Kilbarchan

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The name is probably from ‘the cell of Berchan’. Cill (Scottish Gaelic) ‘cell’ (in the sense of a monk's cell); Berchan (personal name) of a 7th century Irish saint. Found in this form 1246 and Timothy Pont’s map of about 1600 makes reference to ’Kilbachan’. Saint Barchan was, according to MacKenzie, a Scoto-Irish saint who lived between 550 and 650. He pursued his clerical calling both in Ireland and in Scotland, at Clonsast, King’s County and at Kilbarchan. In his old age, being stricken with blindness, he received as a compensation from heaven, the gift of prophecy. On his death his body was borne to Inishmore, Galway Bay, where he was buried beside three other saints in the church which was thereafter known as the Church of the Four Illustrious or the Church of the Four Comely Saints.

Kilbarchan is located approximately half way between Johnstone and Bridge of Weir, 2.5 kilometres (2 miles) from Johnstone town centre. It is an attractive village regarded as an Outstanding Conservation Area by Historic Scotland. Although rather spoiled in part by property demolitions occasioned by the demands of roads engineers, it nevertheless retains an old world charm. Today many of the original terraced houses survive, together with old names such as Shuttle Street and Ewing Street, although many of the outlying mansions were demolished as needs changed. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries trams and trains introduced links to Glasgow. Today a dual carriageway bypass speeds traffic into Paisley and Glasgow and Kilbarchan is a dormitory and tourist town with a population of about 4000.