Elizabeth Gairdner

1836 - Yes, date unknown

• Name	Elizabeth Gairdner
  Birth	1836	Mearns Parish, Renfrewshire, Scotland
  Gender	Female
  Census-Household Member	1851	Mearns, Upper Ward, Renfrewshire, Scotland
  	Scotland - Cartsbridge
  	Role: Household Member
  Residence-Occupant	1851	Mearns, Upper Ward, Renfrewshire, Scotland
  	Cartsbridge
  	Role: Occupant History Busby, East Renfrewshire As a settlement, Busby dates back at least 700 years. Historically, the village was called Bushby. Its modern origins may be dated to several significant changes in the 1780s. The first big change was in the landscape. Until the 1780s Busby village consisted of a scatter of cottages along a track leading from Carmunnock to Mearns. This route forded the River Cart near Newford. This original village or fermtoun was in the area of the present Busby railway station. For centuries the occupants had worked the surrounding land from this central settlement. However, by the 1780s the landowner was in process of sweeping away the old fermtoun. The occupants were moved to the newly established farmsteads of Easter Busby, Wester Busby, Busbyside and Ryat. Busby as a village name could have disappeared, had it not been for events on the opposite side of the River Cart. Cotton The second big change started in 1780 with the founding of Busby's first cotton mill. This was at Newmill, on Cartsbridge lands on the opposite side of the River Cart. Busby and Newmill each had several earlier mills. Busby itself had Busby Meal Mill at the end of Field Road (founded before 1300), and Busby Waulk Mill in the Glen. Newmill also had two mills, situated together at the waterfall. The first was another early Meal Mill and the second a more recent Lint Mill. However, the cotton mill built in 1780 was on a completely different scale to the old rural mills. It attracted many families to settle in the area, and the centre of Busby swung from the old declining fermtoun on the Lanarkshire side of the River Cart, to Newmill on the Renfrewshire side. A second Cotton Mill followed in 1790, then a Bleachfield and Printworks six years later. These industries provided the employment for the development of the modern village of Busby. Paisley to East Kilbride road The third major change in Busby in the 1780s was a new road from Paisley to East Kilbride, which went through the village. The first Busby Bridge was built on this route c.1785, and replaced an earlier ford above the waterfall. The new road changed the focus from the old Carmunnock? Mearns road to the Paisley? East Kilbride road. Busby was never the perfect site for building a village, but developed due to the availability of water power on the River Cart. From the 1780s the village became centred on a hilly part of Cartsbridge Farm, originally known as "The Bank". Busby's Main Street was built on a very steep hill (although steep hills are very common in the area), and the road through to what is now Clarkston's town centre was built along a fragile slope which has collapsed several times since.
  _UID	0D291B59405D4448B691B16F9AC300EB82F9
  Death	Yes, date unknown
  Person ID	I40448	Lanark County Origins
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2020

  
  

  Father	John Allison Gairdner,   b. 1799, Eastwood Parish, Renfrewshire, Scotland d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Elizabeth,   b. 1816, Mearns Parish, Renfrewshire, Scotland d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F13612	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart