Cadder (Scottish Gaelic:Coille Dobhair) is a district of the town ofBishopbriggs,East Dunbartonshire,Scotland. It is located 7 km north ofGlasgow city centre, 0.5 km south of theRiver Kelvin, and approximately 1.5 km north-east of Bishopbriggs town centre, sited on the route of theForth and Clyde Canal. There is aGlasgow council housing scheme of a similar name, generally pronounced Cawder, in the district ofLambhill some 3 miles (5 km) to the south-west along the Canal, which was built in the early 1950s. Similarly, within Cadder, there is Cawder Golf Club, which also uses that original pronunciation.
Distance slab of the Second Legion found built into Cawder House.[2] George MacDonald calls in no. 5 in the 2nd edition of his bookThe Roman Wall in Scotland.[3]Distance slab of the Second Legion found built into Cawder House.[4] George MacDonald calls in no. 26 in the 2nd edition of his bookThe Roman Wall in Scotland. He suggests it may have been fromAuchendavy since other 2nd Legion distance slabs were found there.[5]
In antiquity, Cadder was the site of aRoman fort[6] on the route of theAntonine Wall.[7] Its neighbouring forts areBalmuildy to the west andKirkintilloch to the east although there are intermediatefortlets atWilderness Plantation to the west andGlasgow Bridge to the east.[8] TheSecond Legion may have been responsible for building the fort.[9] John Clarke of the Glasgow Archaeological Society excavated the remains in the 1930s.[10]Sir George Macdonald also wrote about the excavation of the site.[11] The site was destroyed by sand quarrying in the 1940s.[12] A sketch of the medieval motte made by Skinner still survives.[13] One find at Cadder was an oil lamp which is associated with the bath house of the fort.[14] Before the Reformation the lands of Cadder and the kirk belonged to the Bishops of Glasgow.[15][16] In the 18th century James Dunlop ofGarnkirk being a wealthy landowner opposedThomas Muir and the congregation at Cadder over who appointed their minister.[17][18][19] Cadder Parish Church was described in the 19th century as a neat modern Gothic church.[20] Cadder House was a property held by theStirling family for generations.[21]
^The new statistical account of Scotland. Vol. 6. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons for the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy. 1845. pp. 298-315.
