Lennoxtown

Thomas Muir

Lennoxtown Friendly Victualling Society

Lennoxtown church, built in the 1820s

The focus of the Lennoxtown area used to be the busy Lennox Mill, where tenants of the Woodhead estate brought their corn to be ground. There were several corn mills in Campsie Parish, but this was arguably the most important. Lennox Mill was located in the vicinity of the recently demolished Kali Nail Works.

A significant event in the history of the locality was the establishment of the calico printing works at Lennoxmill during the late 1780s, on a site adjacent to the old corn mill. Calico is a type of cotton cloth, and the printing of cotton cloth was soon established as a major industry in the area, also at Milton of Campsie. It was to provide accommodation for the block makers and other cotton printing workers that the village of Lennoxtown was established, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Streets of houses were planned and built according to a formal plan. Lennoxtown was at first known as 'Newtown of Campsie',[3] to distinguish it from the 'Kirktoun' or 'Clachan' of Campsie, at the foot of Campsie Glen.

During the 19th century Lennoxtown grew to be the largest centre of population in Campsie Parish. Another important industry was soon established – a chemical works, founded by Charles Macintosh (of waterproof clothing fame) and his associates. At first their principal product was alum, a chemical employed in the textile industry. Alumschist, the basic ingredient in the process, was mined in the area. The works came to be known as the Secret Works, presumably because of the need to keep the industrial processes secret.

During the 1790s many of the Lennoxmill workers supported the political reformer Thomas Muir of Huntershill in his campaigns to establish democracy in Scotland, and a Reform Society was set up in Campsie in 1792. However, the parish minister, the Rev. James Lapslie, saw to it that there was also some opposition to Muir's ideas in the area. An important milestone in the drive towards democracy was the establishment in 1812 of a local co-operative society, the Lennoxtown Friendly Victualling Society, one of the earliest of its kind in Scotland.

The growing importance of Lennoxtown was underlined by the removal of the parish church from the Clachan to the New Town during the 1820s. Plans for the new church were prepared by the architect David Hamilton, who was also responsible for the nearby Lennox Castle.[4] A Roman Catholic church was erected in 1846 (originally St Paul's, later renamed St Machan's), one of the earliest post-Reformation Catholic churches in Scotland, apart from those in cities and large towns.

The decline of the industries that flourished during the nineteenth century, and also the later nail-making industry (and indeed the famous Victualling Society) has left Lennoxtown in a kind of post-industrial limbo, from which it has been difficult to escape. Slow progress continues to be made.

The town was well known in Scottish football circles as the home of Campsie Black Watch FC, an under-21 club founded in 1943 which launched the careers of many professional players[5] (Willie Garner, Eddie Gallagher, Johnny Walker, Frank Haffey, Mike Larnach, Jim Thomson), also winning the Scottish Juvenile Cup 11 times between 1955 and 2014 before eventually folding in 2017,[6] a short time before the death of long-serving president Gerry Marley.[7]

In 2016, a Community Hub was opened on Main Street to focus on the delivery of public services. It brought together the existing East Dunbartonshire Library, the NHS Clinic, containing a dental practice and GP consulting rooms. and the Housing office[9] in one building. One of the oldest surviving branches of the Co-operative was demolished as part of the development after an attempt to have the building listed was unsuccessful.[10]

The railway to Lennoxtown was an extension of the Glasgow to Edinburgh line. The first 5 ¹⁄₂ miles (9 kilometres) of this line, from Lenzie to Lennoxtown, were built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, under powers obtained in 1845 and it was officially opened on 5 July 1848. The railway was initially intended to serve the print fields at Lennoxtown but it eventually allowed passengers and provided this service as far as Aberfoyle. The passenger service was discontinued in October 1951, the transportation of goods continuing but only as far as Lennoxtown from 1959. The line closed completely in 1966.[11] Lennoxtown Station won first prize for being the best kept railway station in Scotland in 1897 and then for 7 years in succession from 1922 to 1928 and again in 1930 and 1931.

The training centre in 2007

It was announced that Celtic training ground was going to be built in Lennoxtown' in 2005[12] by the then manager Gordon Strachan. The 20-hectare (50-acre) training ground was built on the grounds of Lennox castle and was officially opened in October 2007. The facility has three natural grass, UEFA match-size pitches and one full-size, all weather, artificial pitch which is floodlit. There is undersoil heating, a state-of-the-art gym, a sauna and steam room and changing facilities.[13]

Local football teams, such as the Campsie Boys' Club, train there once a week. Celtic liaise with the local schools (St. Machan's and Lennoxtown Primary School) to allow occasional use of their training facilities. There are educational facilities for the young Celtic Academy footballers at the ground and arrangements for them to attend St.Ninian's High School in Kirkintilloch. The school football team use the training ground facilities. Stuart Findlay was part of the initial intake of this scheme in 2009[14] before leaving Celtic and establishing himself as a professional with Kilmarnock.

In the 1860s a town hall at Lennoxtown was built, now called the Campsie Memorial Hall; construction began in 1866 and was funded by subscription. Two years later, the hall was opened. Altogether, it cost £1,340.[15] In the 1950s the District Council took over the hall in order for the building to be renovated.[16]

The threat of the Campsie Memorial Hall being shut down in 2010 due to lack of funding, made the residents of Lennoxtown come together to offer up their own solutions. More than 150 people attended a public meeting to talk over plans for the hall and around 35 residents signed up to be on the committee for managing the town hall[17] The hall itself was taken over by volunteers from Lennoxtown in late 2012 and has been thriving since. In 2013, they were given a grant from the EDC Civic Pride Fund and received funding from the Big Lottery, which were both used to improve the hall.

• Tam Baillie, Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People between 2009–2017.
• Robert Dalglish, Provost of Glasgow, merchant and calico printer.
• Alex Ferns, actor, born 13 October 1968.
• Lulu, singer (real name Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie), born Lennox Castle Hospital, 3 November 1948.
• Drew McAdam, mentalist and mindreader, born Lennoxtown, 4 June 1955.
• Sir Ian McCartney, Former Government Minister and Chair of the Labour Party, born 25 April 1951.
• Jim McGinlay, Bass guitar player with bands Salvation and Slik, born Lennox Castle Hospital, 9 March 1949
• Thomas McGraw, gangster and criminal.
• Owen 'Onnie' McIntyre, musician with Average White Band, born Lennox Castle Hospital, 25 September 1949
• Ted McKenna, drummer with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, born 10 March 1950.
• John McLane, Governor of New Hampshire (1905–07).
• Kirsty Milne, broadcaster and journalist.
• Bishop Ian Murray (1932-2016), Roman Catholic Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, Scotland.
• Billy Rankin, musician and broadcaster, born Lennox Castle Hospital, 25 April 1959.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lennoxtown.

• Vision of Britain - Lennoxtown
• "About Lennoxtown". Welcometolennoxtown.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
• "Past History - Lennoxtown Landscapes". Lennoxtownlandscapes.webs.com. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
• "Lennox Castle Hospital". Archived from the original on 16 October 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.