Cardonald

Cardonald is an outlying suburb of the Scottish city of Glasgow. Formerly a village in its own right, it lies to the southwest of the city and is bounded to the south by the White Cart Water. The area was part of Renfrewshire until 1926 when the villages of Cardonald, Halfway and Crookston and their surrounding farmland were annexed to Glasgow.

In the 15th century the lands of Cardonald were the property of Johannes Norwald or Normanville, Dominus of Cardownalde. His granddaughter and heiress, Marion Stewart (daughter of Isabella Norwald of Cardonald and Sir William Stewart of Castlemilk), married Allan Stewart, establishing the line of Stewarts of Cardonald. The Cardonald Stewarts were a junior branch of the House of Stewart. Allan Stewart of Cardonald, the first Stewart of Cardonald, was the younger son of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox, Lord Darnley (d. 1495). The Cardonald Stewarts had their seat at the Place of Cardonald, built in 1565. It was demolished and replaced by a farmhouse - Cardonald Place Farm - in 1848.

The line of the Stewarts of Cardonald ended with Allan's great-grandson, James Stewart of Cardonald (1512-1584). He had served as a captain in the Scottish Guards of the Kings of France, and is buried in Paisley Abbey. As he had no issue, the lands of Cardonald passed to his sister's son, Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre. His family resided at the Place of Cardonald for generations, and retained lands in Cardonald until the 20th century.

In 1926, the Corporation of Glasgow bought the Cardonald estates, along with the privately developed cottage flats and other housing in the area. Cardonald was divided into North and South Cardonald, with the south mostly composed of private rented cottage flats, while the north was made up of corporation, including terraced housing, flats, and semi-detached property. In the 1950s, the corporation erected the UK's first high-rise flats in the area. Although only 10 storeys high, the Moss Heights flats were the first of many high-rise blocks to be built in Glasgow.

Cardonald is also the site of the last ever multistorey blocks of flats to be built in Glasgow, the Bute and Cumbrae towerblocks in Queensland Drive, which were completed in 1967. Celebrations with 21 residents whom have been in the flats since they were built 40 years ago (2007), took place from the landlord of the buildings "Cardonald Triangle". These buildings are also undergoing massive renovation works including renewal of the landings, external re-facing, and new lifts.

Cardonald College, one of Scotland's largest further education colleges, opened in 1972, and has rapidly expanded in recent times.

The district is served by Cardonald railway station on the Inverclyde Line and by numerous bus routes. There is also easy access to the M8 motorway via Junction 2.

55°51′N 4°21′W