Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld (/ˌkʌmbərˈnɔːld/;[3] Scottish Gaelic: Comar nan Allt[4]) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated town in North Lanarkshire, positioned in the centre of Scotland's Central Belt. Geographically, Cumbernauld sits between east and west, being on the Scottish watershed between the Forth and the Clyde; however, it is culturally more weighted towards Glasgow and the New Town's planners aimed to fill 80% of its houses from Scotland's largest city to reduce housing pressure there.[5]
Not to be confused with Cumberland.
Cumbernauld- Scottish Gaelic: Comar nan Allt
- Scottish Gaelic: Comar nan Allt
Traces of Roman occupation are still visible, for example at Westerwood and, less conspicuously, north of the M80 where the legionaries surfaced the Via Flavii, later called the "Auld Cley Road". This is acknowledged in Cumbernauld Community Park, also site of Scotland's only visible open-air Roman altar,[6] in the shadow of the imposing Carrickstone Water Tower.
For many years Cumbernauld was chiefly populated around what is now called The Village with the medieval castle a short walk away surrounded by its own park grounds. The castle frequently hosted visiting royalty and the grounds were famous for their white cattle which were hunted in the oak forest. The town began to enlarge as the weaving industry of the village was supplemented by mining and quarrying as travel across Scotland became easier due to the Forth and Clyde Canal and the railways being constructed. Cumbernauld railway station, though some distance from the village, improved communications with Glasgow, Falkirk and Stirling.
Cumbernauld was designated as the site for a New Town on 9 December 1955. This led to rapid expansion and building for about 40 years until the town became established as the largest in North Lanarkshire. At the UK census in 2011, the population of Cumbernauld was approximately 52,000, housed in more than a dozen residential areas. Cumbernauld's economy is a mixture of some manufacturing, mainly on its industrial estates, as well as service industries in the town centre and in sites close to the M80.
Cumbernauld was featured in Our World, the first live multinational multi-satellite television production.
Awards[edit]
In 1967 the Institute of American Architects voted Cumbernauld the world's best new town conferring the Reynold's Memorial Award.[124] Cumbernauld is a two-time winner of the Carbuncle Awards in 2001 and 2005.[125] The town has since received the award of 'Best Town' at the Scottish Design Awards 2012.[125] The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) awarded the town a certificate in March 2014 for its success as a New Town. In 2015 the Town Centre was awarded the Green Apple Environmental Award.[126] Cumbernauld won the 2013 Beautiful Scotland Award for the best "Small City".[127] It has also received silver medals each year since 2009,[128] the most recent being in 2017.[129] In 2017 Cumbernauld was also awarded the Garden for Life Biodiversity Award.[130]
Media and Culture[edit]
The local Cumbernauld newspaper is the Cumbernauld News.
Cumbernauld FM is a community station broadcasting to the town of Cumbernauld and surrounding areas on 106.8 FM and online.
The Lanternhouse Theatre was opened in the grounds of Cumbernauld Academy to replace Cumbernauld Theatre which closed in 2019.[141] The theatre company grew out of the community run Cottage Theatre (EST. 1963) set up in 1978 as a charitable trust run civic theatre. Over the years it has built up a favourable reputation on the Scottish arts scene, for both its in-house productions and community outreach initiatives. In 2019 the company won a Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Governance[edit]
Cumbernauld has 11 council members out of 69 North Lanarkshire Councillors.[142]
Jamie Hepburn is the area's elected MSP for the Scottish Parliament constituency. He is also a member of the Scottish National Party.[143] As part of the Central Scotland region there are 7 additional MSPs. Of these four are Labour (Mark Griffin, Monica Lennon, Richard Leonard and Elaine Smith; and 3 are Conservative (Alison Harris, Margaret Mitchell and Graham Simpson).
Stuart McDonald is the area's elected MP for the UK Parliament constituency. He is a member of the Scottish National Party.[144] As he said in his maiden speech he has sometimes been mistaken for his namesake who is also an SNP MP.[145][146]
Until the UK's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, there were also 6 MEPs for Scotland (European Parliament constituency) from four different parties.
Many of Cumbernauld's residential areas retain the names of previous farms in their vicinity.[196]
