Darnley is an area in south-west

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 ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, on the A727 just west of

Arden Arden may refer to: Places Australia * Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria * Arden railway station, Melbourne Canada * Arden, Ontario Denmark * Arden, Denmark, a town ** Arden Municipality, a former municipality, including the town of Arden ...

(the areas are separated by the

M77 motorway The M77 motorway is a motorway in Scotland. It begins in Glasgow at the M8 motorway at Kinning Park, and terminates near Kilmarnock at Fenwick, becoming the A77 dual carriageway. Changes were made in 2005 segregating a lane on the M8 motorw ...

although a footbridge connects them). Other nearby neighbourhoods are

Priesthill Priesthill () is a neighbourhood in the south of the River Clyde in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It falls under the Greater Pollok ward of the city council area. The Darnley neighbourhood is located to the south, on the opposite side of the Gl ...

to the north,

Southpark Village Southpark Village is a housing estate in the Darnley area of the Scottish city of Glasgow. The northwestern area was built during the mid to late 1980s, but the southeastern part was built in the late 2010s. It is located on the south-western ed ...

to the south, and

South Nitshill South Nitshill () is a neighbourhood in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde, in the south-west of the conurbation and within the Greater Pollok ward of the local authority area. All streets in the area have name ...

and Parkhouse to the west; there is also a small

industrial estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

. The closest railway station is . The Brock Burn flows through the area.

History

The historic estate of Darnley (anciently ''Derneley'', etc.), in Eastwood parish,

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

, east of

Barrhead Barrhead (, ) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when a series of small textile-produ ...

, was the seat of an ancient barony.Frances Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1882-4 In 1356, Robert Stewart,

High Steward of Scotland Prince and Great Steward of Scotland is one of the titles of the heir apparent to the British throne. The holder since 8 September 2022 is Prince William, who bears the other Scottish titles of Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Is ...

, granted the barony to Sir John Stewart. It remained a possession of this branch of the house of Stewart (known as "Stewart of Darnley"), and in 1460 Sir

John Stewart of Darnley Sir John Stewart of Darnley, 1st Comte d'Évreux, 1st Seigneur de Concressault, 1st Seigneur d'Aubigny (1429) was a Scottish nobleman and famous military commander who served as Constable of the Scottish Army in France, supporting the French ag ...

(d. 1495) became "Lord Darnley" (a Scottish

Lordship of Parliament A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of eco ...

) and subsequently in 1488 he was created

Earl of Lennox The Earl or Mormaer of Lennox was the ruler of the region of the Lennox in western Scotland. It was first created in the 12th century for David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and later held by the Stewart dynasty. Ancient earls The first e ...

(2nd creation). His descendant in the fourth generation was Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley (1546–67), the second but eldest surviving son of

Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (21 September 1516 – 4 September 1571) was a leader of the Catholic nobility in Scotland. He was the paternal grandfather of King James VI of Scotland. He owned Temple Newsam in Yorkshire, England. Origin ...

, (the courtesy title "Lord Darnley", his father's subsidiary title, designating him as

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

to the Earldom of Lennox), and the husband of Mary Queen of Scots by whom he was the father of King James VI of Scotland, I of England. The title

Earl of Darnley Earl of Darnley is a hereditary title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation in the Scots Peerage came in 1580 in favour of Esme Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox, ...

has been created twice. The 1675 creation was as a subsidiary title for Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox (1672–1723), of

Goodwood House Goodwood House is a country house and estate covering in Westhampnett, Chichester, West Sussex, England and is the seat of the Duke of Richmond. The house was built in about 1600 and is a Grade I listed building. Description The house and it ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, an

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

son of King Charles II, who in the early 18th century sold the estate of Darnley to the Duke of Montrose. It was sold again in 1757 to Sir John Maxwell of Pollok, and in 1884 belonged to Stirling-Maxwell of Pollok and Keir, at which time it gave a prefix name to several seats of manufacture and other localities within its limits. Nothing remains of Darnley Castle, the seat of the Stewarts of Darnley, except possibly a round stair tower, now incorporated into a later building. During the second half of the 20th century, Darnley experienced total transformation from being a modest semi-rural community to becoming a significant part of Glasgow's response to a post-war housing shortage. Following the construction of large housing schemes at

