Bishopton, Renfrewshire
Coordinates: 55°54′30″N 4°30′19″W / 55.90838°N 4.50518°W
| Bishopton | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Baile an Easbaig | |
| Scots: Bishoptoun | |
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 Bishopton
Bishopton shown within Renfrewshire |
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| Population | 5,157 [1] (2001 census) est. 4,960[2] (2006) |
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| OS grid reference | NS435712 |
| Council area | Renfrewshire |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BISHOPTON |
| Postcode district | PA7 |
| Dialling code | 01505 |
| Police | Strathclyde |
| Fire | Strathclyde |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| List of places: UK • Scotland • | |
Bishopton (Scots: Bishoptoun, Scottish Gaelic: Baile an Easbaig)[3] is a large village in Renfrewshire, Scotland, a few miles west of Erskine.
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[edit] Transport links
Bishopton sits a couple of miles from the southern end of the Erskine Bridge, which spans the River Clyde between Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire. Part way along the B815 road is a computer factory; which was built in the late 1980s by Compaq Computers. Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard in 2002. However, this factory is considered to be a part of larger town Erskine. A chain ferry transported vehicles across the River Clyde before the bridge was built. The former Ferry Master's house still survives on the south side of the Clyde.
Bishopton is served by the, double track, electrified, Inverclyde railway line, (former Caledonian Railway), Gourock and Wemyss Bay branches; with frequent train services in both directions. The ROF Bishopton railway sidings joined the railway line just west of Bishopton railway station; but they have been closed for some years.
The A8 passes through Bishopton; and the M8 motorway runs parallel to the A8, with access to Bishopton from both junctions 30 and 31.
[edit] The former ROF Bishopton site
A very large explosive- manufacturing Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Bishopton, was built in World War II on farm land, acquired by compulsory purchase, on the other side of the railway line. Over 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land from up to seven farms was used to build this factory. The land included Dargavel House, which still survives. The southern end of the site included the majority of the land formerly used by the First World War National Filling Factory, Georgetown. The ROF was privatised in 1984, being sold to British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) and has now closed down.
After privatisation the Ministry of Defence Police (MOD Police) moved out and the former MOD Police Social Club at Holm Park, and its adjoining sports field, became part of Bishopton. The former MOD Police houses at both Holm Park and Rossland were sold off to private buyers. Bishopton's Medical Centre was built in a corner of this sports field, opposite the shops.
BAE Systems and Redrow have submitted controversial proposals to use a large part of this site for building new housing which would, at least, double the size of Bishopton. Local residents have indicated their concern at the proposals by voting in a local referendum, held on the 4 April 2005, organised by local action groups and council. The results showed that out of the 1485 who voted, 100 (6.7%) were for the development, 1361 (91.6%) were against it, 19 (1.3%) were not concerned and there were 5 (0.3%) spoiled votes. The major concerns they have are with the size of the expansion - with the associated knock-on effects to the local infrastructure - and fears of the high levels of contamination that are likely to be found on the site.
In December 2008 Renfrewshire Council granted outline planning consent for the development and detailed planning consent for a related motorway junction off the A8/M8.[4]
[edit] Neighbourhoods in Bishopton
- The Calas -- Located towards the south-east of the village heading out towards Paisley, the area is named locally as 'The Calas' as the houses built in this area in the early 2000s were built by the Cala Group. This is the newest part of the village to be constructed.
- Craighead -- Part of a major post-war development of Bishopton, Craighead covers the area of housing which branches off of Craighead Road, including housing on Cawdor Crescent, Carrick Road, Morar Crescent, Teviot Drive, Ettrick Drive and Yarrow Crescent.
- Kingston -- Full of both new and older house ajoining Old Greenock, Greenock and Stuart Roads.
- Holmpark -- The housing in Holmpark was used by the MoD police who worked in the former ROF Bishopton site but is now owned by private home owners. Holmpark includes the Bishopton Sports and Social Club and the rugby football pitch used by the local rugby team.
- Rossland -- Another relatively new development in Bishopton on the south side of the village. Constructed by Wimpey, Rossland covers Bridgend, Rossland Crescent, Rossland Gardens and Rossland View. It also includes the Greater Western Rossland Woods, an area of woodland adjacant to the former ROF Bishopton site and two 11-a-side football pitches.
- Stuart Road -- Covering the majority of housing on the northern side of the village, the Stuart Road area includes the housing on Stuart Road and all of the other side streets that branch off of Stuart Road (such as Bruce Road, Mar Avenue etc.)
- Lyle Crescent -- A council/ex-council housing scheme located on the north-west of the village heading towards Langbank and Greenock. Lyle Crescent branches out into Blantyre Drive, Wraisland Crescent and Kingswood Road.
- Porton -- Includes housing on Porton Place, West Porton and Crossgates with 4-in-a-block houses of similar styles.
[edit] Trivia
Bishopton actually has no 'streets'. All of the roads have names such as Road and Crescent but there are currently no Streets.
[edit] References
- ^ "Comparative Population Profile: Bishopton Locality". Scotland's Census Results Online. 2001-04-29. http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Population&mainArea=bishopton&mainLevel=Locality. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
- ^ http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data
- ^ List of railway station names in English, Scots and Gaelic - NewsNetScotland
- ^ "Munitions site plan gets go ahead". BBC News (BBC). 2008-12-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7784474.stm. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
[edit] External links
- Bishopton's Community Web Site InBishopton.org.uk
- Bishopton Broncos Basketball Club bishoptonbroncos.com
- The Gazette (local paper) the-gazette.co.uk
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