My Local Urban Environment:  Beith, North Ayrshire

The name ‘Beith’ is Gaelic for Birch, it is believed that at one time the town was colonised with birch trees and the whole district itself was mainly forrest before it became a town.

 

Physical Characteristics:

Beith is a very small town situated in the top of North Ayrshire, in the Garnock Valley. As it is in the Valley it is surrounded by hills, fields and trees. It also has great views of the local lochs in the neighbouring towns of Kilbirnie and Lochwinnoch. It has little traffic and noise pollution as there are no busy main roads which go through the town. Before the A737 was built in the 1930s which now bypasses Beith itself, Beith used to serve as the main traffic route going from Ayrshire to Glasgow.

 (View of Beith from Kilbirnie)

 

It is an old town with lots of new buildings, however we do still have some of our original buildings that we would consider our landmarks, such as the town house (1800s), the Auld Kirk (1500s) and the high church.

       

 

The buildings are all mainly houses rather than flats. This is because the majority of Beith’s population are families, rather than a big city which would have much more variety in the population, such as students, business men etc, who would be more likely to live in a flat.

Our town is full of small shops and businesses run by locals, such as a florist, bakers, butchers etc. Many of these shops have been very old family businesses that have been there for years and been handed down the generations. A lot of the buildings in our main street have date back to the 1800s.

Transport:

Beith is only 20 miles south west from Glasgow however we do not have a great selection when it comes to transport. We no longer have our own train station. The town used to have 2 railway stations however they closed in the 1950/60s. Now the nearest train station I just over 2 miles away in the town of Glengarnock, which requires a bus or a car journey to get there. This results in longer journeys to uni & work etc for many people who live in Beith.

We do have bus services, but they are not always the most frequent. Due to the lack of good public transport, most people in Beith drive.

However within the town itself it is easy to walk to wherever you need to get to, as it is such a small town and is also very pedestrianised.

Community Spaces:

Beith has one primary school, but no secondary school. Once children leave primary school they go to high school in kilbrinie called Garnock Academy, which serves as the local high school for all of the towns in the Garnock Valley. Children from Beith have to be bussed to secondary school, as there is no safe walking route to Kilbirnie.

Industry and work:

Beith used to be well known for producing furniture from 1845 until the 1980s, there were many carpenters from Beith. Unfortunately furniture is no longer being produces in Beith due to the closure of many manufacturing firms and due being unable to compete with the rise in popularity of self-assemble furniture companys.

Beith has a whiskey distillery which distils a lot of Chivas Regal products. This employs lots of locals which helps boost our economy.

There is also a local  large Defence Munitions centre is located just outside of Beith which employs a lot of locals. The site was originally developed in 1943 as an Armaments Depot munitions store, for the Royal Navy.

We also have many shops and small local businesses in the town, such as our bakers, butchers, pubs etc. We just recently opened our first restaurant this summer which is doing very well so far and has been well used by the community.

 

Recreation Spaces:

Beith itself has a community centre which holds a lot of sports and fitness clubs, we also have an astroturf which is used by our local football team the Beith Juniors. We also have a local swimming pool in Kilbirnie and sports centres such as the Magnum in Irvine. Beith also has a local library which often hosts events for young children.

 

Peri-Urban Space: 

As Beith is a rural town we are not periurban.

Population Density:

Beith has a small population of 6,300 approx.

North Ayrshire population density- 155 people per square kilometre  according to http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc134_c/index.html

Air Quality:

North Ayrshire has a low air pollution- Index 1, according to www.scottishairquality.co.uk