Bishopbriggs (; ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the northern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the city centre. Historically in Lanarkshire, the area was once part of the historic parish of Cadder - originally lands granted by King William the Lion to the Bishop of Glasgow, Jocelin, in 1180. It was later part of the county of Lanarkshire, and then an independent burgh from 1964 to 1975. Today, Bishopbriggs' close geographic proximity to Glasgow now effectively makes it a suburb and commuter town of the city. The town's original Gaelic name Coille Dobhair reflects the name of the old parish of Cadder, but modern Gaelic usage uses Drochaid an Easbaig, a literal translation of Bishopbriggs. It was ranked the 2nd most desirable postcode in Scotland to live in following a study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research in 2015 and 2016.
Bishopbriggs grew from a small rural village on the old road from Glasgow to Kirkintilloch and Stirling during the 19th century, eventually growing to incorporate the adjacent villages of Auchinairn, Cadder, Jellyhill and Mavis Valley. It has a population of approximately 23,500 people.
History
Bishopbriggs' history stretches at least to Roman times, as Cadder was a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall, the furthest and most northerly boundary of the Roman Empire. As early as 1568, reference is made to a path northwards from Glasgow as the 'common passage to Bischopis Briggis'. Bishopbriggs was first documented in the Cadder Parish records of 1655, and was recorded to have had only eleven residents in the mid-18th century. Even more than a century later, after substantial growth, the village was still being referred to in the terms of the larger settlement of Cadder. Despite fears that the village would end up being swamped by the rapid expansion of nearby Glasgow it managed to avoid this, however of the wider parish of Cadder were eventually absorbed by Glasgow Corporation in 1926, which would be used to construct the Milton peripheral housing scheme from the late 1940s.
By 1793, the introduction of new farming techniques had improved yields. While crops such as oats, barley, potatoes and flax flourished, Cadder's population fared less well; a decrease of around 600 from the mid-1760s was attributed to new agricultural methods which combined smaller farms or Run rigs and swept away independent tenants, known as the Lowland Clearances. By 1836 there were 'almost no cotters' with the largest farms employing no more than ten people, and some of those only as maid servants. Land reclamation (through drainage) changed the landscape so that crops could grow, where once there was only marshland. Dairy farming was relied upon to cover ground rents.
19th-century development
With the completion of the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1790, the area began to attract ironstone and coal mining industry. The Carron Company, became the area's main employer, building the mining villages of Mavis Valley and Jellyhill to accommodate its workers. From there, the Forth and Clyde Canal formed a convenient and direct transport link with their famous ironworks near Falkirk. There were also freestone quarries established at Coltpark (Colston), Crowhill, Huntershill and Kenmure.
Development during the 19th century was slow compared to the industrially-driven expansion of other nearby areas, such as Springburn. In 1836 Bishopbriggs' population stood at 175, compared to neighbouring Auchinairn Village's 284. Bishopbriggs railway station on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, opened in 1842 however, underlining its status as the emerging focus of the local area, although expansion remained slow throughout the latter half of the 19th century. The population of Bishopbriggs was recorded as 658 in 1861 and 782 in 1871. At the time, the village had also been known as 'Bishopbridges' and was so described thus or similarly in published maps up to the mid-1850s. The arrival of the railway heralded a change, although the first printed tickets called the station Bishopbridges, platform signage showed Bishopbriggs and it has remained so ever since. Groome, in 1882, described it as being "inhabited chiefly by poor Irish families".