Kilbarchan

Kilbarchan (Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is almost contiguous with Johnstone, about 5 miles or 8 km west of the centre of Paisley. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry.

History
The village was once one of many weaving villages, and at one time had 800 handlooms. Its weavers were active in the Radical movement which sought parliamentary reform, notably the agitation of the so-called Radical War of 1820. One cottage named the "Weavers Cottage" and built in 1723 has been conserved by the National Trust for Scotland, with weaving still in operation, and guides who demonstrate handloom weaving.

Kilbarchan was the birthplace of Mary Barbour, the political activist who led the Glasgow rent strike of 1915 and later became Glasgow Corporation's first woman councillor.

Kilbarchan was used as a location for the BBC TV show Dr. Finlay's Casebook in the 1960s.



Lilias Day
The main annual event is Lilias Day, on the first Saturday of June, when hundreds of visitors watch the parade and join in the festivities. The earliest records of the event are in 1931, 1933 and 1934. Annual celebrations were restarted in 1968 by the Kilbarchan Primary School Parents Association. A main event of the day is a "coming to life" of the statue of Habbie Simpson (a famous village piper) on the steeple. The statue is covered by a flag for the day.

Inhabitants of Kilbarchan are informally known as "Habbies" after Habbie Simpson.

Facilities
Kilbarchan is the home of Kilbarchan Amateur Athletics Club, and contains a nursery, a primary school, a Girl Guiding Centre, a Scout Hall, a pipe band and two churches, Kilbarchan West and Kilbarchan East which are now a united church in the former East church campus. There are two village pubs, the Trust and Habbies which was formerly known as the Glenleven. The Trust has been in establishment since 1904. It is also the village's source of live music on a Friday night.

Transport
Kilbarchan railway station opened on 1 June 1905, but closed to passengers on 27 June 1966. It now serves as the entrance to cycle track number seven. There are currently motions in the local transport authority to reopen the line. However, since the line closed, there has been much construction on the trackbed, including the A737 (Johnstone bypass); a Morrisons superstore on the site of Johnstone North; and housing on the site of Lochwinnoch station.

Notable people

 * Mary Nicol Neill Armour (1902–2000), artist
 * Mary Barbour, political activist, was born here
 * Campbell Douglas, architect, was born and raised here
 * Maud Galt (c. 1620 – c. 1670), lesbian accused of witchcraft, lived here with her husband.
 * Prof Thomas Gibson FRSE, professor of plastic surgery and bioengineering, born here
 * Agnes Lyle, a ballad singer, lived here in 1825.
 * Hugh McIver, recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * John Stirling (1654–1727), Principal of Glasgow University and Moderator of the General Assembly in 1707