(1957) and

Kennishead Kennishead (, )
is a neighbourhood in the

Glasgow, Glen Clunie Drive, Darnley Development General View (1991)

Canmore Canmore may refer to: *Canmore (database), a Scottish national online database of ancient monuments; *Canmore, Alberta, a town in Canada; *the House of Dunkeld, a royal house that ruled Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, including **Malc ...

This fell short of the initial number planned owing to a combination of economic, political and management setbacks. It was intended that Darnley would be a largely self-supporting estate and for this reason, two primary schools and a community centre formed part of the council's plans. A social club and bowling green, a church, a small shopping centre and a library were all added throughout the 1970s.Neighbourhoods: Darnley
The Glasgow Story Most of the original 1970s deck-access housing, which by the late 1990s had become dilapidated and increasingly abandoned, was demolished and replaced by a smaller quantity of modest individual houses with the remaining blocks refurbished. The present housing stock is managed by Glen Oaks Housing Association which was founded in 1991 and later expanded its scope to include regeneration projects in nearby

and

Pollok Pollok (, ) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,000 at its peak, its population ha ...

as well as more recent developments at Southpark and Regents Park (north of

Carnwadric Carnwadric is a residential area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated south of the River Clyde, and is bordered by a park to the north (King George V Park, on the other side of which is the Kennishead neighbourhood), the Arden housing estate ...

). The broadening of the A726 to dual carriageway status in 1983 heralded the development of the Nitshill corridor as a light industrial and retail location. Darnley Trading Estate and large retail outlets are clustered around Junction 3 of the southward extension of the

(completed in 1997). The closure of Darnley Hospital in 1992 and the opening on the site of a £3 million 120-bed nursing home in 1993 also altered the employment opportunities for the local population and has become symptomatic of the regeneration of modern Darnley. However, there is a huge retail area with large chain stores, including a

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

supermarket (the first in Scotland, dating from 1992).

The Darnley plane tree

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

came to Glasgow early in 1567, having left Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on 24 January to collect her husband,

Lord Darnley Lord Darnley is a noble title associated with a Scottish Lordship of Parliament, first created in 1356 for the family of Stewart of Darnley and tracing a descent to the Dukedom of Richmond in England. The title's name refers to Darnley in Scot ...

. Darnley had reportedly contracted smallpox and the Queen intended to bring him back to Holyrood on a litter as he was too weak to ride a horse. Darnley returned with his wife, only to be murdered a few days later on 10 February.Daniel, William S. (1852), ''History of The Abbey and Palace of Holyrood''. Pub. Edinburgh: Duncan Anderson. pp. 83–84. The tree was severely damaged by

Storm Éowyn Storm Éowyn ( ) was a powerful and record-breaking extratropical cyclone which hit Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom on 24 January 2025 and hit Norway on the night of 24 January into 25 January 2025. The twent ...

in January 2025.

Recent development

A £20 million refit and extension programme of Sainsburys began in February 2010;Sainsbury's creates 120 jobs at biggest Scots store
''BBC News'', 23 September 2010 work included raising the store from 44,000sqft to 89,000sqft, constructing a mezzanine floor at the Nitshill Road side, a new petrol station and double-deck car parking area. The new petrol station opened on 20 August 2010, the first in the company to have green-energy solutions such as solar energy panels and rain-water recycling for its car wash. The store was opened on 29 September 2010, by all 17 of the long-term employees who had been there since its initial opening in 1992.

References

External links

*
Darnley
at

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...

D.A.C.K. Community Council
{{Areas of Glasgow Areas of Glasgow Housing estates in Glasgow

History

The Darnley plane tree

Recent development

See also

References

External links