Twechar is a small former
mining village historically in
Dunbartonshire
Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...
and administered by the council area of
East Dunbartonshire
East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bear ...
, Scotland close to the boundary with
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...
. It lies between the larger towns of
Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...
,
Kilsyth
Kilsyth (; Scottish Gaelic ''Cill Saidhe'') is a town and civil parish in North Lanarkshire, roughly halfway between Glasgow and Stirling in Scotland. The estimated population is 9,860. The town is famous for the Battle of Kilsyth and the relig ...
and
Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch (; sco, Kirkintulloch; gd, Cair Cheann Tulaich) is a town and former barony burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. ...
. The
Forth and Clyde Canal
The Forth and Clyde Canal is a canal opened in 1790, crossing central Scotland; it provided a route for the seagoing vessels of the day between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde at the narrowest part of the Scottish Lowlands. This allo ...
runs close to the village to the north, and closely follows the line of the
Antonine Wall
The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as ''Vallum Antonini'', was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twe ...
. There are visible remains of the wall on
Bar Hill
Bar Hill is a purpose-built village with a population of 4,000 about 4 miles (7 km) northwest of Cambridge, England on the A14 road, just east of the Prime Meridian.
History
Prior to the building of the Bar Hill settlement the area was o ...
and the Roman Fort is a local tourist attraction.
History
![Titulihunteriani00macdrich raw 0141a2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Titulihunteriani00macdrich_raw_0141a2.png)
The etymology of the name is probably ‘causeway or pavement’. Several old documents show Twechar with various spellings including maps by Charles Ross, and
William Roy
Major-General William Roy (4 May 17261 July 1790) was a Scottish military engineer, surveyor, and antiquarian. He was an innovator who applied new scientific discoveries and newly emerging technologies to the accurate geodetic mapping of Gr ...
. There is a long history of mining activity in the Twechar locality but it was not until the coming of William Baird & Co. to the area, about 1860, that a close-knit mining community was created. Before that time Shirva was described as having the best farm land in the parish. Several tombstones from a possible Roman Cemetery were found at Shirva House. A legionary slab was also discovered. In 2020 a replica of the Eastermains stone was installed in Twechar. It was found on near the discovery site of the 20th Legion's slab: on Eastermains Farm (which adjoins Whitehill), west of Inchbelly Bridge, east of Kirkintilloch and is often associated with
Auchendavy
Auchendavy was a Castra, Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Much of the site archeology was destroyed by the builders of the Forth and Clyde Canal. Between Bar Hill Fort, Bar Hill and Balmuildy the wall roughly follows the southern bank ...
. It has been scanned and a video produced. It is similar to two other distance slabs of the
Sixth Legion.
Mining
Pits were sunk at Twechar and Gartshore and a row of workers' houses was built on the south bank of the Forth and Clyde canal, just east of Twechar Bridge.
The coal mining industry begun by the Bairds in the 1860s lasted for just over a century. Twechar No.1 Pit, on the north bank of the canal to the east of Twechar Bridge, closed in 1964, while Gartshore 9/11, the very last colliery in the area, was shut down in 1968. Thereafter some Twechar men travelled each day to collieries such as Bedlay and
Cardowan
Cardowan is a suburb situated in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the north-eastern outskirts of Glasgow.
Originally built around Cardowan Colliery, Garnkirk fire-clay works and clay mines in the immediate area, Cardowan's proximity to Glasgow has ...
in
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland.
Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...
, until they too were closed, during the early 1980s.
Baird & Co. provided rail connections to their local pits at an early date but for many years much of their coal was transported to market by canal boat. During the 1860s the canal company permitted Baird & Co. to place a railway
swing bridge
A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
over the canal, a short distance to the west of Twechar road bridge, for the purpose of forming a connection between collieries on either side of the canal. As part of the deal the coal company agreed to transport a proportion of its coal by canal although this requirement lapsed early in the twentieth century. However, the swing bridge continued in use until the mid-1960s, its hand-winding apparatus having been made redundant on 1 January 1963, when the canal closed.
Housing
![Twechar from the air (geograph 5308166)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Twechar_from_the_air_%28geograph_5308166%29.jpg)
The original housing provided by William Baird & Co soon proved inadequate and around 1880 the Barrhill Rows were constructed at right angles to Main Street, on its western side.
At first there were four rows, supplemented by two more about 1900, by which date the total number of dwellings in the rows was 160. The row nearest the canal included a Gartsherrie
Co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
shop and accordingly was known as the 'Store Row'.
Initially the houses had no sanitation and were lit by
paraffin lamp
A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a t ...
s. Communal wash houses were provided at intervals along each row. Most of the houses were of the two-apartment (room & kitchen) variety.
