Twechar
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Copper Coin of Antoninus Pius
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138 – 165
Following Hadrian’s death in 138 A.D., his successor, Antoninus Pius, went beyond the recently completed Hadrian’s Wall and ordered the construction of a new frontier 75 miles to the north, the Antonine Wall. The Antonine Wall divided communities, created customs posts and checkpoints, and provided opportunities for corruption and abuse. The Antonine Wall was inhabited for only 20 years before a return to Hadrian’s Wall as the northernmost outpost of the Roman Empire. Unlike Hadrian, Antoninus Pius never visited Britain. The majority of artefacts and records from the time that Britain was occupied come from the Romans. The colonised left no written records. The Antonine Wall ran close to present day Twechar, with the ruins of the large Bar Hill fort still visible to the south of the village. There is little known about the development of the area after the Roman occupation. In the early 18th century rudimentary mines were developed, however, the beginning of modern Twechar is linked to the arrival of the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1768 and by the early 1860s it had developed further with William Baird and Company bringing full-scale coal mining to the area.
Twechar Quarry plan
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c 1870-1890
Plan of a whinstone quarry at Twechar from the Gartshore Estate Papers (GD101). Whinstone is a term used for any kind of hard dark coloured stone. The stone was often used in the construction of roads or walls. The quarry site is now disused and lies behind the old Barrhill Tavern buildings.
Twechar School plans
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1888
Set of plans for Twechar School for the Kirkintilloch Landward School Board by Alexander G Mitchell.
Maker/Manufacturer: Alexander G Mitchell, architect, Coatbridge
Location of Origin: Twechar
Location Now: East Dunbartonshire Archives, William Patrick Library, Kirkintilloch G66 1AD
Date: 1888
Size/Dimensions: 59 x 49 cm
Archive Reference Number: GD101/13/11
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Twechar class photo
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c 1890-1900
Robina Boyd Kidd (Mrs McLellan), teacher and a group of young girls outside Twechar School.
Location of Origin: Twechar
Location Now: East Dunbartonshire Archives, William Patrick Library, Kirkintilloch G66 1AD
Date: c 1890-1900
Size/Dimensions: 25 x 20 cm
Materials: Photographic print
Archive Reference Number: GD49/4/5
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Miners' rows, Twechar
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1911
There is a long history of mining activity in the Twechar locality but it was not until the coming of William Baird and Co. to the area, about 1860, that a close-knit mining community was created. Pits were sunk at Twechar and Gartshore and a row of workers’ houses was built on the south bank of the canal, just east of Twechar Bridge. This soon proved inadequate and around 1880 the Barrhill Rows were constructed at right angles to Main Street, on its western side. At first there were four rows, supplemented by two more about 1900, by which date the total number of dwellings in the rows was 160. The row nearest the canal included a Gartsherrie Cooperative shop and accordingly was know as the ‘Store Row’. At first the houses had no sanitation and were lit by paraffin lamps. Communal wash houses were provided at intervals along each row. Most of the houses were of the two-apartment (room and kitchen) variety.
great improvement was made in 1925, when Baird and Co. (in response to considerable pressure from the miners themselves, over the years) provided good quality modern housing for their mine workers at Burnbrae, Annieston, Sunnyhill and adjacent streets. There were 200 dwellings in all, some two-apartment and some three-apartment, built in two-story blocks of four. They were provided with bathrooms and electric lighting. When these houses were built the old row on the south bank of the canal was demolished. The Barrhill Rows, however, lasted until 1957. The Baird houses of 1925 are still in use today. Later housing was provided by Dunbartonshire County Council at MacDonald Crescent (1939), Alexander Avenue (1948) and Kelvin View (about 1955).
Group of Twechar women
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c 1930
This large group of women and children are pictured with three female members (or soldiers) of the Salvation Army on an outing. The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 by William Booth to bring salvation to the poor, destitute and hungry of London. The organisation later spread throughout the country.
Baird & Co employees, Twechar
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1931
There is a long history of mining activity in the Twechar locality but it was not until the coming of William Baird and Co to the area, about 1860, that a close-knit mining community was created. The coal mining industry begun by the Bairds in the 1860s lasted for just over a century. Twechar No 1 Pit, on the north bank of the canal to the east of Twechar Bridge, closed in 1964, while Gartshore 9/11, the very last colliery in the area, was shut down in 1968. Following this closure some Twechar men travelled each day to collieries such as Bedlay and Cardowan in Lanarkshire, until they too were closed, during the early 1980s.
Willie Beattie, Twechar strongman
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c 1950
Also known as 'Apollo', Willie Beattie (1907-1968), was a well-known weightlifter and strongman who was born in Twechar. He grew up on Twechar Farm and was a keen sportsman. He became interested in weightlifting and was very successful, winning numerous titles and holding many weightlifting records over the years. In the 1940s and 1950s Willie was a circus strongman performing many feats of strength such as lifting 12 men seated on a plank, and amazingly lifting a Clydesdale horse.
Miner's Helmet
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c 1960s
Twechar was essential to William Baird and Company, a mining company with extensive connections throughout the area. The company sank its first pit in Twechar in 1860. Baird’s operated a mineral railway system and a central workshop for their collieries in the Kilsyth area, which was also used by the National Coal Board for their Kilsyth Sub-Area. This gave employment to blacksmiths, engineers, joiners and electricians who serviced, repaired and manufactured a variety of equipment for the coal mining industry.
As a result of the presence of Baird’s and mining, Twechar was transformed from a canal side hamlet into a substantial village.
Bar Hill Fort excavation
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1978-1982
The Roman fort at Bar Hill was built at one of the highest points on the Antonine Wall to give the best view possible. Unusually, it was detached from the wall, with the Military Way passing between the fort and the wall. It covered just over three acres and the outlines of the headquarters building and bath house can still be seen. The well, from which a remarkable collection of objects were recovered (including stone columns, coins, building stones, iron weapons and tools) is also visible.
This photograph shows archaeologists at work during a second programme of excavations at the site. An earlier excavation had taken place in 1902-5. The 1978-82 excavations focused on the fort’s interior and uncovered a number of artefacts confirming the site was occupied during the Antonine period. The Antonine Wall was built from AD142 to 144 and spanned 37 miles from Bo'ness on the River Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the River Clyde.
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