Waterfoot ( sco, Watterfit) is a village 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 Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is on the B767 road between Clarkston and

Eaglesham Eaglesham ( ) is a village in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, situated about south of Glasgow, southeast of Newton Mearns and south of Clarkston, and southwest of East Kilbride. The 2011 census revealed that the village had 3,114 occupants, dow ...

, which are to the north and south respectively, while

Newton Mearns Newton Mearns ( sco, The Mearns; gd, Baile Ùr na Maoirne ) is a suburban town and the largest settlement in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. It lies southwest of Glasgow City Centre on the main road to Ayrshire, above sea level. It has a populat ...

is about to the west and

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

about to the southeast. The village shares a community council with the neighbouring community of Eaglesham, the Eaglesham and Waterfoot Community Council meets in Eaglesham on a monthly basis. During the Second World War, deputy leader of the Nazi party

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

, crash landed in Floors Farm, west of the village. He was arrested and held in custody until after the war, when he was tried at the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

. The audio equipment manufacturer

Linn Products Linn Products is an engineering company that manufactures hi-fi and audio equipment. Founded by Ivor Tiefenbrun in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1973, the company is best known as the manufacturer of the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable. From 2007 Linn was ...

has its factory to the southwest of Waterfoot.

Development

The Glasgow Southern Orbital road (part of the

A726 The A726 road in Scotland is a major route with several distinct sections with different characteristics and names; owing to its stages of construction, since 2005 it has two separate parts, the first running between Strathaven in South Lanark ...

) passes just to the south of Waterfoot. The village lies on the west bank of the

White Cart Water The River Cart ( sco, River Cairt) is a tributary of the River Clyde, Scotland, which it joins from the west roughly midway between the towns of Erskine and Renfrew and opposite the town of Clydebank. The River Cart itself is very short, being f ...

, and the original settlement grew up around a farm,

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

and smithy. One early record of the village is in

Timothy Pont Rev Timothy Pont (c. 1560–c.1627) was a Scottish minister, cartographer and topographer. He was the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an a ...

's maps of Scotland (1583–1596). Waterfoot today is purely residential in character, having expanded as a commuter dormitory village, primarily in the latter half of the 20th century. The 2011 census reported that Waterfoot had a population of 1,280. There was some controversy in 2012 when East Renfrewshire Council wanted to sell Waterfoot Park to the housebuilder

CALA Homes Cala Homes is a British housebuilding company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Cala Homes (Gaelic Dachaighean Cala) was founded in 1875 as the City of Aberdeen Land Association. It has grown to become one of the UK's largest house ...

so that they could build 29 homes. A new park, Inky Pink Park, was created using funds provided by CALA to mitigate for the loss of Waterfoot Park when it was built on.

Notable people

Winifred Drinkwater Winifred Joyce "Winnie" Drinkwater (11 April 1913 – 6 October 1996) was a pioneering Scottish aviator and aeroplane engineer. She was the first woman in the world to hold a Commercial pilot licence, commercial pilot's licence. Biography Drin ...

, the world's first female commercial airline pilot, was born in Waterfoot on 11 April 1913.

Gallery

File:Weir White Cart Water, Waterfoot. - geograph.org.uk - 429307.jpg, Weir

File:Brackenrig Burn - geograph.org.uk - 635404.jpg, Brackenrig Burn File:Floors - geograph.org.uk - 74526.jpg, "Floors Farm" near Waterfoot

References

External links

Waterfoot
at

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and cont ...

Busby & Waterfoot - Illustrated Guide
{{authority control Villages in East Renfrewshire Populated places established in the 16th century