Glen Village

Glen Village is a settlement in the Falkirk council area of Scotland,situated at the southern end of Callendar Park, 0.9 miles (1.4 km) south of Falkirk town centre. It adjoins the housing estate of Hallglen, with the two localities counted together in most statistics.

Glen Village
  • Scottish Gaelic: Clachan a' Ghlinne

Stone bridge over the Union Canal to the south of Glen Village
Glen Village
Location within the Falkirk council area
Population3,488 [1] (2001 census)
OS grid referenceNS886784
• Edinburgh23.2 mi (37.3 km) ESE
• London344 mi (554 km) SSE
Civil parish
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townFalkirk
Postcode districtFK1 2
Dialling code01324
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament

Description

Around 1 mile (1.6 km) south from Falkirk town centre and about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from Falkirk High railway station, Glen Village is a small settlement containing around 180 cottage flat homes built in the 1930s for workers at nearby mines,[2][3][4][5] which replaced an older community of outdated miners rows from the latter part of the 19th century.[3][6][7] The mines themselves closed by the 1960s.[8][3] It was originally isolated,[2] but nowadays adjoins the larger housing estate of Hallglen,[9] which was constructed in the early 1970s on an incline between the Callendar Park wooded estate and the railway,[10] and is where most local amenities are located (with the exception of the local primary school[11] which is on the Glen Village side of the main road, being connected to the majority of local housing by a pedestrian footbridge). The village did have its own community hall, post office and bowling club, but all have closed.[3] Both the Glen and Hallglen names appear on the Timothy Pont's Blaeu map of the area surveyed in the 1590s.[12]

View of Hallglen housing from the south
Looking west from Glen Village towards new housing at Lionthorn

To the west, the building of the Lionthorn private housing development in the early 21st century, which in turn adjoins the older Lochgreen neighbourhood, has created a near-continuous suburban chain between Glen Village and the southern part of Falkirk proper around Falkirk High Station, also with a population of around 3,000.[13] Similarly, the open fields to the east of Hallglen almost connect with a cluster of newbuilds on the periphery of Redding, although historically the communities were 2 miles (3.2 km) apart.[2]

Entrance to the Union Canal's 'Dark Tunnel'
Inside the tunnel

Adjacent to the village is the Union Canal where there is a 630 metres (2,070 ft)-long tunnel, completed in 1821 and known locally as the "Dark Tunnel".[14] The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line railway is also contained in a tunnel of similar length and age - built 1842, 774 metres (2,539 ft) long - as it passes Glen Village, emerging at Hallglen.[15] Both were constructed as William Forbes Sr and Jr, the powerful successive owners of nearby Callendar House, did not want the canal or the railway to spoil their views of the landscape. At the 2001 UK census, Glen Village and Hallglen was recorded as having a combined population of 3,488 residents.[1]

Sport

Many local amateur football clubs have come from the area, including the Hallglen Hoofters and the former Chequers team who played their home matches at Glen Park.

See also

References
  1. No 3 - 2001 Census Population of settlements and wards Archived June 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine www.falkirk.gov.uk. Retrieved 2011-04-27
  2. OS National Grid Maps, 1944-1967, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland)
  3. Looking back on 'the Glen', Falkirk Herald, 2 February 2013
  4. Callendar Colliery Pit No 13, RailScot
  5. Callendar Brickworks, Glen, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scottish Brick History
  6. OS Six-inch 1st edition, 1843-1882, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland)
  7. OS 25 inch Scotland, 1892-1905, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland)
  8. Policy Colliery, Canmore
  9. Hallglen, Gazetteer for Scotland
  10. 'Hallglen is being left to rot' says councillor, Falkirk Herald, 2 September 2016
  11. About Our School, Hallglen Primary School
  12. Falkirk - the Early Centuries, Falkirk Local History Society, 2005
  13. 2011 Intermediate Zone: Falkirk - Lochgreen and Lionthorn, Scottish Government Statistics
  14. "Union Canal". Falkirk Local History Society. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  15. Hallglen Railway Tunnel, Gazetteer for Scotland


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