Braidwood is a small village near
Carluke
Carluke (; ) is a town that lies in the heart of the Lanarkshire countryside in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, northwest of Lanark and southeast of Wishaw.
Carluke is largely a commuter town, with a variety of small stores and supermarkets a ...
, in
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...
, Scotland. The medieval barony of Braidwood included the
Tower of Hallbar.
Braidwood House, former seat of
Lord Clydesmuir, is one of the major local landmarks. Over the years it has been a home for sufferers of
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...
run by
Capability Scotland
Capability Scotland is a Scottish charity founded in 1946. Based in Edinburgh with operations across Scotland, it provides care, support, and education for disabled people. The charity offers residential care homes, care at home, housing support, ...
and is now home to the South of Scotland offices of the
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England.
The Forestry Commission was previously also respons ...
. Braidwood House was also briefly home to the
Airborne Initiative, formerly of Glengonnar outside Abington, who specialised in outward-bound style training for young offenders. However the programme's funding was subsequently withdrawn by the
Scottish Executive
The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...
in 2004, after the airing of a controversial
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...
documentary ''Chancers''.
Emotional end for Airborne offenders' project
The Scotsman, 29 July 2004 The building has now fallen into disrepair, but there is still a small animal cemetery in the overgrown house grounds.
Many houses have been built in Braidwood in the past couple of years, primarily on the former sites of the vehicle dismantlers of Alan Gray at Nellfield. New buildings are also being constructed beside the Beanshields road. The "Nellfield Garage" petrol station (now owned by Penny Petroleum) is still functioning along with a shop.
Education
The village has one primary school which is a feeder to Carluke High School, the school educates some pupils from the village and mostly incomers from Carluke. The architecture of the old school building is noteworthy as it was in the shape of an alien spacecraft. This building was rebuilt to create a larger school in 2014.
Location
The village itself is situated in the Clyde Valley
The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. T ...
, around from the river Clyde. For a small village it has a good variety of signposted woodland footpaths in the valley, with unusual names such as Fiddler's Gill, and an attractive village duck pond, much used for picnics. Between the Fiddler's Gill footpath and St Oswald's farm there is an abandoned curiosity - the Braidwood telescope - a Lanark amateur astronomer's disused relic.
See also
* List of places in South Lanarkshire
References
External links
Villages in South Lanarkshire
Clydesdale
{{SouthLanarkshire-geo-stub