Memorable heritage

KIRKINTILLOCH is north-east of Glasgow, in what is now East Dunbartonshire.

When the Romans built the Antonine Wall across central Scotland they constructed a fort on a hill looking across to the Campsie Fells, on what is now known as the Peel. The local British people called the fort Caerpentuloch, (Caer meaning a fort) later changed to Kirkintilloch.

When the feudal system of land management was introduced into the lowlands in the 12th century AD a barony of Lenzie was created. After the Reformation there were two parish churches in the barony, one at Kirkintilloch and the other at Cumbernauld. The Kirkintilloch one was built in 1644 next to the site of the Roman fort. In 1649 the parish of Lenzie was split in two, and the new parishes soon became known as Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld.

The town of Kirkintilloch began to rise to prominence in the 1770s, when the Forth and Clyde Canal linked it first with Grangemouth and the Forth, in 1773, and then in 1777 with Glasgow. The significance of the canal connection was reinforced by the opening of a horse-hauled railway linking coal pits in the Coatbridge area to a basin on the edge of the town whence barges (‘scows’) carried coal west to Glasgow or east to Edinburgh. At about the same time high-speed horse-hauled passenger boats began playing through the town between Glasgow and Falkirk, with connections to Edinburgh, Stirling and beyond. Two boatbuilding yards were established in the town. When the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was opened in 1842 it bypassed Kirkintilloch, but a branch from Lenzie was opened in 1858 through the town to Lennoxtown, at the time a noted industrial centre.

From the late 18th century Kirkintilloch was a hand-loom weaving village, and in the 1830s a small iron-foundry was opened. Later in the 19th century two much larger foundries, the Lion and the Star, were established. The Lion became noted for its architectural castings, while the Star latterly made sanitary castings.

Both closed in the 1970s, leaving the town without any significant industries. The reopening of the Forth and Clyde Canal as a through route in 2001, as part of the Millennium Link project, has however given the town centre status as the ‘Canal Capital of Scotland’.

A branch of the Seagull Trust, which provides free canal cruising for people with physical or mental problems, was established here in the 1980s, and its boathouse is now part of a marina development.

The first Kirkintilloch parish church, now the Auld Kirk Museum, was built on a Greek (equal-armed) cross plan, typical of Church of Scotland churches constructed during most of the 17th century. In 1837 a ‘chapel of ease’ was built at the bottom of the town, known as St David’s. By the early 20th century these two churches were inadequate to accommodate the growing population and what is now St Mary’s was designed by George Bell II of the Glasgow architects Clarke and Bell.

It was built in 1912-14, its scale and richness of style evidence of the prosperity of the place at the time. It is notable for its i ne collection of stained glass. The chancel windows are by the Stephen Adam Studio, and were installed in 1926. Some smaller windows of exceptional quality were installed between 1987 and 1992, designed by Willie Rodger, a distinguished artist who lived locally, and made by John K Clark, a celebrated stained-glass practitioner.

Many will think of Kirkintilloch as merely a late 20th-century suburb of Glasgow, but it is much more than that, with some notable buildings, not least St Mary’s, and the Forth and Clyde Canal, now thriving and lively. It is a good place to be in, with a very memorable heritage.