[edit]
Early history[edit]
Skull & Crossbones Headstone in Old Parish cemetery from 1654. The oldest local engraving is from 1625.
Cumbernauld's history stretches at least to Roman times, as Westerwood was a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall, the furthest and most northerly boundary of the Roman Empire. Two Roman temporary camps have been discovered and digitally reconstructed east of the fort, at Tollpark (now covered by Wardpark North) and at Garnhall, similar to the two at Dullatur. One of the most discussed Roman finds from Cumbernauld is a sandstone slab depicting Triton and a naked, kneeling captive. It was found on a farm at Arniebog (between the runway of Cumbernauld Airport and Westerwood Golf Course). The slab can now be viewed at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow along with an uninscribed altar from Arniebog and other artefacts like the inscribed altar, and statuette found at Castlecary and an older copy of the Bridgeness Slab. In addition to these, an altarstone to Silvanus and the Sky dedicated by a centurion named Verecundus and his wife has been found. Cumbernauld also has the only Roman altar still in the open air in Scotland: the Carrick Stone. The stone has also been linked with Robert Bruce, being the place where he reportedly set up his standard on his way to Bannockburn. There is some evidence that coffins were laid on top of the stone on their way to the cemetery in Kirkintilloch and that the stone has been somewhat worn away.
There is a record of the charter of the lands of Lenzie and Cumbernauld, granted to William Comyn by Alexander II in 1216. Cumbernauld Castle was first built as a Norman-style motte and bailey castle. Owned by the Comyns, it was situated at the east end of the park, where the motte (mound) is still visible. The Flemings took possession of Cumbernauld Castle and its estate (c.1306) after Robert the Bruce murdered the Red Comyn. Robert Fleming was a staunch supporter of Bruce, and one of his companions that day. To provide proof that Comyn was dead, Fleming cut off his head in order to "let the deed shaw", a Fleming family motto ever since. On 1 October 1310 Robert the Bruce wrote to Edward II of England from Kildrum trying, unsuccessfully, to establish peace between Scotland and England. Abercromby describes Malcolm Fleming as returning home to Inverbervie with the formerly exiled 21-year-old King David II. Around 1371, the family built a second castle where the Cumbernauld House now stands. One castle wall exists but most of the stonework was recycled for the House or other buildings. King Robert III knighted Malcolm and granted Sir Malcolm Fleming and his heirs the charter to Cumbernauld Castle on 2 April 1406, just two days before the king's death. Malcolm (and his heir in 1427) were used as hostages to ransom James I back from the English. He also seems to have been arrested by James and imprisoned briefly in Dalkeith Castle. In 1440, this Malcolm Fleming attended the Black Dinner along with his 16-year-old friend Earl William Douglas and his 11-year-old brother David Douglas at Edinburgh Castle. Immediately after the dinner, at which a black bull's head was served, there was a trial on trumped-up charges and the brothers were beheaded in front of the 10-year-old King James II. Malcolm shared their fate three days later. Malcolm was succeeded by his son Robert.
A dovecote from the 1600s was attached to the gamekeeper's cottage
The castle played host to the royalty of Scotland. James IV (1473–1513) wooed Margaret Drummond at Cumbernauld Castle, where Margaret's sister was married to Lord Fleming. The Drummond sisters lie buried in Dunblane Cathedral following their poisoning, possibly by a government determined to marry an unwilling King James to the sister of Henry VIII of England, Margaret Tudor. The murders made James IV a frequent visitor to Cumbernauld, Margaret Tudor accompanying him on one occasion. It is recorded that during this James' reign in 1500, the Black Death led to a special plea from the surviving people of Cumbernauld to the church authorities in Glasgow to allow them to establish their own cemetery rather than taking all their dead to St. Ninian's in Kirkintilloch. They were granted permission to do so, and used the ground at the existing Comyns' chapel which dates from the end of the 12th century.
