It gets a brief mention on William Roy's eighteenth century map of the Scottish Lowlands.

[8] The map seems to show this flowing possibly down the Gully[9] and eventually feeding the Red Burn in the Vault Glen.

For the first several years, Carbrain was considered to be highly desirable as an escape from poor housing in the Glasgow area.

As newer developments have been constructed in the Cumbernauld area, Carbrain has fallen into disrepair despite periods of renovation.

For example over £70 million was spent building new houses around Beechwood Court watched over by Andy Scott's artwork Vitruvian Girl.

Carbrain is supposed to have the Town Centre as its focus, so there was thought to be no need for serious scale entertainment or grocery shops.