Milton is a housing scheme in the north of Glasgow. It is bordered by Springburn and the town of Bishopbriggs to the east, Lambhill to the west and Ruchill and Possilpark to the south. The northern boundary is rural land.
Constrcution on the Milton housing estate started in the late 1940s as part of a general post-war construction programme by the Glasgow City Council to deal with the housing shortage and slum clearances. The new streets were all named after Scottish islands and housing styles varied between grey stone houses with back and front door, pre-fabricated blocks of flats with brown or white cladding, and 4 storey tenements – some with open verandas that usually housed 8 dwellings. All housing was rented social housing and the area had only a few private homes in Liddesdale Road and Loskin Drive, which had existed prior to being engulfed by the new development.
The scheme was completed in 1952, but further housing was added in later years including six 17 storey high-rise flats built in the late 1960s. These are located on Castlebay Drive and Scaraway Drive.
There were four shopping areas at Skerray Street, Scaraway Street, Westray Circus and Liddesdale Square. The area was served by Glasgow Corporation bus numbers 8, 28 and 47 (although the latter confusingly showed High Possil on the destination board).
The scheme boasted 4 primary schools. Saint Augustine’s Primary in Liddesdale Road, Saint Ambrose in Mingulay Street, Milton Bank in Scalpay Street and its annexe in Raasay Street, and Chirnside Primary in Ashgill Road. The main secondary school in the area was Saint Augustine’s, which neighboured the primary in Liddesdale Road and the local Catholic church, Saint Augustine’s in Ashgill Road opened in 1956. There is a Methodist Church in Liddesdale Square and Colston Milton Church in Egilsay Crescent (Church of Scotland).
Milton suffered from poor social planning. There were no pubs, cinemas or community amenities. A community centre was built in Liddesdale Road in the early 1970s, but other entertainments were a bus journey away and there were no factories or industry in the area.
The area suffered from social problems and by the late 1960s, urban decay began to set and gang fighting became comon place. Later Milton became one of the worst areas in Europe for drug abuse. In the late 1980s, demolition started on many of the flats and these have since been replaced by social and private housing more suited to 21st century living. Saint Augustine’s Secondary School was demolished and its football grounds lie unused and the last of the original flats in Scaraway Street were demolished in 2006 parts of the area stand desolate and provide a poor visual image.
However the area witnessed an upsurge of community activity to oppose the city councils plans to build private housing on the site of the Saint Augustine’s playing fields. Local community activists LoveMilton led a successful campaign winning a public inquiry into the future use of this valued green space. LoveMilton have drawn up plans for a state of the art community complex. They are at present awaiting a final decision on when work will begin.
high rise estates[]
- Scaraway Terrace
- Castlebay Drive
famous former residents[]
- Frank McAvennie, Celtic and Wets Ham footballer
- Kenny Dalglish, Celtic and Liverpool footballer