THORNLIEBANK

'Thornliebank' is a small suburb in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, 6 miles south of Glasgow. It is served by Thornliebank railway station and lies to the east of the M77 motorway.

Contents

Beginning

Robert Osburn

Schools

Beginning

It is not known when Thornliebank was first settled although it has been ascertained that it did not exist prior to the 18th Century. The village first makes its appearance on Thomas Richardson's map of 1795 and was, at the time, referred to as 'Thorny Bank', a title believed to have been inspired by the substantial number of thorn trees that were prevalent in the area.

Robert Osburn

Industrial developments began in Thornliebank when a linen printer by the name of Robert Osburn leased a portion of land from Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton in 1778. He was attracted to the area because of the pure water supply from the Auldhouse Burn. The land was leased from the Barony of Eastwood. Osburn employed fifty people in his newly founded printfield. Thornliebank grew as an industrial village and Osburn bought more land from Sir John Maxwell, of Pollok, in order to expand his business operations. The linen industry, however, turned sour for Osburn as he found himself in financial difficulties by 1788. David Dale, of New Lanark fame, who represented the Bank of Scotland granted him a loan but, in 1789, the industrialist was bankrupt.

Schools

Woodfarm High School is a secondary school situated in Thornliebank and has around 800 students. Like most East Renfrewshire schools, it is one of the top performing schools in Scotland. Also, Thornliebank primary, Robslee primary and Our Lady of the Missions are primary schools that are all also top performing. Our Lady of the Missions Primary was given the title of the "Best School in Scotland" after it became the first school in Scotland to receive 9 excellent ratings by Her Majesty's School Inspectors. The local Catholic schools are St. Ninians High School and Our Lady of the Missions.