Post-Reformation history[edit]
Cumbernauld House and Grounds
James V is recorded as staying for a couple of days at the castle around 14 December 1529. In November 1542, Malcolm Fleming, Lord Chamberlain of Scotland to King James V, was taken prisoner by the English at the Battle of Solway Moss, but released at a ransom of 1,000 marks, paid on 1 July 1548. Mary, Queen of Scots visited the castle and reportedly planted a sweet chestnut tree in the grounds in 1561; she's also said to have planted a yew tree at Castlecary Castle, only a mile or two away, which still grows there. The whole great hall collapsed while the queen was staying at Commernalde on 26 January 1562, and 7 or 8 men were killed. Most of the queen's party were out hunting. Mary was not hurt and visited the relatives of those who were injured or killed in the village below. Royalty often visited the town to hunt the rare Scottish ox, or white cattle, which roamed in the woods around Cumbernauld. These woods were a surviving fragment of the ancient Caledonian Forest, in which the oxen abounded at least till 1571 and probably until the building of the new house. Many of these were deliberately killed by Regent Lennox's men and a plaintiff complains: "And amonges others greite enormyties perpetrated be th' erles men of werre they have slayne and destroyed the dere in John Fleming's forest of Cummernald and the quhit ky and bullis, to the gryt destructione of polecie and hinder of the commonweil. For that kynd of ky and bullis hes bein keipit this money yeiris in the said forest; and the like was not mentenit in ony uther partis of the Ile of Albion as is well knowen." "(In English, And amongst others, great enormities perpetrated by the Earl's soldiers, they have slain and destroyed the deer in John Fleming's forest of Cumbernauld and the white cows and bulls, to the great destruction of the park of the estate and hindering of the common good. For those kind of cows and bulls have been kept these many years in the said forest; and their like was not maintained in any other parts of the British Isles as is well known.")
John Livingstone stayed often at Cumbernauld between 1632–1634. He was staying there during the Shotts Revival on Monday 21 June 1630 when he preached and 500 people in one day had "a discernible change wrought upon them." In 1640, eighteen Scottish noblemen met at Cumbernauld to sign the Cumbernauld Bond to oppose the policies of the Earl of Argyll who controlled the dominant political faction in Scotland. Cumbernauld may have been created a Burgh of barony in 1649, although there is some dispute from Hugo Millar. The Earl of Wigton was ordered to garrison the castle in 1650. Cumbernauld Castle was besieged and largely destroyed by Cromwell's General Monck in 1651. Irvine records that the old castle was burned to the ground by "a party of Highlanders during the rebellion of 1715."
Cumbernauld House, which still survives, was designed by William Adam and built in 1731 near the older castle. In 1746, the retreating Jacobite army was billeted for a night in Cumbernauld village. Rather than stay in Cumbernauld House, the commander, Lord George Murray, slept in the village's Black Bull Inn, where he could enforce closer discipline on his soldiers. After the new house was built, the castle was converted to stables, but was accidentally burnt down by dragoons posted there in 1746. The House's grounds, located in the Glen, are used today as a park, known as Cumbernauld Park.
Post-Industrial Revolution[edit]
Cumbernauld fire-clay works
Workers laboured on about 40–50 farms and details from 1839 have been recorded for both arable and livestock farming. Some of them were said to make a "very considerable income" for their owners. Weaving was an important part of the town's industry particularly during the Industrial Revolution. Irvine records that in 1841 a fifth of the whole population of 4501 people worked on about 600 hand looms. Cotton weaving was not a lucrative profession; cottage workers struggled to make ends meet especially when competing with ongoing industrialisation. In October 1878, this was compounded by the failure of the Bank of Glasgow in which much of the village's money was invested. Many lowland workers migrated and Groome's Gazetteer 1896 records a dwindling population and states "Handloom weaving of checks and other striped fabrics is still carried on, but mining and quarrying are the staple industry." There tended to be plenty of work, but times were hard even for skilled labourers like the nearby Calton weavers. Entrance to disused fireclay mine at Glencryan
The mining and quarrying industries flourished after the completion of the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1790. Quarrying of limestone, coal and clay took place in Cumbernauld, for example at Glencryan, where adits to the old fireclay mines are still clearly visible. Groome's Gazetteer (1882–86) states: "A colliery is at Netherwood [just north of the airport] ironstone has been mined to a small extent by the Carron Company (at Westerwood farm); and limestone, brick-clay, sandstone, and trap are all of them largely worked, the sandstone for building, the trap for road-metal, paving, and rough masonry." The mine at Netherwood was hand-pumped, although other mines in Cumbernauld had machine pumps to clear them of water. There was a fire clay works at Cumbernauld owned by the Glenboig Union Fireclay Company Limited.
