Welcome to the History
Channel. We have extensive pages showing the history of
Healthcare, Shipbuilding, Education, Singer's Sewing
Machine Factory, Housing and the Clydebank Blitz.
To view some fantastic Scottish history captured on film
from the BBC Click Here (Broadband
Only)
The Making of Clydebank
The various parishes and villages that are now part of
Clydebank have been settled for many hundreds of years. As
an example, ruins of the Roman Antonine Wall were found on
the hill of GoldenHill Park in Duntocher, and stone
outcrops carved with druid-like symbols can be found north
of the area that is now Faifley.
In medieval times Old Kilpatrick was the centre of
religious worship for the earldom of Lennox, and for many
centuries it was reported to be the birthplace of St.
Patrick (Kil-patrick translates to Saint Patrick). Old
Kilpatrick once held the title of the Burgh or Regality,
and the lands were gifted to Paisley Abbey around the 13th
Century.
Clydebank as a town did not truly exist until 1886, when
the Thomson brothers moved their shipbuilding yard from
Govan to a spare bit of green pasture (at what is now the
UIE/Kvaerner yard) and setup the Clyde Bank Shipbuilding
Yard.
Over time this came to be known as the Clydebank Shipbuilding
Yard, and the
tenements built around it as The Clydebank
Tenements, then
finally over time it came to be known simply as
Clydebank.
Clydebank became a Police Burgh in 1886, and included the
land from Mountblow road east to Yoker Mill road (the east
boundary of Clydebank which is still in place) and from the
River Clyde north, to the land bordered by what is now the
"Singer" railway line. Continued growth of the town between
1886 and 1975 resulted in Radnor (in 1906), Parkhall and
Mountblow (in 1925), Whitecrook (in 1937), Faifley (in
1949) and finally Duntocher and Old Kilpatrick (in 1975)
becoming part of the Burgh of Clydebank.
To view an old map of Clydebank click here :
Old Map of
Clydebank
Several important factors led to the establishment of
Clydebank as a Burgh way back in 1886. One of those factors
was that the Parochial Board of Old Kilpatrick was unable
to provide proper public health facilities such as drainage
and sewage disposal.
A decision was therefore taken that for the town and it's
people to prosper, a fully established Police Burgh would
have to be formed and run in the correct manner. Burgh
Commissioners were elected on 21st December that year, some
local people expressed their concern that they might
unfairly reflect the interests of local employers, or small
businessmen.
Given that the Commission was very important to the success
and growth of Clydebank, it isn't really surprising that
few non employers or businessmen became Commissioners.
The
Population Explosion
When the Burgh
was formed, Clydebank had a population of just over 5,000
in 1886. By 1914 this had risen dramatically to over
43,000. Clydebank gained the nickname of the 'risingest
burgh' because of the pace of the towns's growth.
This population expansion (mainly due to the new Singer
Sewing Machine factory, and the rapidly developing
shipyards) made great demands on the burgh for provision of
general amenities such as housing, water, education,
welfare and leisure & recreation.
Town Boundaries
Due to a severe
lack of land for new housing, Clydebank's boundaries were
extended in 1906 to take in a further 542 acres, about
2,000 houses and almost 10,000 people into the
burgh.