Crookston (, ) is a residential suburb on the southwestern edge of the city of Glasgow, Scotland.
Two distinct and geographically separate neighbourhoods about apart on opposite sides of the White Cart Water are known by the Crookston name, owing to factors in their development. Both areas share the same main road (A736 Crookston Road) and fall within the same U.K. and Scottish Parliamentary constituencies (as of 2019 boundaries), but the northern area falls under the Cardonald ward for Glasgow City Council and is within the G52 postcode zone, while the southern area is in the Greater Pollok ward and the G53 postcode zone.
History Crookston Estate The lands of Crookston were named after the feudal Anglo-Norman lord, Robert Croc who was granted the deeds by David I of Scotland, via Walter fitz Alan,Crookston Heritage Trail, Glasgow City Council in 1170 and soon built Crookston Castle ( in Scottish Gaelic) on a small knoll. In addition to the first wooden version of the castle – John Stewart of Darnley had the surviving stone version built in around 1400 – Robert Croc had a chapel constructed, as well as a hospital,The Topographical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland, Volume 1 (page 270), A. Fullarton, 1848Memoirs of the Maxwells of Pollok (page 6), William Fraser, 1863Follow the Arrow (page 115), Eddie Crooks, 2011, beginning a legacy of healthcare facilities in the area which continues to the present era.
The area north of the castle, between the Levern Water and the White Cart Water, was forested and known as Crookston Wood (Iron Age remains were found there during a 1959 archaeological excavation),Glasgow, Pollok | Earthwork (Period Unassigned), Fort (Iron Age), Canmore while several farms surrounding the castle also shared the name: Crookston House and Farm to its west, Nether Crookston just to its south, Old Crookston further south and Mains of Crookston to its east.The Mains of Cruickston (Pollok House, 1830), The Glasgow Story The castle was captured in the mid-1500sCruckston Castle (Pollok House, 1830), The Glasgow Story and its importance diminished, although it was restored in the mid-19th century by the Maxwells of PollokCrookston Castle, The Castles of ScotlandLinzi Watson. Battle begins to reclaim castle for local community. Evening Times. 31 July 2013. and was donated by the family to the National Trust for Scotland in 1931, being the first property the organisation managed.
Crookston Station area
Although other names such as Cardonald, Hillington, Ingleston, Ralston and Rosshill were associated with the territory north of the White Cart river, in 1885 the Crookston name was still sufficiently prominent locally for it to be chosen as the name of a station on the Glasgow and South Western Railway's new route between Glasgow and Paisley – sited between the White Cart and the main road between the towns (A761 Paisley Road West), the tracks followed the trajectory of the abandoned Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal and was thus titled the Paisley Canal line). Over the next few decades, a small commuter suburb consisting mostly of large villas was constructed around the station, and inevitably this community became known as Crookston.
After the lands, previously within the parish of Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire,Map of the Parish of Paisley in the Historical County of Renfrew, Gazetteer for Scotland were annexed by Glasgow Corporation in 1926,Glasgow's growing pains, Evening Times, 26 November 2012No Mean City: 1914 to 1950s | Neighbourhoods | Boundary Extensions, The Glasgow Story it was gradually surrounded by other residential neighbourhoods including South Cardonald, Hillington, Penilee and Rosshall within the city,From historic tale to best seller | Living in Crookston, The Herald, 23 February 2000 also directly bordering the affluent suburb of Ralston, Renfrewshire. Several small developments of housebuilding took place within the area over various eras until almost all the land was built upon, ranging from concrete tenements, terraces of modest houses, semi-detached bungalows and flat-roofed apartment blocks, plus the converted buildings of the original station, which were abandoned after the line closed in 1983; it re-opened in 1990, but now uses only one track and platform for both directions (a small section of double track to the east of Crookston allows trains to pass one another).