Cumbernauld railway station was built by the Caledonian Railway and opened in August 1848 on their line from Gartsherrie (on the former Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway) to Greenhill on the Scottish Central Railway. It closed within a year but re-opened in the 1870s.
Parish records give a snapshot of heads of family's occupations in 1835 and 1839 including several bakers, servants, shoemakers and wrights. The Ordnance Survey Name Books of 1860 provide land-use information from around the same period. A pool at Fannyside Muir locally known as Jean's HoleCumbernauld was long a staging-post for changing horses between Glasgow and Edinburgh and there were several inns and a smiddy as well as half a dozen coaches a day to various towns. Old maps like the 1899 O.S. map show other employment like a gas works and a stocking factory in The Village and a corn mill at Lenziemill close to the old brick and pipe works. Three schools were run but the teachers were not always paid by the heritors. There were several church ministers and the Church of Scotland paid, out of collections, about 25 poor people a week who could not support themselves. Groome also records clerical work as there was a post office, two banks (held two days a week in a room in the inn) and a library with a newsroom.
In 1880, Jane Lindsay (also called Luggie Jean on account of a deformity which gave the impression of having an extra ear) was murdered in a pool of water on the edge of Fannyside Muir, coincidentally near the stream called Luggie Water. A local farmer was charged with her murder. Forensic experts, professors at Glasgow and Edinburgh, appeared as witnesses on opposing sides at the trial, and a not proven verdict was returned.
When shires were first established in Scotland in the twelfth century, the parish of Cumbernauld was included in Stirlingshire. At some point in the fourteenth century it and the neighbouring parish of Kirkintilloch were transferred to Dunbartonshire, despite not adjoining the rest of that shire. The two parishes were briefly restored to Stirlingshire between 1503 and 1509, but from 1509 until 1975 they again formed an exclave of Dunbartonshire. Between 1975 and 1996 Cumbernauld was part of the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District of Strathclyde region. Since 1996 it has been part of North Lanarkshire. The arms of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District Council featured the white cattle and the motto of "Daur and Prosper" boldly asserting Dare and Prosper. However the open Bible and the miner's lamp were the only symbols which were carried on to the North Lanarkshire coat of arms.
New Town history[edit]
Cumbernauld was designated a New Town on 9 December 1955. This being in the post-war era there are abundant film, photographic and paper records of this which are now being digitised. There was an inaugural ceremony on 28 June 1957 with Viscount Muirshiel, Secretary of State for Scotland of which some silent, colour footage survives. See the On film and TV section for link to this and other footage from this period. After the Second World War, Glasgow was suffering from a chronic shortage of housing, which was often of poor quality and had residents living in overcrowded and unsafe conditions, particularly in areas such as the Gorbals. As a direct result, the Clyde Valley Regional Plan 1946 allocated sites where satellite new towns were to be built to alleviate the problem through an overspill agreement. Glasgow would also undertake the development of its peripheral housing estates. Cumbernauld was designated as a New Town in 1955, the third to be designated in Scotland. The others were East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Livingston and Irvine (Cowling 1997).
