Easterhouse is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, east of the city centre on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of an expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. The area is on high ground north of the River Clyde and south of the River Kelvin and Campsie Fells.
Building began in the mid-1950s to provide better housing for people in the East End living in sub-standard conditions. At the 2001 Census, its population was 26,495.
Neighbourhoods of Easterhouse include Provanhall, Kildermorie, Lochend, Rogerfield and Commonhead, as well as Wellhouse, Easthall and Queenslie which are separated from the other parts by the M8 motorway running east–west through the area. The nearby communities of Barlanark, Craigend, Cranhill, Garthamlock and Ruchazie were constructed using the same building principles and have suffered from similar problems.Smack City tries to kick the habit , The Independent, 8 August 1998
History of the area The remains of crannogs from the Iron Age were found in Bishop Loch, dating from around 700 BC by an archaeological dig in 1898. The Bishops of Glasgow were granted the land on which much of modern Easterhouse was built when the church of Glasgow was elevated into a bishopric in the 12th century. The remains of the Bishop of Glasgow's country palace have been revealed by the West of Scotland Archaeology Service next to Bishops Loch (a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)) at Lochwood. The palace was called Lochwood Castle and was demolished after the reformation to build a mausoleum at nearby Bedlay Castle, which was in turn dismantled and the stones reused as a lodge in the early nineteenth century. Local oral history talks of the Bishops of Glasgow sailing in a Venetian gondola from Glasgow Cathedral to his palace at Bishops Loch. Hogganfield Loch is the source of the Molindinar Burn next to the Cathedral, so some truth may lie in this claim.
The Forestry Commission administers land around Easterhouse under the name 'Bishops Estate', thus maintaining a link to the medieval bishops.
The far western and far northern parts of modern-day Easterhouse are believed to have been administered by the prebends of Barlanark, called the 'Lands of Provan' but the boundaries of this has never been accurately defined. The 15th century mansion house, Provan Hall, is a reminder of this ecclesiastical Pre-Reformation Papal administration.
The southern and eastern parts of the area, Bartiebeith, Blairtummock, Dungeonhill, Easterhouse, Hallhill, Netherhouse and Commonhead were also part of the Bishopric although granted by Malcolm IV to the Monks of Newbattle a little after 1162 in an unnamed charter by permission of Bishop Herbert of the See of Glasgow. The lands remained under the monks until 1268 when Bishop John de Cheam (Cheyam) redeemed the 'lands along the Clud' (Clyde) called Kermyl (Carmyle) - most of the area now comprising modern Easterhouse were included in this grant - to sustain three chaplains to 'minister for the salvation of the Bishop's soul and also for the souls of all the faithful deceased'.
Easterhouse village and the origin of name In Timothy Pont's map and manuscript of 1596 the area where the late 19th century village of Easterhouse later developed was called 'Conflat'. Variations of this name are contained in the rental book of the Baronie de Glasgow (1513–1570) when it is recorded that one 'Johannes Woyd (John Wood) was rentaller of the 18s 8d land of Conflattis. The William Forrest map of 1816 calls the area of the old village Wamnat. Like the nearby village of Whifflet, now in Coatbridge, the term conflat derived from corn/wheat flats - flat land where wheat was farmed.
The village of Easterhouse was built from the late 19th century in land owned by, and south of, a farm of that name, in the immediate area around where Easterhouse railway station stands. The village was bounded to the north by the Monkland Canal and to the south, almost continuously with, the village of Swinton. Contrary to the stained glass window in Morrisons, Glasgow Fort, the villagers worked in a number of industries including the canal, the stone quarry at Auchinlea,[https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst11691.html Auchinlea Park, Gazetteer for Scotland coal mines at Gartloch and Baillieston but mainly in the surrounding farms and estates as agricultural workers.Easterhouse Lanarkshire , A vision of Britain through time (Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1884
Some cottages and other buildings (now a public house) can still be found on and adjacent to Easterhouse Road that were part of the 19th century village of Easterhouse. A modern corruption of the ancient Conflats name can be seen at Whamflet Avenue in Easterhouse village.
The village's name was derived from Easterhouse Farm. Easterhouse farm was opposite (to the east) to the farm called Westerhouse. Easterhouse farm was located on what is now Millennium Court and Westerhouse near where Errogie Street now stands (off Westerhouse Road). A small group of remaining trees are still present lead to the site of the farm buildings. Other farms in the area included Westerhouse, Netherhouse and Dungeonhill farms, these names are still found in local street names). Other farms, villages and country estates included West Maryston (or Merryston), Queenslie Farm, Netherhouse, Provanhall, Blairtummock and Lochwood.
Housing and the modern estate Large-scale building commenced in the mid-1950s by the Corporation of Glasgow, replacing farms and country estates, to provide housing for city residents living in sub-standard accommodation in the city. The old village of Easterhouse was not developed with the new estate and declined. The old railway station was demolished (later replaced with a modern station building), together with a small number of the houses.