In addition to an eponymous hotel (extended from a villa) on Crookston Road,About Us, Crookston Hotel there is a good provision of local shops and other services, including churches on Paisley Road West, and bowling clubs to the east at Cardonald and the west at Ralston. One of the very few pre-railway era remnants in the area is Cardonald Place Farm; a mill sited nearby was demolished in the 1930s. The nearest primary schools are in South Cardonald, as is the Catholic Lourdes Secondary School; the local nondenominational high school is Rosshall Academy,Which School Catchment?, Glasgow City Council built in 2001 immediately south of the Paisley Canal railway lines and next to Ross Hall Hospital and Rosshall Public Park, beyond which is the Howford Bridge, carrying the main road south over the White Cart.Glasgow, Howford Bridge, Canmore The local community council covering this area is South Cardonald and Crookston CC.Home, South Cardonald and Crookston Community Council
Crookston Home and Leverndale area In 1895, a lunatic asylum and hospital (known initially as Govan District Asylum, then as Hawkhead Asylum after the surrounding country estate on the periphery of Paisley) was built on a promontory near the left bank of the White Cart to the west of Crookston Road.Asylums in Glasgow: The buildings where madness was managed, CommonSpace, 16 December 2016Glasgow, Historic Hospitals It was expanded several times, including the incorporation of the old Hawkhead mansion and a farm for use by inmates,Paisley, Hawkhead House, CanmorePaisley Mansions: Hawkhead, Paisley.org and was renamed Leverndale Hospital in 1964.Leverndale Hospital (Glasgow Caledonian University, Research Collections, Heatherbank Museum of Social Work, 1975), The Glasgow StoryGlasgow, Pollok, 510 Crookston Road, Leverndale Hospital, Canmore In that period there was a separate Hawkhead Hospital located across fields to the west of Leverndale, another psychiatric facility south of that at Dykebar Hospital, and another hospital a short distance to the east at Cowglen. New buildings closer to the main road were constructed in the 1990s, and in the 2000s the older units (including the Category A listed were converted to private housing. In 2011, a station for the Scottish Ambulance Service opened at the new Leverndale site,Newest ambulance station among busiest in country, Evening Times, 12 July 2011 followed in 2014 by the NHS West of Scotland Mother and Baby Unit (relocated from the Southern General Hospital).About us : News and Updates, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
In 1906, Renfrewshire Combination Poorhouse was built near Old Crookston Farm to the east of Crookston Road.Renfrewshire Combination, Renfrewshire, Workhouses.org It was later renamed as Crookston Home Poor Law Institution, before being reconfigured as a nursing home for the elderly in 1934.Glasgow Takes Care of its Old Folk, (video footage, 1949), National Library of Scotland Four years later, a development of 'cottage homes' (an early version of sheltered housing) was built immediately to its south,Crookston Home; Paisley; Renfrewshire; Scotland (1968), NCAP (Historic Environment Scotland) with additional care provided from the main block of the complex as required.OS National Grid Maps, 1944-1967, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland) Around the same time, a wide area of land to the east and north of the Home (within Renfrewshire's Eastwood parish)Map of the Parish of Eastwood in the Historical Counties of Glasgow and Renfrew, Gazetteer for Scotland was purchased by Glasgow from the Pollok Estate for housebuilding, and after its first stage (today's 'Old Pollok') was interrupted by World War II,Pollok Housing (Glasgow City Archives, Department of Architectural and Civic Design, 1938), The Glasgow Story the large Pollok peripheral housing scheme was constructed along both banks of the Levern Water in the decade after the conflict,Kempsthorn Road (Glasgow City Archives, Department of Architectural and Civic Design, 1950), The Glasgow Story surrounding Crookston Castle and also occupying part of the old woodlandLyoncross Road (Burrell Collection Photo Library, 1955 Survey), The Glasgow Story and farms including Mains of Crookston, Byres, Nether Crookston and Crookston House – the latter, at the confluence of the White Cart and Levern Waters,South Glasgow Rivers : Levern, White Cart and Brock Burn, ScotCities became the site of Howford Special School in the mid-1960s.Subfonds GKC/SSP - Howford Special School, Pollok, Glasgow School of Art Archives and CollectionsSchool, Old Crookston Farm Site, Dictionary of Scottish ArchitectsRockers The View are wowed by music therapy for kids at Glasgow primary school, Daily Record, 11 November 2012
In contrast to the preservation work at Leverndale, the Crookston Home facility operated until the 1990s when its functions became obsolete,Crookston Homes Elderly Care Unit. A Day In The Death Of An Institution, via YouTube and the site was then cleared for housebuilding leaving no trace of the original buildings or the cottages.Cottage haven for twilight years, Evening Times, 1 October 2012Pollok History | Crookston Homes, Me in G53 There was already an existing mid-20th century development of houses at Roughmussel at the southern end of Crookston Road (along with a row of shops), and various housebuilders added clusters of suburban villas accessed from the main road from the 1990s until the 2010s, until most of the accessible land forming Glasgow's western border between Howford Bridge and Barrhead Road, a distance of over , was built upon.
Despite the large number of family homes, there are no primary schools in this area itself, the closest being in west Pollok a short distance from each other, and another at a modern campus in Craigbank (Nitshill) – it incorporates the special educational needs base previously at Howford School,GCC extend schools modernisation programme with Gowanbank Campus, Urban Realm, 23 February 2015 the vacated building for which was subjected to arson in 2018.Girl, 13, charged over fire at derelict school, BBC News, 2 August 2018 The older local schoolchildren typically attend Rosshall Academy and Lourdes Secondary, although St Paul's High School is physically closer for many.