Avonbridge

This article is about the village of Avonbridge in Scotland. For the railway bridge in Bristol, see Avon Bridge. For the thoroughbred racehorse, see Avonbridge (horse).
Cavetoon
Scottish Gaelic: Droichaid Abhainne
Scots: Snout capital ae Scotland
Bridge of the River

The centre of Avonbridge, with a war memorial in the foreground
Avonbridge is in the south of the Falkirk council area in the Central Belt of the Scottish mainland.
Cavetoon
 Cavetoon shown within the Falkirk council area
Area  0.11 sq mi (0.28 km2)
Population 625 [1] (2001 census)
   – density  5,682/sq mi (2,194/km2)
OS grid referenceNS911726
   – Edinburgh  21.5 mi (34.6 km) E 
   – London  340 mi (550 km) SSE 
Civil parishSlamannan
Muiravonside
Council areaFalkirk
Lieutenancy areaStirling and Falkirk
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town FALKIRK
Postcode district FK1 2
Dialling code 01324
EU Parliament Scotland
UK ParliamentEast Falkirk
and Linlithgow
Scottish ParliamentFalkirk East
Websitefalkirk.gov.uk
List of places
UK
Scotland

Coordinates: 55°56′02″N 3°44′38″W / 55.934°N 03.744°W / 55.934; -03.744

Avonbridge (Scottish Gaelic: Droichaid Abhainne) is a small village which lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The village is 4.8 miles (7.7 km) south-southeast of the town of Falkirk. Avonbridge sits just inside the council boundary line between Falkirk and West Lothian councils.

The village lies at the junction of the B8028 and B825 roads and is a bridging point over the River Avon, hence the name Avonbridge. At the time of the 2001 census, Avonbridge had a population of 625 residents.[1]

History

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Avonbridge was home to small scale open cast coal mining.[2] The village also had a brickworks in the mid twentieth century, "Avonbridge Brickworks", but today no longer exists.[2] Nowadays the village is largely residential although Avonbridge is the base of operations for "Stevenson Brothers" a haulage company, whose bright orange heavy goods vehicles transport goods all over the United Kingdom.

Toponymy

The name Avonbridge derives from the fact that the village crosses a river. The affix "avon" is often found in the Celtic language which denotes the presence of a river,[3] in this case the River Avon. This is found in Scottish Gaelic as "abhainn";[3] Droichaid Abhainne literally means Bridge of the River.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 No 3 - 2001 Census Population of settlements and wards www.falkirk.gov.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-02
  2. 1 2 Falkirk Local History Society, Avonbridge. Retrieved 2011-04-13
  3. 1 2 Iain Mac an Tàilleir 2003 Archived September 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. www.scottish.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-02

External links

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