Avonbridge

This article is about the village of Avonbridge in Scotland. For the railway bridge in Bristol, see Avon Bridge. For the thoroughbred racehorse, see Avonbridge (horse).

Avonbridge (Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid na h-Aibhne) ^[2] is a small village which lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The village is 4.8 miles (7.7 km) south-southeast of the town of Falkirk. Avonbridge sits just inside the council boundary line between Falkirk and West Lothian councils.

Avonbridge Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid na h-Aibhne Bridge of the River
The centre of Avonbridge, with a war memorial in the foreground
Avonbridge Location within the Falkirk council area
Area	0.11 sq mi (0.28 km2)
Population	660 (2020)[1]
• Density	6,000/sq mi (2,300/km2)
OS grid reference	NS911726
• Edinburgh	21.5 mi (34.6 km) E
• London	340 mi (550 km) SSE
Civil parish	Slamannan Muiravonside
Council area	Falkirk
Lieutenancy area	Stirling and Falkirk
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	FALKIRK
Postcode district	FK1 2
Dialling code	01324
UK Parliament	East Falkirk and Linlithgow
Scottish Parliament	Falkirk East
Website	falkirk.gov.uk
List of places UK Scotland 55.934°N 03.744°W / 55.934; -03.744

The village lies at the junction of the B8028 and B825 roads and is a bridging point over the River Avon, hence the name Avonbridge. At the time of the 2011 census, a population of 652 residents was recorded.^[3]

History

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Avonbridge was home to small scale open cast coal mining.^[4] The village also had a brickworks in the mid twentieth century, "Avonbridge Brickworks", but today no longer exists.^[4] Nowadays the village is largely residential although Avonbridge is the base of operations for "Stevenson Brothers" a haulage company, whose bright orange heavy goods vehicles transport goods across the United Kingdom.

Toponymy

The name Avonbridge derives from the fact that the village crosses a river. The affix "avon" is often found in the Celtic language which denotes the presence of a river,^[5] in this case the River Avon. This is found in Scottish Gaelic as "abhainn/a river,"^[5] with genitive "aibhne/of a river." Drochaid na h-Aibhne literally means Bridge of the River.

See also

• List of places in Falkirk council area