Linwood () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

in the west

central Lowlands The Central Lowlands, sometimes called the Midland Valley or Central Valley, is a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland. It consists of a rift valley between the Highland Boundary Fault to the north and ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, west of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. It is about northeast of

Johnstone Johnstone (,
) is a town in the

Paisley close to the Black Cart Water and the A737 road.

Etymology

Linwood comes from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

''worǒ'' 'enclosure' (not wood) with an uncertain first element. Other source suggests the following; The village name is a hybrid meaning 'wood by the pool' Llyn (

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

) 'pool'; wudu (Anglo-Saxon) 'wood'. Originally known as 'The Linwood', the settlement dates back to the fourteenth century when Linwood consisted of a small collection of farms and dwellings concentrated on the banks of the Black Cart. It was given the collective name The Linwood, with early mails showing it as 'Ye Lynwode'.

History

Roman era

Roman forts at Barochan Hill and Whitemoss in Bishopton, would have provided support to other forts along the Antonine Wall, on the opposite side of the River Clyde at Duntochar, ( linked by a causeway). This close proximity to Linwood has fueled anecdotal evidence that suggests a patrol of Romans were hindered from plundering the rural farms by the wet, boggy land of the Linwood Moss. There is a historical article, quoted below, that has a different version of events but which if either is true.

"''In an attempt to prevent local tribespeople from cloaking themselves in the shadows of the trees and launching counterattacks, the Roman forces proceeded to cut down an area which is now known as Linwood Moss and serves as a crucial habitat for wildlife''."

21st century

On 10 August 2006, a local community action group, Linwood Sucks, initiated what became a six-year campaign to expose various problems with

contaminated land Contaminated land contains substances in or under the land that are definitively or potentially hazardous to health or the environment. These areas often have a long history of industrial production and industrial farming. Many sites may be affect ...

in the area and to highlight the decline of the original town centre. Despite the negative overtones of their name, the group along with qualified collaborators and community support, conducted a great deal of technical research which contributed to a variety of positive changes in the town. One of the initial objectives included research into the lack of playground facilities for the local children. This objective was carried on successfully by Linwood Active, another group, who would later attain charitable status and redevelop the playground facility at Kintyre Park. Other problems highlighted by Linwood Sucks included highly toxic land in various public areas such as the Erskinefauld Road playground, Cowal Drive playground and in the ongoing building of new housing and a care home facility. The background to this contamination is well documented in what Tom Burke, editor and researcher, had named the Linwood Toxic Timeline. In summary old mine shafts scattered over the Erskinefauld and Brediland areas had been used as dumping grounds for chemical waste from the former Brediland Chemical Works. More recent contamination problems are credited to the Middleton Road incinerator (1974–1992) and the nearby landfill on the Moss Road. As the Linwood moss landfill prepared to close by November 2006, the Reilly quarry between Linwood and Bishopton was being prepped to be used as a landfill by May 2007. Also of concern whilst being of historical interest is the anecdotal evidence of "Daisy Hill" being a mass cholera grave on the site which would become the Golden Pheasant Hotel, later re-purposed as Mount Royal Homeless unit before being demolished, November 2010, and the Mosswood Care home facility being built. Adjacent to this site, an area known by the older generation as Dent's Corner, is another piece of contaminated waste-ground, the former site of Dents & Johstone Ltd who worked with substances such as polonium in the development of illuminated aircraft cockpit instrumentation.

Recent history

In December 2011, Linwood received the annual "Plook on the Plinth" award for "Scotland's most dismal town", part of the '' Urban Realm'' magazine's 'Carbuncle Awards'. The magazine suggests that the award is intended to cause debate and inspire redevelopment. The Linwood Community Development Trust was formed on 7 December 2011.

Linwood Regeneration

Linwood has undergone a major redevelopment which began in 2008: * Four schools have been rebuilt or refurbished * New housing stock – private and social * £24 million sports centre – home to several sports clubs * Tesco town centre regeneration * Community care home * Kintyre Park playground facilities

Economy

Cotton and other industries

Linwood owes its existence to the building of cotton and flax mills there at the end of the 18th century. In the following century there were shale coal oil works, ironstone and cotton production businesses in the village. There was a

bleachfield A bleachfield or bleaching green was an open area used for spreading cloth on the ground to be purified and whitened by the action of the sunlight. Bleaching fields were usually found in and around mill towns in Great Britain and were an integral ...

at Linwood connected to the spinning mill there. A paper mill was also established as can be seen on older maps.

Car production

The expansion and economy of Linwood from 1961 onwards relied heavily on the Rootes, later

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

then Peugeot Talbot car plant, and the associated

Pressed Steel Company Pressed Steel Company Limited was a British car body manufacturing business founded at Cowley near Oxford in 1926 as a joint venture between William Morris, Budd Corporation of Philadelphia USA, which held the controlling interest, and a Brit ...

body parts pressing facility. Construction at the car factory began in 1961 to produce the Hillman Imp, a revolutionary small car which went into production when the factory was opened on 2 May 1963, and was not discontinued until 1976. The factory, opened by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

, had the advantage of a direct rail link, which allowed cars to be transported by rail to places all over Britain. The opening and production can be seen in the Rootes Group's 20-minute film. It later produced the

Hillman Avenger The Hillman Avenger is a five-passenger, front-engine, rear-drive B-segment/Subcompact car, subcompact car, originally engineered and manufactured by the Rootes Group in the UK and marketed globally from 1970–1978 in two- or four-door sedan a ...

