Bourtreehill

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Modern housing estate of Bourtreehill Housing in Bourtreehill.jpg
Modern housing estate of Bourtreehill

Bourtreehill is a large housing estate built by the Irvine Development Corporation (IDC) in the late 1970s which forms part of the Irvine New Town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The estate has two main parts, known as Bourtreehill North and Bourtreehill South. Along its southern border runs the Broomlands estate. The Bourtreehill South area has suffered from anti-social behaviour. However, with more frequent police and Community Warden Patrols, this has gone down, though the area still suffers from the lack of employment opportunities in North Ayrshire.

Contents

Etymology

"Bour Tree" is an alternative name for the common elder tree, Sambucus nigra , often found in the older and more biodiverse local woodlands. [1]

Geography

Bourtreehill is north of the village of Dreghorn. The Annick Water, a tributary of the River Irvine, runs through Bourtreehill.

History

Bourtreehill (and Broomlands) housing estates were built in the late 1970s to meet the demands of a burgeoning population. They developed around the older Bourtreehill House estate. Rather than being controlled by local or regional government, they were managed by Irvine Development Corporation, a body set up for the purpose of regenerating Irvine.

Originally, Bourtreehill housing scheme was intended to be substantially larger than it is today, extending beyond the River Annick, further towards Perceton. However, with a considerable number of old mine workings, some of which have not been charted, this was abandoned.

North Bourtreehill has been a troubled community since its inception with several different construction companies being involved, some of which went bankrupt partway through the project. This has resulted in a wide variety of housing styles of varying quality. Since the disbanding of IDC, the houses which had not been sold to private ownership fell under either local council administration (Cunninghame District Council, now North Ayrshire council) or, in some cases, were owned by a housing association.

Missing toddler

On 23 April 1976, the case of Sandy Davidson hit the headlines in Scotland as he has been one of the many children to go missing in Scotland. He has not been seen since despite the case being featured on the television programme Lorraine Kelly Investigates: Missing Children. [2] [3]

Unsolved murder

In an incident that shocked the community of Bourtreehill a young mother was brutally murdered. In broad daylight on 10 November 1994 Shona Stevens had her life taken away from her violently while walking on the footpath in Bourtreehill Park / Middleton Park on the way back to her nearby house. [4] This murder remains unsolved.

Social problems

The community of Bourtreehill has a range of social problems such as drug dealing, underage drinking and petty acts of vandalism. This has been blamed on the lack of facilities for young people in the area, although several projects have sought to address this. These are however problems common in many areas of nearly every town up and down Britain. With new regeneration schemes and building works planned for the future, the social problems of old should lessen if not cease.

Amenities

Bourtreehill is home to a library which was originally sited in the Towerlands Gate area. This original library was quite small, and also both users and library staff had concerns about the possibility of their cars being vandalised. In 1996, the library moved to a site directly next to the British Telecom exchange building in Cheviot Way. This custom built building cost 280,000 pounds sterling to build, and has since been vandalised on numerous occasions.

There are no public houses in Bourtreehill since both the But 'n' Ben and The Village Inn closed. There is, however, a Sports club located to the north of the village centre.

The demolition of the Towerlands Gate Complex resulted in a limited number shops available within the estate the village centre has a small shopping complex which provides a basic service for the community. It includes stores ranging from a Small Supermarket, a newsagent with an internal sub post office, bookmaker, Chinese Take-Away, a chemists, and a hairdresser. Although a small News Agent/Grocery Store has opened up in the Towerlands Gate area on the site of the former But'n'Ben.

There is also a community centre in the old Towerlands Farm. The farm had lain derelict for a number of years until it was refurbished. A group was set up called Bourtreehill and Broomlands Community Association (BABCA), and the community centre is used for various activities. BABCA at one point used to issue an irregular local newsletter making residents of the Bourtreehill and Broomlands area aware of coming events in the community centre and local issues which might affect them. This practice seems to have stopped some years ago.

The local Health Centre is located in Cheviot Way. [5] There has been a Health Centre in Cheviot Way for many years. Originally it was a small prefabricated building which was situated just a short distance down the road across from the Telecom building where there is now a sheltered housing complex. Now it is in a newer, larger building with other facilities, including a dentist.

The Irvine New Town Trail is a cycle and pedestrian route which passes through Bourtreehill, giving relatively 'car free' access to Girdle Toll, Eglinton Country Park, Broomlands, Springside, Kilmarnock and beyond.

Transport

The area is served by Stagecoach West Scotland

Education

Educational needs in Bourtreehill are at present met by 1 Non-denominational Primary School (Elderbank Primary School) and 1 Roman Catholic School (St John Ogilvie Primary School).

