This post is about the photos of Bearsden available on the Britain from Above website (link). I’ve used these in previous posts including what was on the north side of Roman Road (link), the farms of north Bearsden (link), and the ‘lost villas’ of St Germains and Lochbrae (link) – in all these cases, I could not find any ground-level photo of the buildings I was interested, emphasising the value of this resource. If you like any of the photos but would like to expand them in the same way or want to see a particular street, you can contact me or see the end of this post for how to do it.
The oldest photos of Bearsden on Britain from Above are from 1928. This one has the reference number SPW020645
This is looking north with Bearsden Bowling Club and Station Road at the bottom/ Ledcameroch Crescent and Ledcameroch Road stand out very clearly, as does Whitehill Road. The streets of the Thorn area then run across the photo, getting blurrier in the distance. While Bearsden Cross is about halfway up on the right, the image quality is so poor, it is difficult to make out much detail. Schaw House is at the very top (truncated) and Gartconnel Farm is in the top right corner.
SPW020646 is roughly speaking, above Asda on Milngavie Road looking west.
Milngavie Road runs across the bottom of the photo and you can just see the roof of the Buchanan Retreat (Boclair House Hotel) at the very bottom. The diagonal road junction is Roman Road, which crosses the railway and turns left to the Cross (which seems to be under a thin cloud). You can really see the shape of Horseshoe Crescent (originally called Jubilee Crescent, I believe). In the top half of the photo you can see the streets of the Thorn area, ending at the fields of Thorn Fram, which is visible at the right hand end of the arc of trees. About an inch above Thorn Farm and in front of a patch of trees you can just see Castlehill Farm. On the right you can see Grange Road and Ralston Road in the fields.
SPW53563 is one of five photos from 1937. These focus on Kessington, so I have picked this one to represent them:
The view is from above Westerton looking north-east. The newly completed Canniesburn Hospital is in the bottom left. Canniesburn Toll is just to the left of the centre of the photo with the Rio cinema in white. Drymen Road runs through trees and disappears in the centre-left. Milngavie Road runs towards the top left corner where you can see the start of Hillfoot and Boclair Road running into the country. Switchback Road runs towards the bottom-right corner, through fields on both sides, although (of course) the side further from the camera is part of the Garscube Estate. On Maryhill Road the turn for Rannoch Drive is just visible and there seems to be building in progress.
The next group is from 1952 and there are 15 photos. The aerial photographer flew round Canniesburn Hospital and around Schaw House, snapping every few seconds (I presume); seven views are offered with Canniesburn Hospital at the centre of the clock face.
The white lines running across the photo are marks on the negatives, I believe, nothing sinister! The view is from above Westerton looking north-east over St Germains Loch (plainly visible), the railway station just above the loch, the shops by the station on Drymen Road, and following Drymen Road up to the shops. This photo looks a bit blurry but it does show reasonably clear images when you expand it – to see what level of detail you can get to, see my post on the ‘lost villas’ at St Germains and Lochbrae (link).
Of the other photos in this group:
SAW045971, 045975 and 045977 all look south over the part of Westerton by Switchback Road
SAW045973 looks south east over the Garscube Estate just including Canniesburn Toll and the edge of Kessington
SAW045974 looks north-west over Canniesburn Road, Pendicle Road, Ledcameroch Crescent
SAW045976 looks west so covers Canniesburn Toll, the south ends of Drymen and Milngavie Roads, and Kessington
The other 1952 photos involve a similar flight around Schaw House and I used one of them in my post on its history (link).
SAW045978 looks north-east over the fields of Mosshead Farm with houses in the immediate area on Edgehill Road, Drymen Road (the original Courthill) and Mosshead
SAW045979 is as for 978 above but with some more of Stirling Drive and Iain Road
SAW045980 is the view north but does not cover much that is new, apart from the petrol station at the Baljaffray Roundabout (now M&S) and South Baljaffray Farm – I used this photo in my post on the farms in the Mosshead/Baljaffray area (link)
SAW045981 looks north-west and again does not add much, although North Baljaffray Farm is now visible as well.
SAW045982 looks south along the line of Drymen Road and the streets immediately on either side. I used it in my post on Gartconnel Farm (link).
SAW045983 and SAW045984 are very similar to the north and north-east views above similar to 045980 above.
SAW045985 looks south but a little to the west of 045982 and this is the one I have posted below:
The view is from above Stockiemuir Avenue before Baillie Drive as completed, looking south at the back of Schaw House. Most of the older houses in the Thorn area are visible in the upper right of the photo. Edgehill Road is on the left of the House, then Gartconnel Drive, Ralston Road and Manse Road. To give an example of what expanding the photo on the Britain From Above website can do, here is a close-up of the junction of Manse Road and Drymen Road:
The building side-on in the background is Terrace Medical Practice, Brookwood and Early Years Centre are at the bottom. The bus shelter on Drymen Road is visible but so are two cottages I was previously unaware of, now a piece of grass:
The final two photos are dated 1955 and there ar only two of them but I have included them both. SAR024218:
Just to remind you the strange white lines on the left and bottom are marks on the negative, presumably not the vapour trails of UFOs … This has similarities to one of the 1928 photos at the start of the post – the view is from the far end of Boclair Road, looking west. The railway line cuts from top left to bottom right and Roman Road is clearly visible. Ralston Road is still mainly in fields. There are good views of the houses and shops at Hillfoot – again, the magnification is quite good if you use the website, and here’s an example:
This is Hillfoot with the garage top left and the row of restaurants and shops visible, some with awnings out. The detached houses opposite the shops are still there but this is the only photo I know of showing the tenements to the right, Hillfoot Terace. The white building on the right is currently home to Malaga Tapas.
And finally SAR024219 shows a similar view to the 1952 photo I used earlier, the view north-east over St Germains Loch but covering a lot of the older area of Bearsden around the Cross and the railway station:
I promised to give a quick guide on how to access the photos for your self and expand them.
The link for Britain from Above is here.
Register for an account – it’s simple, free, and in the 10 or so years I have been a member they have sent me no emails at all. You need to be logged in to do some of the things below.
In the top right corner of the screen there’s a search box, currently set to Bearsden:
This gives you the screen with the 25 photos I have described above, select the one you want and you should see this:
The blue square is a pin, another use has clicked on that spot and added a description of the location (in this case describing the railway line). Personally I think these are only useful when you don’t know the area very well, so I click the menu at the bottom “Hide Pins”. Then use “Zoom In” also on the menu at the bottom, and away you go! I’ve selected the hall that used to stand on the corner of Drymen Road and West Chapelton Avenue:
Which now looks like this:
I’m aware there are aerial photographs on other sites:
National Collection of Aerial Photography (ncap.org) seems to be a commercial website. They have photos of Bearsden from 1969 as follows:
I’ve copied the webpage for the photo covering Schaw House to give you an idea, but note the £33 price tag to get a downloadable copy without the company logo across it:
National Library of Scotland have produced mosaics of aerial reconnaissance photos (link). Sadly, Bearsden is not covered but you might be interested in one of the other areas:
There may be others, please let me know.