Linn Park et alia loca
Sponsored by the Linn Park Gentlemen's Walking Club

On Friday 10th June 2011, I was fortunate enough to meet a tourist holding a copy of this rare leaflet. The Cathcart Heritage Trail leaflet was published by Glasgow District Council circa 1990. Robert Paterson, a Canadian citizen whose family roots are in Glasgow, was over to see those roots. He was kind enough to lend it to me, so I rushed home and scanned it. This fortunate meeting was of course followed by a pint in the Old Smiddy ! 

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Recently, remapping several of the paths, we decided to review the description of the Heritage Trail, splitting it into two sections, both of which start and finish at the Old Smiddy, where parking is usually easy.

The revised Cathcart Heritage Trail generally covers the same places of interest as before, but with a few additions.

The original numbering of the places on the trail has been retained, but the route has been considerably revised into two distinct loops.

The first loop runs through old Cathcart to the Snuffmill Bridge, and then covers New Cathcart, before covering more of Old Cathcart.

The second loop is a walk around Linn Park which again has old and new items.

The descriptions are taken, mostly verbatim, from the original leaflet.

Click here for a printable map. Please also see the History section on this web site.

Intoduction to The Villages of Cathcart - Old and New

The name Cathcart is thought to be derived from the Celtic 'caer' meaning 'fort' and 'cart' meaning a fenilising sffeam. Cathcart used to be a small village on the banks of the White Cart. Its history goes back to the times of King David I of Scotland (1124-1153). The king gave Cathcart to Walter Fitzalan, a loyal knight who was appointed Great Steward of Scotland. In his tum, Fitzalan, divided his lands amongst other knights and Renaldus was given Cathcart. The Cathcart lineage continued with Sir William de Ketkert who, in 1296, signed the Ragman Roll thus swearing allegiance to Edward I, King of England.

Cathcart, and its neighbouring village, New Cathcart, developed as business people were attracted to the area to use the river for its power and its clean water. Grain mills, paper mills, dye and carpet works and an iron foundry were built on the riverbanks. The Victorians brought railways and, later, trams were introduced and new tenemental streets were laid out. Wealthy city folk, atracted by the rural village charm, built fine new villas between the two villages.

The maps below show this change: on the left circa 1858 there are four large houses and two mills, whereas by 1896 the railway had arrived, and the "garden suburb" was developing.

Today Cathcart is a bustling suburb in a large modem city. Despite losing some of its old industries and buildings, Cathcart still retains much of its identity as a village in a City.

The Patron Saint of Cathcart was St Oswald - 604 to 642 AD.

The trail takes you through the 'Victorian parts of Cathcart showing where local industries developed, where the new tenemental city streets were laid out and where the 'garden suburbs' arose. In the older 'ancient' Cathcart, you are taken back to the time of Robert the Bruce, of castles, and hereditary annourers, old corn mills, ancient graveyard and the coming of Christianity. The trail takes the walker through the 'garden' suburb of Victorian villas.

Many of the images shown are taken from the original leaflet - which does not appear to include any copyright statements. Apparently it was first published by Glasgow District Council.

A marvellous source of information can be found at the archive of Gerald Blaikies web site of ScotCities.com on: http://web.archive.org/web/20201023111119/http://www.scotcities.com/cathcart/cathcart.htm. The photographs are excellent and give a real feel of the architecture and heritage of Cathcart. 

Another source of information comes from Canmore Historic Environment Scotland, and is at https://canmore.org.uk/. The description od Cathcart is given as "A parish in Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire until 1975. A medieval parish and a parish for both civil and religious purposes from the sixteenth century until 1975. The boundaries of the civil parish were altered by the Boundary Commissioners in 1891."

The Old Smiddy pub makes a better place to Start and Finish both loops. Parking is available in the pub's car park or on Old Castle Road.