Neighbourhoods
Hardgate
By Sam Gibson
The old village of Hardgate lay astride the turnpike road from Dumbarton to Stirling, east of the neighbouring village of Duntocher. Its name is perhaps derived from "the hard gait" (gait is a Scots word for a road), and may explain why locals refer to "The" Hardgate. In 1974 the village and other parts of Old Kilpatrick Parish were included with the Burgh of Clydebank in Clydebank District, which in turn became part of the area under the control of a new unitary authority, West Dunbartonshire Council, in 1996.
Early History
The area has evidence of early settlement with a Neolithic burial site at Knappers Farm, cup and ring marked stones at Cochno and a burial chamber above Cochno Loch. The Romans also left evidence of their stay in the area when, about 142 AD, they built the Antonine Wall and ditch, with a fortlet and fort on the top of what is now Goldenhill Park. The fortlet lies to the west of the flagpole, with the fort extending to the west and south. A section of the wall base is exposed on the west side of the park and the line of the ditch can just be seen running downhill from the flagpole towards the so-called "Roman Bridge". Traces of a Roman Bathhouse have been discovered. Carved "distance slabs" were buried when the wall was finally abandoned about 164 AD, and several of these have been found locally.
In 1227 Maldowen the 3rd Earl of Lennox conveyed the lands of the Parish to the Monks of Paisley Abbey. It was perhaps the Monks who established the first road connecting their storage barns on the Clyde with Hardgate, to collect their rents or the equivalent in produce.
Churches
By the 1830s the growth of the congregation attending the parish church in Old Kilpatrick from the Duntocher / Hardgate area justified the building of an additional church, and Duntocher Trinity Parish Church was opened in Roman Road in 1836. A Roman Catholic Sunday School was held in Duntocher from 1830 until the first chapel was established in 1841 and a new church built in 1850. The Disruption of 1843 resulted in a split in the Church of Scotland and in 1845 a new Free Church, to be known as Duntocher East, was opened on Glasgow Road near Hardgate Mill.
Industry
Until 1771, when the Dalnottar Iron works moved most of their production from Old Kilpatrick to use the water power provided by the Duntocher Burn, the economy of area was mainly based on farming. However, the Paisley Abbey records mention coal mines on the lands of Cochno and several existed later to the east of Hardgate. The iron works were followed closely by the erection of a woollen mill in Duntocher in 1786. When these ventures declined William Dunn (1770 -1849) established four large cotton mills, one in Faifley, one in Hardgate and two in Duntocher. Some small local nail and spade forges continued on the Duntocher Burn until the late 1800s. Dunn's Hardgate Mill was built in 1831 and was rebuilt in 1846 after a fire.
After the American Civil War, the cotton industry declined rapidly and local people found employment mainly in the growing engineering industries of Clydebank. The old mill building, which had been acquired by the Strathclyde Hosiery Co, was bombed during the Clydebank Blitz in 1941. It was never rebuilt, and the Old Mill Garage occupies part of the site in 2004. There has been no major industry in Hardgate since the Second World War.
Housing
Before William Dunn started to develop his cotton mills in the area around 1810, housing was mainly connected to farming settlements or country estates. In Hardgate, linear growth developed along the Glasgow Road with several cottages such as the two thatched cottages known as the "Thack" at the north side of the cross, beside the Clover Bar. Some two-storey tenement properties, or "lands", were also built in the second half of the 19th century.
As Dunn's mills declined, industry in Clydebank grew and the population increased. In the late 1920s and early '30s, new Council houses were built along Glasgow Road at Colbreggan Gardens and later at St Helena Crescent. After the Second World War new private housing was created at Gavins Road and Cochno Road and temporary prefabs were built at Goldenhill to rehouse people made homeless after the Clydebank Blitz.
Compared to Clydebank, Hardgate escaped lightly in the Blitz; the main casualties were the mill, Trinity Church in Roman Road, Duntocher Public school and St Mary's Chapel in Duntocher. Some houses were hit and several people killed and injured. A rocket battery was set up on the local golf course during the war. It was removed and replaced with a German prisoner of War camp about in 1943 or 1944.
In the late 1940s Goldenhill was extended and more flats were built in the 1960s. Many of the older properties near Hardgate Cross were demolished in the 1960s to make way for Cameron House Hotel and shops were constructed on both sides of Glasgow Road. At the same time a massive expansion of private housing began, with Ailsa Homes building east of Kilbowie Road in 1960 and then George Wimpey & Co building to the north of Hardgate.
Schools
Primary school children from Hardgate were educated in the Duntocher Public School or in St Mary's Duntocher. The public school was bombed in 1941 and it was not until 1955 that a replacement was opened next to Goldenhill Park. Some Catholic secondary school pupils travelled to St Patrick's High in Dumbarton until comprehensive high schools were opened and the local Catholic children went to Columba's High. Similarly, after the bombing of Clydebank High School many non-denominational children travelled to Dumbarton Academy until the new High School opened at Shelley Drive in 1947. Later in the 1970s, comprehensive schools were opened at Braidfield and St Columba's to give full secondary education.
Sport and Leisure
Hardgate is home to the Clydebank and District Golf Club, which opened in 1905. The Hardgate Quoiting Club was founded about 1840 with a green behind the Clover Bar (now the Westhills Hotel). Quoiting clubs were commonly associated with a public house and often with a forge to make the quoits; in this case, the Craig family's smiddy was nearby on Glasgow Road. The club closed in the 1970s.
Duntocher Hibs FC played for many years at St Helena Park on the south side of Glasgow Road, before moving to Glenhead Park in Duntocher. Hardgate has a very active fishing club, based at Cochno Loch, and outdoor bowls are played at the green in Goldenhill Park.
In less than 100 years, Hardgate has changed from what was a small traditional country village to being a large residential suburb of Clydebank. Most of its residents, however, would still like to claim they are villagers from "The" Hardgate.
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