On 3 March 2011 the Scottish government granted North Ayrshire Council consent to close Broomlands, Fencedyke and Towerlands Primary Schools, a new school would be built on the existing Broomlands site which would serve both Bourtreehill and Broomlands Estates. [6] This site was chosen due to its central location within the revised catchment area. The new school opened to open to pupils in August 2014. The new school is called Elderbank Primary School.

Although the Primary School catchment areas will change there will be no change to the Senior Schools Catchment area. And so children of a senior school age will fall into the catchment area of Greenwood Academy.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irvine, North Ayrshire</span> Administrative centre, new town and former royal burgh in Scotland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilwinning</span> Town and former civil parish in Scotland

Kilwinning is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is on the River Garnock, north of Irvine, about 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Glasgow. It is known as "The Crossroads of Ayrshire". Kilwinning was also a Civil Parish. The 2001 Census recorded the town as having a population of 15,908. The estimated population in 2016 was 16,460.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilbirnie</span> Town in North Ayrshire, Scotland

Kilbirnie is a small town of 7,280 inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Glasgow and approximately 10 miles from Paisley and 13 miles from Irvine respectively. Historically, the town's main industries were flax production and weaving before iron and steelmaking took over in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The suburb of Kilbirnie in the New Zealand capital of Wellington is named after the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dreghorn</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Dreghorn is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, 3.5 kilometres east of Irvine town centre, on the old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock. It is sited on a ridge between two rivers. As archaeological excavations near the village centre have found a significant neolithic settlement provisionally dated to around 3500 BC, as well as medieval structures, scholars have suggested that Dreghorn could be Britain's oldest continuously inhabited village. Both Irvine and Dreghorn have grown in size and they are now separated by the Annick Valley Park, which incorporates a footpath and National Cycle Route 73 on the route of the disused Irvine to Busby railway line. It had an estimated population of 3,450 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bourtreehill House</span>

Bourtreehill House and the enclosed land on which it was built form the original estate of Bourtreehill. The wooded hill-top, a distinctive feature of the estate, is now a landmark that sits at the centre of modern North Bourtreehill in the district of North Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland.

Perceton is a medieval settlement and old country estate in North Ayrshire, Scotland, near the town of Irvine. The ruined church in Perceton is one of the oldest buildings in the Irvine district. The earliest legible gravestone dates from 1698, though older stone coffins will certainly still rest deep within the small hillock on which the chapel and graveyard sit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annick Water</span> Tributary of the River Irvine in Scotland

The Annick Water is the largest tributary of the River Irvine. The river runs from Long Loch, just inside East Renfrewshire, in a generally south-western direction through North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire, to confluence with its parent river at Irvine, North Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. The name may derive from the Gaelic for 'overflowing' and Strathannick is very much prone to flooding as recorded by SEPA.

Broomlands is district of Irvine in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Situated on a series of bends in the River Annick, Broomlands and its original features are now almost lost within the south-Bourtreehill and Broomlands housing scheme.

Fullarton is a small area in Irvine, North Ayrshire. It is situated close to Irvine Bay and is next to several industrial estates, large supermarkets and retail stores and the town centre itself. Stagecoach Western buses operate the local bus services in the area. Fullarton is only 8 miles from Prestwick Airport and 25 miles from the city of Glasgow.

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Girdle Toll is an area of Irvine, North Ayrshire.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonnyton, East Ayrshire</span> Neighbourhood and former village in Scotland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwood Academy, Dreghorn</span> State secondary school in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, Scotland

Greenwood Academy is an 11–18 state secondary school in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Towerlands, North Ayrshire</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Towerlands or Tourlands was a small estate of 70 to 80 acres of good quality land in the parish of Irvine and the old barony of Kilmaurs, North Ayrshire, Scotland, situated near the more extensive property of Bourtreehill, the lands of which surrounded it on three sides. The name suggests that a medieval stone or wood 'tower' structure of some sort existed, but no record of this appears to exist.

The lands of Broomlands or Broumlands formed a small country estate about a mile to the east of Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland situated on the east bank of the Annick Water in the Parishes of Dreghorn and Irvine.

Sandy Jardine Davidson is a Scottish boy who disappeared on 23 April 1976, when he was three years old, while he was playing in the back garden of his house in the Bourtreehill housing estate in Irvine, Ayrshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawthorn</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Lawthorn is a hamlet near Perceton in Strathannick, Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The settlement lies on the old Irvine to Stewarton toll road.

References

  1. ↑ Thefreedictionary.com
  2. ↑ Lex Brown (1 May 2009). "Irvine toddler's disappearance to feature on TV". Irvine Herald. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
  3. ↑ Missing Children Lorraine Kelly Investigates Archived September 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Unsolved". STV. November 1999. Retrieved 2009-08-22.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ Bourtreehill Medical Practise Archived November 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ NAC, Proposal to close Broomlands, Fencedyke and Towerlands Primary Schools.

55°37′0.3″N4°37′45.3″W / 55.616750°N 4.629250°W / 55.616750; -4.629250

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