Red Wheel Plaque installed at Southbank Marina

A Red Wheel Plaque has been installed at Southbank Marina to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 2026. The railway was built to allow coal, iron and other products from the Airdrie-Coatbridge area to be brought to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, from where they could be taken east and west to other parts of Scotland. The northern terminus of the railway at Kirkintilloch Basin is now Southbank Marina. The plaque has been mounted on East Dunbartonshire Council’s offices there, next to an existing sculpture commemorating the building of small cargo boats, or “puffers”, at Kirkintilloch from the 19th to the mid-20th century. The general location and a close-up of the plaque are shown in the photographs below.

Photographs by Murray Reid

The Red Wheel Scheme was created by the National Transport Trust to recognise and commemorate significant transport history sites all over the United Kingdom. More information about the scheme can be found at Transport heritage sites. 

The location of a Red Wheel Plaque at Southbank Marina was a collaborative project between Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries, the National Transport Trust and East Dunbartonshire Council and was driven by Society member and local historian Don Martin, MBE. Don has carried out detailed studies of rail transport in the Kirkintilloch area and has just published a book of photographs of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in the years up to the closure of the line during 1965-66. 

The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway is widely recognised as one of the first public railways in Scotland. It opened in 1826, just a few months after the revolutionary Stockton to Darlington Railway in 1825. A number of activities are planned to commemorate the anniversary, including an exhibition in the Auld Kirk Museum from March to May. The Red Wheel Plaque will be formally unveiled in Spring 2026 to coincide with the commemorations. 

After the Garden Festival by Lex Lamb and Kenny Brophy, Thursday 4th December at 7:30pm in the Park Centre

The final Antiquaries meeting of 2025 will be on Thursday 4th December at 7:30pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch with tea and coffee available from 7pm. Lex Lamb and Kenny Brophy will give a presentation on "After the Garden Festival".

The 1988 Garden Festival took an abandoned dock and used it to change how the world saw Glasgow, and how Glasgow saw itself. But how did the form and history of that site influence the spectacle that grew out of it over those 150 unforgettable days of summer? And when the gates finally closed, what became of it all? In this talk, After the Garden Festival Project Lead Lex Lamb and archaeologist Kenny Brophy look at the site before the event as well as the eventual fate of its features, artefacts and landscape with the help of hundreds of individual submissions and leads. A surprising amount, you will find, is hidden in plain sight. The talk will draw on extensive interviews Lex has carried out with GGF major players and staff, and archaeological excavations carried out in Festival Park by Kenny in 2022 and 2024. If you think you know the story of the Glasgow Garden Festival, be prepared to think again.

Image courtesy of Michael Gannon

Image courtesy of Kenny Brophy

    

Lex Lamb is a web and graphic designer with a lifelong amateur interest in all sorts of past spaces, structures and stories, particularly in the Glasgow area and mostly either very old or relatively recent. He was project leader of the After the Garden Festival project and is currently writing a comprehensive account of the history and form of the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival, for publication in 2026.

Dr Kenny Brophy is a senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow. He has over 25 years of experience of researching and carrying out fieldwork on aspects of the Scottish Neolithic period. More recently he has begun to research the archaeology of the recent past, with excavations at the Glasgow Garden Festival site followed by the exploration of a 1970s concrete skatepark in Kelvingrove Park. He is a former President of the Glasgow Archaeology Society, and blogs as the Urban Prehistorian.

Visit to St Mary's Parish Church, Wednesday 5th November

The talk to the Society on the Church by Graham McKenzie in October generated great interest in the history of St Mary's which is why 20 members met at the main entrance for a guided tour led by Graham. We were reminded of the controversies in the story of its early origins before the Reformation and its subsequent build in 1914. Designed by G Bell, it is a Church of Scotland church with unusual features that have been described as temple and cathedral-like: it was planned by the Rev T Angus Morrison (minister 1898-1941) who was the driving force in the proposal to build a distinctive Parish Church and manse alongside the Forth and Clyde Canal. 

