
Cathkin Braes is an area of hills to the south east of the city of
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, in Scotland. It lies to the south of
Castlemilk
Castlemilk () is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. It lies to the far south of the city centre, adjacent to the Croftfoot and Simshill residential areas within the city to the north-west, the town of Rutherglen - neighbourhoods of Rutherglen#Sp ...
and
Rutherglen
Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...
(the Cathkin,
Fernhill and
High Burnside neighbourhoods), to the east of
Carmunnock, and south-west of
Cambuslang
Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...
.
Rising to over in elevation, it includes the highest point in the
Glasgow City area. It was a rallying point in the
Radical War
The Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest in Scotland, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the ea ...
. It includes The Big Wood and Cathkin Braes Park Woodland, both areas of mature beech, sycamore and oak trees. In addition there is grassland, heath, hedgerows and wetlands. These natural areas provide foraging habitat for a number of species, including kestrels and owls.
A number of
mountain bike trails have been constructed in the area. These were used for the 2013
British National Mountain Biking Championships
The British Mountain Biking National Championships are organized by British Cycling, and the winner has the right to wear the national champion's jersey for the following year. The races are only open to riders of British nationality
The pri ...
, and was the venue for mountain biking at the
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...
. These trails include one orange, two red, and one blue. There is also a skills park and pump track at the bottom of the hill. The skills park includes drop off practise, jump practise and rock roll practise.
Since 2013, a single 3 MW
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
– in height including the blades – has been in place at the brow of the Braes, just inside the Glasgow City boundary (a
trig point
A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity.
The station is usually set up by a map ...
and
transmitter station
A transmitter station or transmission facility is an installation used for transmitting radio frequency signals for wireless communication, broadcasting, microwave link, mobile telephone or other purposes.
Choice of location
The location may ...
a short distance to the east are within
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...
). Due to its prominent location, the turbine can be seen from across the city. It is unclear if more are planned for the area, with subsidy funding for onshore windfarms cut by the
UK Government
His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. in 2015, although local bodies were supportive of further projects.
The vista of the city from its summit was used as the original
title card
In films and videos, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (hence, ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred ...
for the police drama ''
Taggart
''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries ''Killer'' from 6 until 20 Septe ...
''.
References
External links
*
Cathkin Braes Country Park– Glasgow City Council
Painting of view from Cathkin Braes showing Castlemilk House and stablesby T. Williams, hosted at
Art UK
Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 300,000 paintings, sculptures and other artworks by more than 53,700 artists.
It was found ...
(work itself held at
Hamilton Low Parks Museum)
City of Glasgow HD(composite image photographed from Cathkin Braes, April 2013) at
GigaPan
Geography of Glasgow
Parks and commons in Glasgow
Parks in South Lanarkshire
Rutherglen
2014 Commonwealth Games venues
Sports venues in Glasgow
2018 European Championships venues
Cycle racing in Scotland
Mountain biking venues in the United Kingdom
Geography of South Lanarkshire
{{Glasgow-geo-stub