A great improvement was made in 1925, when Baird & Co. (in response to considerable pressure from the miners themselves, over the years) provided good quality modern housing for their mine workers at Burnbrae, Annieston, Sunnyhill and adjacent streets. There were 200 dwellings in all, some two-apartment and some three-apartment, built in two-story blocks of four. They were provided with bathrooms and electric lighting. When these houses were built the old row on the south bank of the canal was demolished. The Barrhill Rows, however, lasted until 1957. The Baird houses of 1925 are currently being demolished and little remains of Burnbrae, Whitelaw Terrace, Shirva lea and Merryflats ( Nov 09 ). Later housing was provided by
Dunbartonshire
Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...
County Council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Ireland
The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...
at MacDonald Crescent (1939), Alexander Avenue (1948) and Kelvin View (about 1955).
In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 1,363, a drop of over 9% from the previous census in 1991.
Schools
The village also had its own secondary education in Twechar School (now Twechar Primary School) until secondary schools in
Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...
and
Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch (; sco, Kirkintulloch; gd, Cair Cheann Tulaich) is a town and former barony burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. ...
opened and secondary age pupils were sent by bus to these schools.
Pupils from Twechar Primary now go on to further education at the new state of the art
Kirkintilloch High School
Kirkintilloch High School is a six-year co-educational secondary school located in the Oxgang area of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland.
School roll
There are around 600 pupils with an annual first year of five classes of up to th ...
. The
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
children are taught in Kirkintilloch for their primary and at the new
St Ninian's High School, Kirkintilloch
St. Ninian's High School is a Roman Catholic co-educational comprehensive secondary school, located in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, on the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal.
Admissions
There are currently over 900 students in attenda ...
for their secondary education.
the primary school has an estimate of 70-90 pupils ( 2010 .
Transport
Twechar railway station
Twechar railway station was opened in 1878 as Gavell on the Kelvin Valley Railway and renamed Twechar in 1924. The station served the hamlet of Twechar and the coal mining area, Gavell House and Farm, etc. in East Dunbartonshire
East Dunba ...
on the
Kelvin Valley Railway
The Kelvin Valley Railway was an independent railway designed to connect Kilsyth, an important mining town in central Scotland, with the railway network. It connected Kilsyth to Kirkintilloch and thence over other railways to the ironworks of Co ...
served the village and area from 1878 to 1951. It was named Gavell from 1878 until 1924.
Redevelopment
The reopening of the
Forth & Clyde Canal
The Forth and Clyde Canal is a canal opened in 1790, crossing central Scotland; it provided a route for the seagoing vessels of the day between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde at the narrowest part of the Scottish Lowlands. This allowe ...
, in May 2001, brought with it great opportunities for the development of Twechar, which lies close to the canal's half-way point.
Currently the village is undergoing a regeneration, EDC and private enterprise have put forward proposals to build approximately 200+ new houses, older housing stock in the "
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
" scheme will be demolished from late 2007 onwards if the plan goes ahead.
Newer small business units have also been built in the small enterprise park opposite the war memorial, and an application for new housing has been raised with the council for new housing next to Kelvin View (November 2009).
As of February 2012, residents have been moving into their new homes at the new Kelvin View housing site near the top end of Davison Crescent, the tenants seem very happy with their new homes.
Various new walkways have also been made, in and around the village and the glen.
The local leisure centre has undergone an expensive renovation and has been re-titled " The Twechar healthy living and enterprise centre." There is also a pharmacy run by M & D Green Dispensing Chemists Ltd. Negotiations to obtain a GP have been ongoing for some time.
An area to the rear of the former Masonic Hall (Lodge Barrhill Twechar 1444) has already been developed for boating purposes on the canal, a slipway and floating pontoon are already in-situ, hopefully there will be a community canal boat in place in the near future.
Churches
There is a
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 ...
congregation, Twechar Parish Church, which shares a minister with
Banton. The Roman Catholic villagers are served by St. John of the Cross Chapel in Twechar. There is also a Church of the Nazarene.
Roman Tombstones
Several Roman tombstones have been found at Shirva.
Several of them have been scanned and videos have been produced. They are sometimes connected with
Auchendavy
Auchendavy was a Castra, Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Much of the site archeology was destroyed by the builders of the Forth and Clyde Canal. Between Bar Hill Fort, Bar Hill and Balmuildy the wall roughly follows the southern bank ...
since Wester Shirva Farm is about halfway between there and
Bar Hill
Bar Hill is a purpose-built village with a population of 4,000 about 4 miles (7 km) northwest of Cambridge, England on the A14 road, just east of the Prime Meridian.
History
Prior to the building of the Bar Hill settlement the area was o ...
. Archaeological excavations at Bar Hill have in turn revealed a formerly unknown early Roman 'marching' camp to the south of the Fort, and an
artesian well
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
in the Commandant's courtyard which has produced numerous finds, presumably hastily tossed in by the Romans as they abandoned the Fort and wall. Twechar has in fact ''3'' Roman camps – both aforementioned sites at Bar Hill and another in the farmer's field adjacent to St John of the Cross.
References
External links
Twechar Community ActionEDLC - Twechar
{{authority control
Villages in East Dunbartonshire