South Carbrain viewed from Cumbernauld railway station
The development, promotion and management was undertaken, until 1996, by the Cumbernauld Development Corporation (CDC). This was a quango appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. The area allocated was 4,150 acres (1,680 ha) lying between and incorporating the existing villages of Condorrat and Cumbernauld. The first new housing became available in 1958. An additional 3,638 acres (1,472 ha) was added to the designated town area on 19 March 1973 to accommodate a revised target population of 70,000. Cumbernauld is the clearest example of a modernist new town vision in the UK. Housing was originally built in a series of satellite neighbourhoods clustered around the hilltop town centre. Separation of people and cars was a major element of the first town masterplan, and this was carried through for much of the development of the town. Cumbernauld pioneered designs for underpasses and pedestrian footbridges as well as segregated footpaths. Early neighbourhoods were designed by the CDC and were constructed at Ravenswood, Seafar and Kildrum, north of the Town Centre and Carbrain to the south. Other neighbourhoods were later developed at the Village, Greenfaulds, Condorrat, and Abronhill. Much of the housing in these areas won awards for their innovative designs.
The Snake Bridge (and its shadow) to Stuart House
Cumbernauld town centre's lead designer was Geoffrey Copcutt. Phase 1 was opened by Princess Margaret in 1967, of which some footage survives.
When originally designated as a New Town, the target population was 50,000. In 1961, only five years after becoming a new town, the area to the north of the A80 was added to the town's area with new planned neighbourhoods at Westfield, Balloch, Westerwood and Carrickstone. As a result, a revised target population of 70,000 was set. However, the 2011 UK Census still only shows about 52,000 residents. When Raymond Gillies, a local businessman, gave Cumbernauld the St Enoch's station clock, in 1977, the Queen was celebrating her Silver Jubilee. To mark the occasion, the Queen started the clock using the pendulum motion and unveiled a commemorative plaque at Cumbernauld Town Centre, at the staircase joining the upper mall area with the old Woolco store. The clock is featured in Gregory's Girl and is now in the Antonine Centre. After the creation of the new town, diverse industries such as high-tech, electronics, and chemical and food processing became large employers, along with the Inland Revenue (now His Majesty's Revenue and Customs). The main industrial estates were developed to the east and west along the A80 at Wardpark and Westfield. Areas at Blairlinn and Lenziemill to the south of the town have also been developed for industry.
The Cumbernauld Development Corporation (C.D.C.) disbanded in 1996, and all "rights, liabilities and obligations" were transferred to the North Lanarkshire Council.
Modern times[edit]
Entrance to Cumbernauld Shopping Centre
The Modern era for the town can be dated from the disbanding of the C.D.C. in 1996. The intended core of Cumbernauld remains the Town Centre buildings, all of which is essentially contained within one structure, segmented into "phases", the first of which was completed in 1967, the latest of which began construction in May 2003 for completion around September 2004.[citation needed] Initially the basic groundwork for the new shops began in 1997 and were finally completed in summer 2007. Designed to be a commerce centre, an entertainment and business venue and a luxury accommodation site, it was widely accepted as Britain's first shopping centre and was the world's first multi-level covered town centre. However, the town never developed to its planned size, and the town centre has never had the life envisaged by town planners. Further expansion has been primarily to provide further space for shops. A substantial portion of the original shopping centre was demolished due to structural damage and has been redeveloped as a new shopping and leisure complex.
The Centre, built in the 1960s to serve the town's commercial needs in one brutalist megastructure, has often been described as one of the ugliest and least-loved examples of post-war design in Scotland.[citation needed] Despite its bad press, Cumbernauld is regarded as representing a significant moment in town design, and in 1993 it was listed as one of the sixty key monuments of post-war architecture by the international conservation organisation DoCoMoMo. In March 2022, the building was scheduled to be demolished.
The residential structure of Cumbernauld was noteworthy in that there were no pedestrian crossings of any kind.
