A small group visited Carmunnock, the last remaining village with Glasgow city’s boundaries at the end of August. It lies 5 miles to the south of the city centre and is a beautiful and historic little village. Earlier this year an interactive Heritage Trail was launched having been created by the Carmunnock Heritage Society. The trail gives visitors a 16 stop self-guided multi-media tour around the village which includes exclusive video footage containing interviews documenting the experiences and memories of the villagers – many of whom took part either in a personal capacity or as part of the amateur dramatic society. The former Carmunnock Preservation Society had collated a vast archive which was put to good use to create this Heritage Trail.
At each location we scanned a QR code using our phones and listened to a high quality video about each site which was superbly narrated by Isobel Rutter (a locally based, awarding winning speaker, actress and playwright). Via the map and videos the trail was very easy to access – we only got lost once! Apart from finding out about the village’s roots as a settlement we also learnt that The World’s Strongest Man competition originated in Carmunnock – who knew? We were just as surprised to learn that Paul McCartney had once visited.
We finished our visit with a very nice lunch at Laura’s Cafe, relieved that our visit had fallen on a dry and occasionally sunny day. It’s official that this summer has been the wettest in West Scotland for decades. (Leaflets for the Heritage Trail can be picked up from the village shops.)