Bridge of Weir Community Council

Bridge of Weir

The name 'Bridge of Weir' first appears in the records of Kilbarchan Parish in 1707 when the village was little more than a few cottages set beside a corn mill on the banks of the River Gryffe and owned by the Knox family of Ranfurly. History prior to that date is some-what sketchy, but we do know that the village was originally known as Ranfurly and was home to the Knox family of Ranfurly Castle, one of whose descendents was John Knox.

By the eighteenth century, the industrial revolution was impacting on Bridge of Weir and the cotton industry became an important source of work. It saw the building of the Gryffe mill in 1793 by John Freeland, and later Crosslee mill, the largest mill on the Gryffe employing some 300 people. At its height, the cotton mills around Bridge of Weir employed over 700 people.

Around 1770, the Spiers family established the leather tanning industry at Burngill. This was taken-over by Andrew Muirhead in 1870. Leather has indeed been a great success story of Bridge of Weir, having achieved world-wide recognition for excellence and quality. Today its products are much sought after by manufacturers of cars, aircraft, furniture and clothing.

Equally important to the development of Bridge of Weir was the coming of the railway in 1864. This made the village a desirable place for business people to live and commute to the city of Glasgow and led to the building of many fine examples of Scots architecture. A Walk along Golf Road is evidence of this.

Today, Bridge of Weir offers all the trappings of modem life with a good range of shopping, local garages, banks, building societies and estate agents. Leisure activities for all ages are available through, golf, fishing, scouting, guiding, church youth groups, aerobic classes, football, badminton, embroiderers guild, elderly forum, the old age pensioners association and the Royal British Legion. These, together with excellent schooling and local medical services ensures that Bridge of Weir retains its famed community spirit and makes it one of Scotland's most sought after locations for new-comers who are quickly made to feel at home.