Barrhead’s 130th

In 1894, the town of Barrhead officially became a burgh with its own officials and a council to run its affairs. This remained the case until a reorganisation of local government in 1975 brought the town under the auspices of Strathclyde Regional Council and Renfrew District Council.

While the town itself is believed to have had its inception long before in 1750, the date of the establishment of the burgh was adopted as the town’s official birthday, with the centenary being celebrated in 1994.

Artwork at the former entrance to Centenary Park, commissioned for the celebration in 1994. Unfortunately this artwork was almost completely destroyed when it was being resisted as part of the Church Road redevelopment. The remaining handprints can be seen outside the entrance to Barrhead Foundry.

All that is to say that this year marks the town’s official 130th birthday. While there are no plans to celebrate the milestone (let’s get planning the 150th!), we’ll take the opportunity to have a look back at some of the important aspects of our common history in our Heritage series.

As the first in this series we’ll take a look at the town’s insignia, something I remember having to recreate in a primary school art class.

The burgh of Barrhead gained an official coat of arms in 1948, granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms who supervises all matters of heraldry in Scotland. The arms were connected to two local families: Stewart of Darnley and Lennox to whom the Stewarts of Arthurlie belonged, and Pollock of Pollock who once owned land around Barrhead.

The official description of the arms is:

Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Vert, on a saltire Or within art orle Argent, three fleurs-de-lys one and two Azure; 2nd and 3rd, Or, three hearts Gules, each charged with a cross Argent, on a bordure of the Second eight fountains; over all at the centre of the quarterings, a rose Gules, barbed and seeded Vert. Above the Shield is placed a coronet suitable to a Burgh and on a Compartment below the Shield along with this Motto “Virtute Et Labore” are set for Supporters two wolves Sable.

This rather technical description is translated visually as:

The motto “Virtute et Labore” is Latin for “By Virtue and by Industry” and was a resolution for conduct of the new burgh council when it was established in 1894.

Our own logo for Barrhead.org draws inspiration from the colours of the arms, using the red, yellow, green, and blue, as colours of the bars forming the shape of the Craigie. An earlier version replicated the shield of the arms, but we decided to simplify things to give a more friendly and accessible icon for our town.