Newton Mearns

Newton Mearns (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Ùr na Maoirne [ˈpalə ˈuːɾ nə ˈmɯːrˠɲə]) is a suburban town and the largest settlement in East Renfrewshire, Scotland.

It lies 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Glasgow City Centre on the main road to Ayrshire, 410 feet (125 m) above sea level.

[3] It has a population of approximately 26,993, stretching from Whitecraigs and Kirkhill in the northeast to Maidenhill in the southeast, to Westacres and Greenlaw in the west and Capelrig/Patterton in the northwest.

Ownership passed from the Pollocks (whose name is perpetuated in the nearby Glasgow housing estate of Pollok) to the Maxwells of Caerlaverock around 1300.

[7] From the early 20th century, with the introduction of improved roads and railways to the area, it gradually became a growing commuter suburb of Glasgow.

[6] Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) undertook work on the Pollock Castle site, and history in 2000.

It was completely destroyed by fire in 1882 (after remaining empty for some while) and then rebuilt again shortly after in the Scottish Baronial style.

The prefabricated house was removed and the site cleared in the early 1990s, and the castle was again rebuilt in 2003, in the Scottish Adam style.

At national level, Newton Mearns forms part of the Eastwood constituency (since renamed to its original name of East Renfrewshire), and historically, it was one of Scotland's safest Conservative seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

On several occasions, Glasgow City Council has applied to the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland to have Newton Mearns re-allocated to its control.

[citation needed] As a result of the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system for Scottish local council elections, it was planned that, in time for elections taking place in and after 2007, the town would be divided into two multi-councillor wards: Liboside and Newton Mearns North and Newton Mearns South.

The newly constructed Greenlaw Village close to the M77 at Crookfur Road also has two supermarkets, a hotel, smaller shops and a number of restaurants.

Newton Mearns was briefly mentioned in John McGrath's play Little Red Hen (1975, first publ.

More recently, the town appeared as the setting for the thriller novel Aztec Love Song (Weathervane Press 2009, ISBN 978-0-9562193-2-9) by Marty Ross, a Scottish author best known for his BBC radio plays, who grew up in the town and studied at Mearns Castle High School.

Pollok Castle, built 2003
Ayr Road Shops