(later badged as a

and finally a Talbot) from 1970 and the Imp's successor, the

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

. After Chrysler UK was bought by Peugeot Talbot, a review of the plant and associated models decided to close the Linwood plant in favour of retaining the

Ryton plant The Ryton plant is a former car manufacturing plant in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, England. Developed by the Rootes Group as a shadow factory in 1939 to produce aircraft engines for World War II; post war it became the headquarters of the group. Ta ...

near

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. Linwood was closed in 1981 with most of the factory demolished soon afterwards. The final remaining part was demolished in 1996. The closure left mass unemployment. The state of the town was immortalised in the song " Letter from America" by

The Proclaimers The Proclaimers are a Scottish Rock music, rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America (song), Letter from America", which reached No. 3 ...

; the lyrics "Linwood no more" referred to the closure of the car factory. The site of the former Linwood Car Plant has been redeveloped into a successful retail park, known by some as the Linwood Phoenix and as the Paisley Phoenix by others. It includes various fast food outlets and the very popular Showcase Cinema and a 24hr Asda.

Shopping centre

The 2001 S1 Jobs TV advert was perhaps the first red flag that Linwood was plummeting into decline. It featured a miserable character, who became known as "''Lavvy Heid''" and was filmed in the already dilapidated town centre, shopping area, not just any old shopping centre, but in fact one that had been promoted as ''Scotlands' first regional shopping centre. Ironically,'' the advert was banned as was seen to be promoting bullying behaviour in 2011, but the level of real life corporate bullying at the regional shopping centre had been ongoing since 2000 and would not be over until the former regional shopping centre had been demolished and Linwood crowned as a Tesco Town.

''Tesco has come under fire again, this time for using a property company to act as a front to buy a shopping centre which it then, allegedly, let run into disrepair so as to step in and buy it a few years later. Residents and MSPs in Renfrewshire were horrified to learn that the supermarket giant – already renowned for controversy – used local property developer Balmore Properties to buy Linwood town centre’s precinct in 2001 for £1.7 million.''

Culture

Culture and media

* In 1987, as mentioned above in relation to the demise of the ever name-changing "Linwood Car Plant", The Proclaimers put Linwood on the map of a declining industrial Scotland, along with other towns with those words "''Linwood No More''" in the lyrics of " Letter From America". * Jeff Torrington (31 December 1935 – 11 May 2008) – former Linwood car plant employee and writer. ''The Devil's Carousel'' (1998) drew on the decline of a fictionalised version of the Rootes/Chrysler car plant at Linwood. * In 2014, Paul Coulter's play ''Linwood No More'' was performed at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. * Linwood, and the closure of the car factory, were also the inspiration for the title track of the 2015 Simon Kempston album, ''The Last Car''. * A book was published in late 2023 entitled ''Linwood Through The Ages'' by Dougie Ross, which extensively covers the whole history of Linwood.

Sport

* In the 1880s, a football club from the town, Clippens F.C., played in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

winner Paul Lambert, grew up in Linwood. * Former Dundee United F.C. captain, Paul Paton, is also from Linwood. * Goalkeeper Billy Thomson grew up in Linwood. * John Hillcoat, former Dunfermline Athletic, Clyde, Hamilton Academical, Partick Thistle, Clydebank, Morton, Queen of the South, St Mirren, Dumbarton, Stranraer, Ayr United, Brechin City and Stenhousemuir goalkeeper. * Drew Wilson, cyclist, who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 1986, 1994 & 1998.

Education

The town has the following educational establishments: Nursery * East Fulton * Our Lady of Peace * Linwood community childcare Primary Schools * East Fulton * Our Lady of Peace * Woodlands Secondary Schools * Linwood High * St Benedict's RC High Special Education * Linwood's Riverbrae School (a

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

school) opened in August 2017, it replaced Clippens (formerly Mossedge Primary), the Hollybush Pre-5 Centre and Kersland Schools.

Transport

Linwood is on the A761 close to its junction with the A737 which links the town to

Glasgow Airport Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport () and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019 it handled 8.84 million passe ...

and the motorway network to the east, and Garnock Valley and the

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

coast to the south-west. Local transport is served by

McGill's Bus Services McGill's Bus Services is a bus operator based in Greenock, Scotland. The company has grown to operate a network of routes covering much of the council areas of Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City (counci ...

who have several services that link the town to the nearby towns of Johnstone,

Bridge of Weir Bridge of Weir is a village within the Renfrewshire council areas of Scotland, council area and wider counties of Scotland, historic county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying within the Gryf ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and Paisley, and it also has services which connect the town to Braehead and Glasgow. Rail transport can be accessed from the nearby Johnstone railway station, which includes a two level park and ride car park. This route provides services westwards to Ayr,

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

, Irvine,

Kilwinning Kilwinning (, ; ) is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located on the banks of the River Garnock in Ayrshire, west/central Scotland, about southwest of Glasgow. Kilwinning's neighbours are the coastal towns of Stevenston to the west an ...

Largs Largs () is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its histor ...

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns#Scotland, Three Towns'. Ardrossan is loca ...

and

Lochwinnoch Lochwinnoch (; , ) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is chiefly a residential dormitory v ...

and eastwards to Paisley, Hillington,

Cardonald Cardonald (; ,
) is an outlying suburb of the Scotlan ...

and Glasgow Central.

References

{{authority control Rootes Group Towns in Renfrewshire Greater Glasgow