Scotland and Bearsden

Scotland is different, in many ways, from the other parts of the United Kingdom. It has its own legal system, its own church, its own education system and since 1999 its own parliament.
Here in Scotland, most people take a pride in these differences, while not in any way suggesting we are superior to our Welsh, Irish or English neighbours. Honestly!

Bearsden is in the county of East Dunbartonshire It used to be part of the ancient county of Dunbartonshire, but has been carved up, along with the region of Strathclyde, by an earlier government, who hoped to break the strong socialist traditions that flourished in most Scottish local authorities. Unfortunately for them, the plan didn't really work and we are now left with around 32 local authorities some of whom are so small, the find it very difficult to supply all the needs of their constituents.

Bearsden is a fairly affluent suburb right on the borders of the City of Glasgow and its main claim to fame, apart from the fact that we live there, is that it was once the site of a Roman Settlement. During the short Roman occupation of Scotland in the 1st century AD the Roman Governor, Lollius Ubricus had a wall built to keep the troublesome northern tribes out of the empire. This 'Antonine Wall' stretched 36 miles between the rivers Clyde and Forth and had forts at fixed intervals. Bearsden is one such fort although there is not much to see now. There is a lot of good information available about the Romans in Scotland from the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow University. There is also lots of other goodies to be found at this site.