Riddrie () is a north-eastern district of Glasgow, Scotland. It lies on the A80 Cumbernauld Road.
Location and amenities Riddrie is a predominantly residential area consisting of 1920s or earlier semi-detached houses (especially in the area known as Riddrie Knowes), and some 1920s three-story tenement buildings containing multiple apartments. It is the location of Barlinnie prison. The area lies to the north east of the centre of Glasgow.
There is a Vogue bingo hall, library, bowling green and local shops. Bus services link Riddrie with Glasgow City Centre and Cumbernauld. Nearby is Hogganfield Loch, around which is a public park.
Geology Riddrie sits on limestone with a clay layer over it. This can be seen in the outcrops in the area where the limestone breaks through.Limestone outcrop - geograph.org.uk - 4710767.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Limestone_outcrop_-_geograph.org.uk_-_4710767.jpg Retrieved 31 August 2023 There is a stone quarry in the grounds of HMP Barlinnie, which was used to create the War Memorial in Lee Avenue, according to its inscription. Limestone, a biochemical sedimentary rock, is in Riddrie of the Clackmannan Group Type. It dates from the Carboniferous Period and specifically to 318 to 328 million years ago.Page 7, Environmental Impact Assessment Record of Determination M8 Jct 13 to Jct 12 EB plus Slips Transport Scotland (June 2022) https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/51906/record-of-determination-m8-junction-13-to-junction-12-eastbound.pdf Retrieved 31 August 2023 Coal seams in the immediate area to the east were considered commercially exploitable from the late eighteenth century onwards once the canal had been built. Under Riddrie Knowes there is a sill of volcanic rock, and Glasgow and its environs are much affected by patterns of Ice Age melt.Menzies, J. "Investigations into the Quaternary deposits and bedrock topography of central Glasgow." Scottish Journal of Geology 17.3 (1981): 155-168.
History
Canal and motorway proximity The former Monkland Canal to the immediate north of modern Riddrie was begun by James Watt in June 1770 as the first stage of a plan to allow transport of coal to the centre of Glasgow. One of its water sources was Hogganfield Loch. The canal's commercial development had by 1792 allowed coal exploitation close to its route to grow. The first half of the 19th century saw this use intensify with the opening of ironworks in Coatbridge. Both shallow and deep coalmining took place close to and under Riddrie. The Monkland Canal traffic was close by. In the late 18th century, there was a drawbridge at Riddrie where coal was sold at competitive rates.Skillen, Brian Stanley (1987) The Development of Mining in the Glasgow Area, 1700–1830. MLitt(R) thesis, University of Glasgow at page 200 https://theses.gla.ac.uk/77612/ Retrieved 25 August 2023 The last deep workings in the area closed in 1931. Mine workings under Riddrie have become unstable in heavy rain, leading to the collapse of ground in Riddrie Park Cemetery.
By the 1920s, the abandoned canal waterway had become a public danger, resulting in Riddrie children drowning, and has been described as a source of "continuous outcry" from residents.Fulton, Rikki Is it That Time Already? Black & White Publishing (2013) Chapter 5 The canal was eventually filled in the 1960s and is now the M8 motorway with the exit for Riddrie at Junction 12. Riddrie was a significant point in the M8 project. In 1978, the section from Riddrie to Ballieston roundabout was designed and constructed to a dual three lane motorway standard, in the immediate expectation of 45,000 vehicles per 16-hour day. In 2020, annual average daily flow traffic records show that the Riddrie/Blackhill Junction 12 section carried 70,676 vehicles (almost 10% being heavy goods vehicles).Page 5, Environmental Impact Assessment Record of Determination M8 Jct 13 to Jct 12 EB plus Slips Transport Scotland (June 2022) https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/51906/record-of-determination-m8-junction-13-to-junction-12-eastbound.pdf Retrieved 31 August 2023
Early records Few early records survive because settlement was so sparse before the mid-19th century. There are some 18th century tax records that indicate the presence of a few wealthier individuals. Income tax was not used in the UK until 1798, and instead a variety of lands, goods and services were taxed. In the late 18th century, horse tax was levied separately on carriage or saddle horses, but not on working farm animals. Captain Christie of Riddrie is shown in the tax roll for 1797–98 as owning one horse. The Farm horse tax rolls show Captain Christie of Riddrie in 1797–98 as owning two farm horses. His neighbours are also shown: William Turnbull of Smithy Croft (two farm horses) and David Bennerman at Lathamhill (four farm horses).Farm Horse Tax 1797-1798 Volume 4, E326/10/4/5 https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/historical-tax-rolls/farm-horse-tax-rolls-1797-1798/farm-horse-tax-1797-1798-volume-04/5 Retrieved 25 August 2023
And also at Farm Horse Tax 1797–1798, Volume 10, E326/10/10/125 https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/historical-tax-rolls/farm-horse-tax-rolls-1797-1798/farm-horse-tax-1797-1798-volume-10/123 Retrieved 25 August 2023
Other records include a land tax listing in 1803 for George Provand, recorded as the owner of Riddrie Park. By 1852, the limited buildings in the area are seen in detail on the Map of the country for ten miles round Glasgow at the National Library of Scotland. Riddrie and Riddrie Park together account for only three dwellings.https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/lanarkshire-os-name-books-1858-1861/lanarkshire-volume-54/27 Retrieved 25 August 2023
And
https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/lanarkshire-os-name-books-1858-1861/lanarkshire-volume-54/24 Retrieved 25 August 2023
Reformatory at Riddrie Farm
From 1861, the House of Refuge in Duke Street, a boys' reformatory, had added to its operation an experimental branch at Riddrie Farm. Prior to this the harsh regime at the Duke Street reformatory had been conducted entirely indoors. Riddrie Farm extended to and was used for giving the boys a basic training in farm labour as well as some fresh air. In 1866, 25 boys had this opportunity and were educated in "spade-husbandry, to drain the land, to cultivate cabbages and turnips, to tend cows and horses etc." The Riddrie Farm establishment was fully certified to operate as from 16 January 1867. Riddrie Farm was closed as from 1871 due to excessive costs to run two sites. During its time in operation, Riddrie Farm was supervised and inspected by the Prison Commissioners, being classified as a Reformatory and Industrial School. Riddrie Farm was inspected in June and September 1869 at a point where there were 128 boys resident. There had been discussion as to whether the whole reformatory ought to be relocated to Riddrie, so the character of Riddrie was known to the prison authorities long before the building of Barlinnie. In the period 1866–68, 158 boys were discharged from the Duke Street/ Riddrie Farm reformatory. Forty seven are not accounted for, whereas 34 are convicted of further crimes, and 64 are recorded as "doing well." In a Glasgow map of 1888, Riddrie can be seen and it is shown as containing only one very large building, the rest being open land.
Prison and housing development The Riddrie area settlement was first intensively developed by the construction of Barlinnie prison in the 1880s, in the effort to relieve Glasgow's prison overcrowding. The site was bought by the Scottish Prison Department for the purpose from Mr Wilson of Campbellfield. The farmstead was known as Barlinnie, and the surrounding land as Blairlenny. The name Barlinnie can be traced back as far as 1562. It combines Scottish Gaelic, "blàr" (field) and "lèanach" (swampy).
Once the prison was built, it was surrounded by "farmland, mansion houses out to the Monkland Canal, except for an embryonic village at Riddrie Knowes". The Riddrie housing development of the 1920s of around 1,000 dwellings took place over a greenfield site (as shown in the Ordnance Survey for 1857–1893). The development was a response to the urgent need for additional housing following the First World War, and it was the first scheme to be completed on behalf of the City Council under the Addison Act. It was originally council housing (to a high specification for the time) and the properties were built with cavity insulation and electric provision.News item All-Electric Houses at Glasgow Electrical Times Vol 61 (1922) at page 243 They were made available to respectable wage-earnersDamer, Seán Scheming: A Social History of Glasgow Council Housing, 1919–1956. Edinburgh University Press (2018) at page 76 who were known to be "people of good character".Case stated in valuation appeal Assessor for Glasgow v Glasgow Corporation Scots Law Times (1974) 69 at 71, col 2 The development took place under the control of Glasgow City Council Director of Housing Peter Fyfe (active 1919–1923). Approximately 3,000 people moved in.Meighan, Michael. Glasgow A History. Amberley Publishing Limited, 2013. The housing element of the Riddrie scheme was the first to be built, whereas the integrated envisaged church, library, school and cinema were subsequently created.
Riddrie was likely inhabited by the incoming council occupiers during 1922, not 1923 as stated in the Third Statistical Account of Scotland (published 1958), on the basis that it is correct that the Minute Book of the Riddrie Ratepayers' Association records a meeting on 12 December 1922 at 47 Gadie Street at which they chose their name.Letter from Chairman of the Association Edith McNeill of 10 Eden Street Riddrie correcting the editor in the Evening Times 1 Aug 1987
https://books.google.com/books?id=k89AAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Riddrie%22&pg=PA9&article_id=5717,105688 Retrieved 19 August 2023 In February 1922, the new roads were being prepared but show-houses with electricity were available for people to inspect. The full and detailed description of the houses was given wide publicity. In March 1923, 500 children living in newly-constructed Riddrie had to be schooled in Haghill. By February 1924, so many homes in Riddrie were in occupation that the need for a school there was openly described as one of urgent necessity.
Blackhill (adjacent to the 1920s development of Riddrie) was designated in the 1930s for new housing. The Blackhill area was developed to rehouse people from slum clearance elsewhere. The process of rehousing was abrupt and relocations were without consultation. This resulted in tensions within Riddrie as successive clearances took place.Damer, Seán Scheming: A Social History of Glasgow Council Housing, 1919–1956. Edinburgh University Press (2018) at page 76 onwards These tensions did not apparently abate over time. In 1962, at a rating appeal brought by the Riddrie Ratepayers' Association, the Blackhill estate was described by them as "one of the worst slum clearance schemes" that negatively impacted the amenity of Riddrie.First Appeals against SSHA Valuation The Glasgow Herald 9 Feb 1962 https://books.google.com/books?id=GH5AAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Riddrie%22&pg=PA5&article_id=5489,5776291 Retrieved 19 August 2023 In 1977, a Riddrie councillor launched a campaign to get the pedestrian motorway bridge by Gala Street demolished. In the three years since it was built, levels of brick-throwing and vandalism from the Blackhill youths from the other side were said to make life unbearable for Riddrie residents.Smith, Ben Demolish this Bridge of Hate- Councillor Evening Times 6 Jul 1977 https://books.google.com/books?id=8fNAAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Riddrie%22&pg=PA2&article_id=4610,979152 Retrieved 19 August 2023