Westburn is a district of the town of Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was formerly home to a steel works and power station which were the area's major employers; the sites are now occupied by a housing development and modern industrial estate respectively. Administratively, Westburn is within the Cambuslang East ward of the South Lanarkshire Council area and has a population of around 2,000.
Location
Due to its physical isolation from the main built-up areas of Cambuslang, Westburn has something of a rural village character as opposed to a neighbourhood in a medium-sized town.
The River Clyde runs to the north of the village, opposite the Carmyle district of Glasgow – for about two decades the banks were connected by Westburn Viaduct, a disused rail bridge, but this was later blocked off (in 2021, plans to refurbish and re-open the bridge were published). To the south is the West Coast Main Line railway line with the district of Halfway beyond. To the east, Westburn is separated from the neighbouring district of Newton by a small burn and hill. To the west, a park and golf course form a boundary with the Circuit neighbourhood and the Cambuslang town centre.
History
Ancient Estate
The Westburn name has appeared on local maps for centuries, but initially this was a country house and a nearby farm closer to Cambuslang Main Street than the current village. The estate of Westburn existed from the late middle ages and was largely in the hands of minor nobility, members of the Clan Hamilton who latterly married into the Clan Dundas. The last Westburn House was built in 1685 but the later owners failed to maintain it well, and in the 1890s it was demolished and a golf course (Cambuslang Golf Club) was laid out in the grounds.
An octagonal doocot from the 18th century in the middle of the course is the surviving feature of the old estate (and is a Category B listed building). The farm buildings to the east are presently an indoor go-kart racing circuit. Part of the estate which nowadays is housing was a football ground at the end of the 19th century; Westburn Park was home at various times to Cambuslang F.C., Cambuslang Hibernian and the surviving local club Cambuslang Rangers.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the area where modern Westburn is now situated was merely open ground with a small road running down towards Newton House on the other side of the burn.
19th Century
A notable feature in the area was the local cemetery located on high ground, which still serves the Cambuslang population to this day and has been extended several times. It has records from 1889 although there are headstones on the site dating from the 1750s. This was also the location of Old Cambuslang or Cambuslangtown, the hamlet from which the town took its name as it became larger – this settlement did not last beyond the 19th century.
A small colliery operated in Westburn from 1875 until 1905 and had a branch railway connecting it to the main lines. There was also a small tile works in the mid 19th century, and later some row cottages for railway workers and a public house were built near to Newton railway station and the Hallside Steelworks on the other side of the railway tracks. One of the oldest surviving buildings in the district housed a small cinema ('The Empire') for a time; it has long since been converted to use as a workshop.
Steel Village
Westburn was transformed with the arrival of its own steel works in 1921. The Redpath Brown & Co firm was established in 1802 in Edinburgh and had premises in Glasgow by 1905 but needed a bigger site and identified Westburn, on the road to Newton House as the location for their new works. The business proved very successful, and a network of houses (around 160 dwellings, mainly cottage flats) was built alongside for the workers. A group of uncommon black 'Swedish timber' houses (64 dwellings) was also constructed on the south side of Westburn Road up to the railway lines in the late 1930s; the same style can be seen in pockets of similar numbers within Lanarkshire including at High Blantyre, Larkhall, Allanton, Moodiesburn and Birkenshaw, while other less distinctive examples using the materials are found in many parts of Scotland.