Bearsden

In 1649 the Parish of Kirkpatrick, which covered a large area to the north of Glasgow, was divided into two smaller parishes for administrative purposes and became West or Old Kirkpatrick and East or New Kirkpatrick. 

A new church was constructed to serve the new parish, which was built on the site where New Kilpatrick church is today.  A number of properties developed around the church and the small village became known as New Kilpatrick or New Kirk.

The village grew slowly over the next 200 years, but it wasn’t until 1863 that modern Bearsden was born.  There were by now a number of large villas which had been built on Drymen Road and as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the growth of Glasgow, this made the area ideal for commuters to the city. In 1863 The Glasgow & Milngavie Junction Railway Company constructed a new single track branch line to Milngavie.

There has been much debate as to how the name Bearsden came about.  It is said that the new station constructed to serve the village needed a name and after much consideration it was named after a nearby cottage, which was home to the local gamekeeper of the Garscadden Estate.  The cottage used to be situated at the corner of Drymen and Ledcameroch Road.

The cottage had been named Bearsden.  According to local legend in years gone by, two bears had been kept in the grounds of the cottage by the local Laird and this is where the name derived from.
“Beardene” is also another popular theory.  “bear” being the old Scots word for barley and “dene” the word for valley.  This crop grew along the valley to what is now Hillfoot and it may be that “Beardene” became Bearsden.

The third theory goes back to 140AD and the time of the Antonine Wall.  The site of Bearsden was one of the 24 forts along the wall, together with the Roman Bath House  parts of the original wall can still be seen today.  The Celtic words “buran din” translate to “entrenchment of the fort” and this too could have evolved to be Bearsden.

Located 6 miles outside Glasgow, Bearsden is very much a middle class commuter suburb and home to 27,967 (2001 census). Much of the housing is detached and with some major developments over the last few years this figure is expected to grow.  The town appeals to families and is ideally located for both town and country.

An aspirational destination for home buyers, the Bearsden postcode (G61) was ranked by 7th richest in the UK by a 2005 survey (source, millionaire report/eurodirect.co.uk).