Avonbridge


Avonbridge is a small village which lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The village is south-southeast of the town of Falkirk. Avonbridge sits just inside the council boundary line between Falkirk and West Lothian councils.
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.

History

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Avonbridge was home to small scale open cast coal mining. The village also had a brickworks in the mid twentieth century, "Avonbridge Brickworks", but today no longer exists.
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 all over 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, in this case the River Avon. This is found in Scottish Gaelic as "abhainn"; Drochaid Abhainne literally means Bridge of the River.