Avonbridge
Human settlement in Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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
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|---|---|
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 |
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| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | FALKIRK |
| Postcode district | FK1 2 |
| Dialling code | 01324 |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
| Website | falkirk.gov.uk |
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.
