – the most ever recorded by HMIE – making St. Mark's officially the best school in Scotland. The new Carlibar Primary School, opened in the autumn of 2006 to replace an outdated building, hosts a family centre, a pre-school assessment unit, community and adult learning services, and a state-of-the-art language and communication unit which serves nearly 50 children with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

from across East Renfrewshire. The town has two secondary schools:

St. Luke's High School St Luke's High School is a school in the Auchenback area of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, in the Greater Glasgow area of Scotland. The school focuses on its Catholic ethos in teaching and its close relationship with the communities of Barrhead ...

and Barrhead High, both in the Auchenback area. In 2018, a £30 million replacement building for Barrhead High was opened. St. Luke's High School was named a School of Ambition by the Scottish Executive.

Culture

The

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

has staged full performances in Barrhead five times, most recently "

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...

" in 2006, using a mobile performance venue set up in Barrhead Sports Centre. There are several public houses in Barrhead. These include Cross Stobs, The Kelburn, The Arthurlie Inns, and The Brig Inn. The Cross Stobs dates back to at least 1695.

Sports

An active Scottish Junior football team,

, plays in Barrhead, with a previous club of the same name having played as a senior league side until 1929. The earlier team was renowned for its 4–2 defeat of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in the 1897 Scottish Cup. Arthurlie's Johnny Kelly went on to play for Celtic and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

and won several caps for Scotland. The team won the Scottish Junior Cup in 1998. Alex McLeish, Scotland's most capped defender with 77 caps and national team coach, went to school in Barrhead. In the early 20th century, the town produced three brothers, Alec Logan, James Logan and Tommy Logan who all played for either Scotland or the Scottish League XI. Barrhead Boys Club, founded in 1972 and recently renamed as Barrhead Youth Football Club, caters for children as young as 6 years old, up to 21, and also has adult and veteran teams. Barrhead is home to four bowling clubs: Barrhead, Arthurlie, Shanks, and St John's. Founded in 1904, the Fereneze Golf Club is the town's mature moorland 18-hole course boasting spectacular panoramic views over the Clyde Valley. Barrhead Boxing Club has produced several contenders at Scottish Amateur level as well as several professional contenders in recent years, while the town's several

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

clubs have produced some notable championship fighters. A

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track, was opened on ground off the Aurs Road on Saturday 7 July 1934. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. The track raced over 300 and 325 yards. The date of closure is not known.

Churches

Major churches in Barrhead include St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church on Aurs Road, the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

parish churches of Bourock and St. Andrew's, both on Main Street, and the United Reformed Church on Arthurlie Street. There is also a Methodist church and several small Evangelical churches. There is also a small Church of God in Barrhead.

In literature

Barrhead Station features in

The Five Red Herrings ''The Five Red Herrings'' (also ''The 5 Red Herrings'') is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her sixth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. In the United States it was published in the same year under the title ''Suspicious Characters''. Foreword The ...

, a detective novel by Dorothy L Sayers.

Notable people

References

External links

*
Barrhead News
{{authority control Towns in East Renfrewshire Burghs Populated places established in the 1750s Greater Glasgow