Built of stone from Auchinheath Quarry, the foundation stone was laid in 1912 but during construction there was a fatality when the crane and scaffolding associated with the 120-foot tower collapsed in a storm. A memorial stone was laid to commemorate this event. A Service of Dedication was held two years later. The new St Mary's was built in the garden of the old manse and its orientation determined by the available ground between Cowgate and the manse. The old manse was later replaced by the building of the church halls.

The tour started beneath the high tower with an awareness of musical chimes. On  entering the Church there were immediate impressions of colour, beauty and grandeur, and overall design lit in part by the  clerestory windows. Very quickly the Nave drew one’s attention to the north facing Chancel with its ecclesiastical traditions including the organ(golden painted pipes) and the dominant presence of the majestic stained glass window. The stained glass windows were highlighted of which 5 are dedicated to individuals and the large Chancel window to those from Kirkintilloch who suffered and died in WW1. Additional information  about the windows ( 6 days of creation) designed by Willie Rodgers, a local artist and member of the congregation, the Ferguson window (Christmas), the Haughton window (Easter) and the role of the Webster family in the design of the Great War Memorial window, captured our attention.

At the end of the tour hospitality was provided and there was an opportunity to climb the tower, see the chimes and more. A memorable morning.

View of St. Mary's showing the tower (G McKenzie)

The chimes in the tower (I Ruddock)

Significant Personalities of Kirkintilloch and District by the Research Group, Wednesday 19th November, 2pm, Park Centre.

On Wednesday 19th November, the Research Group will present profiles of a selection of the 22 personalities they researched for an exhibition in the foyer of the William Patrick Library from 6th to 13th September as part of Doors Open Day 2025. The personalities cover a wide range of professions and backgrounds, the common thread being that they are all buried in the Old Aisle Cemetery. A guided walk around the Old Aisle on the afternoon of 6th September took in 11 of the graves, covering 15 of the personalities. 

This is the third year that the Research Group has held an exhibition on this theme, and the personalities studied this year include the Alexander family, who ran Alexander's stores, a family of GPs, a number of other shopkeepers including Daniel Jack, who ran a well-known bicycle shop, the MacDonald family who were builders in the area and a former provost, John Shanks. The exhibition also included former member of the Society Susan Ross, and David Rollo Senior, the father of current member David Rollo.

The profiles will be presented by Research Group members Jenny Burgon, Don Martin, Ivan Ruddock and Barrie Stewart and the meeting will be held in the Park Centre at 2pm on Wednesday 19th November. Come along and see which personalities are profiled and whether they stir memories for you.

Guided Tour of St. Mary's Parish Church, Wednesday 5th November, 10:30am.

Further to his talk on the history of St. Mary's Parish Church earlier this month, Graham McKenzie will lead a guided tour of the Church on Thursday 5th November starting at 10:30am. Meet at the Church door a few minutes before 10:30am. 

The tour will last not more than an hour and a half, after which people will be able to look round the building until 12:30pm. Those wishing to attend the Scottish Local History Forum's Annual John Muir Symposium in Lenzie Academy will be able to get there in time for the start at 12:45pm.

This tour is part of St. Mary's regular programme of Open Days. In order to have an idea of numbers, could members please indicate by email to kdsantiquaries@gmail.com if they intend to go on the tour in advance.

The history of Glasgow's motorway system by Stuart Baird, Thursday 6th November at 7:30pm in the Park Centre

 Our next meeting will be in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1LF, at 7:30pm on Thursday 6th November. Tea and coffee will be served from 7pm. 

Explore the history behind Glasgow's road developments of the 1960s, when the city eagerly embarked on the construction of new routes. This engaging talk offers insights into the creation of the city's ring road and its expansive motorway network. The presentation is illustrated with rare, previously unseen photographs from the Scottish Roads Archive collection.

Stuart is a Chartered Engineer with a keen interest in transport and civil engineering heritage. Currently employed by Transport Scotland, he’s held various roles, mostly relating to structures, across the Scottish motorway and trunk road network. Stuart is Founder and Chair of the Scottish Roads Archive, the largest private collection of roads and transportation records in Scotland.