Author : David Pettigrew ISBN : 9781840339185 Cover : paperback Price : £12.95
East Kilbride is well-known as Scotland’s first post-war New Town, but it has a long history going back to the 16th century, at which time it has a school. Kilbride (the ‘East’ came later) was a farming parish with a weekly market and four fairs yearly. By the late 1830s, it had a post office, a brewery, and a cotton mill. Before 1947, the village had three factories that made agricultural equipment, but it was then earmarked to be developed with new housing and industry. The East Kilbride Development Corporation has been hugely successful in both aspects, attracting many big-name industrial players. At the last census, the population of the town had reached 75,000. Inevitably, such an influx impacted the old parts of the village, and the environs saw fields turn into housing and factories. The Development Corporation also overzealously dismantled Calderwood Castle, which is now a ruin, and the railway through the estate is closed. The book shows the area as it used to be with modern images from the same viewpoint for comparison.