The 1950s-1970s housing was an improvement from the tightly packed tenements that many people moved to Easterhouse from.Local Amenities: Housing in Greater Easterhouse , Hidden History These tenemented dwellings had double bedrooms and interior bathrooms with a lavatory. The population peaked at over 56,843 in the early 1960s and is now around 26,000. The 2008 Scottish Public Health Observatory report on life expectancy, smoking levels and unemployment show that Easterhouse had lower levels of life expectancy and higher levels of smoking and unemployment levels than Scotland, though both of the latter were falling by large percentages.Easterhouse W: Postcode Sector G34 9
The 100,000th council home to be built in Glasgow was part of a three-storey block of flats in Carriden Place, Easterhouse; it was completed in 1965, 46 years after the first council houses in Glasgow.100,000th House (Glasgow City Archives, Department of Architectural and Civic Design, 1958) , The Glasgow Story
Easterhouse, along with other large housing projects built at that time by Glasgow Corporation, came to prominence in the wider world through its social problems and became a case study for social planners hoping to avoid the same types of problems. For example, the lack of basic amenities, such as shops, sports, other recreational grounds, such as cinemas and poor transport links.Urban Renewal, Easterhouse House of Commons Hansard, 3 May 1985
Housing was mainly of the two/three bedroom tenement type, off a common close. The lack of variety of housing types, such as detached and semi-detached house types created a somewhat monotonous and bland townscape. This along with a lack of any stable pre-existing community structure and unemployment in the area contributed to the rise of youth gang culture. This became so notorious in the 1960s that celebrities including Frankie Vaughan became involved in community issues in an attempt to bring order and attract resources to the area. The late 1960s and 1970s saw the construction of a large indoor shopping centre, later named Shandwick Square, local area shops, Easterhouse Library, pool and community centre, local schools (both primary and secondary) churches and in the early 1980s, the health centre (GP surgery and dentist).Easterhouse Housing (Glasgow City Archives, Department of Architectural and Civic Design, 1959) , The Glasgow StoryEasterhouse Township Centre , Dictionary of Scottish Architects
Since the early 1980s, Glasgow City Council and more recently Glasgow Housing Association began a programme of renovation, demolition and refurbishment of the housing stock, replacing the old style tenement housing with detached and semi-detached houses.Housing the key to city's eastern fringe , The Herald, 29 March 1997 This has attracted significant amount of privately owned property and investment into the area, including the provision of better transport links and amenities. Housing is now mainly under local housing associations such as Provanhall, Easthall Park, Blairtummock and Bishops Wood.EHRA - Partnership Working , Blairtummmock Housing Association
In 2016, Glasgow City Council outlined masterplans for the development of the Greater Easterhouse area over the next 20 years.106 new homes to be built in Easterhouse in £14m bid to transform the area , Glasgow Live, 4 April 2019
Reputation and social problems For many years, Easterhouse has had a poor reputation in Scotland and the UK as a whole.What's Happened to Glasgow's 'Most Notorious' Housing Scheme?, Vice, 14 November 2016 This is partly due to riots in the 1970s that started there and spread to surrounding areas.
The crime problems in Easterhouse and many surrounding areas in Glasgow's East End are often associated with "Ned culture". Easterhouse was infamous for having a gang problem; these were not organised crime groups, and many members stated that there were no leaders, no money and no narcotics involved and the regular fighting between them, often fuelled by alcohol and involving dozens of participants on each side, was purely territorial, a problem in most working-class areas of Glasgow,Why didn't the riots reach Scotland? , The Guardian, 16 August 2011 although perhaps more prominent in Easterhouse than anywhere else.With more officers on the streets, the high-profile police operation is producing results; Quiet night under the Spotlight , The Herald, 16 December 199630 years of gang terror in city scheme , Evening Times, 12 July 2007In the shadow of the blade , The Scotsman, 19 July 2008 The gangs were formed by unemployed teens and young adults who complained that there was nothing to do in the area, so drinking would go on throughout the day until erupting into violence at night. It was reported in 2006 that there were about sixteen gangs from different neighbourhoods in a radius, and they would remain in 'their' streets as much as possible to avoid being targeted individually by enemies, gang affiliations often passing from parent to child. This led to pervading isolation, territorialism, cycles of seeking revenge for past incidents and general acceptance of violence as inevitable, continuing through the generations. In the early 21st century various methods have been used in an effort to reduce the violence and prevent the patterns of gang culture repeating itself, which have been successful to a large extent in terms of eliminating the territorialism: the different neighbourhoods are still sometimes referred to by their gang terms but the territories are no longer habitually 'defended' from rivals by the local teenagers.Glasgow's lessons for the 'big society' , The Guardian, 26 October 2010Fare play helps curb Easterhouse gangs , Evening Times, 7 October 2013Street gangs in decline as more youths opt to stay home , The Scotsman, 17 February 2016