Scottish Towns -Cities- Newton Mearns.

Newton Mearns (Scots: The Mearns; Scottish Gaelic: Baile Ùr na Maoirne [ˈpalə ˈuːɾ nə ˈmɯːrˠɲə]) is a suburban town and the largest settlement in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. It lies 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Glasgow City Centre on the main road to Ayrshire, 410 feet (125 m) above sea level. It has a population of approximately 26,993, stretching from Whitecraigs and Kirkhill in the northeast to Maidenhill in the southeast, to Westacres and Greenlaw in the west and Capelrig/Patterton in the northwest.

From the early 20th century, with the introduction of improved roads and railways to the area, it gradually became a growing commuter suburb of Glasgow. In the 1930s, between speculative and local authority housing ventures, a further 6,000 houses were added to the area and after a lull during the war years, in the 1950s, house building began again in earnest. Unfortunately, the old core village suffered neglect during and after World War II and was all but derelict by the 1960s. It was purchased and turned into a shopping centre which was later to become ‘The Avenue at Mearns’ in 1990.

Historical buildings in the area include the 15th century Mearns Castle, Greenbank House owned by the National Trust for Scotland (just inside neighbouring Clarkston) and the 1813 Mearns Kirk.

Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) undertook work on the Pollock Castle site, and history in 2000.

The castle appears to be noted by Pont’s sixteenth-century map. The castle was demolished and rebuilt as a large stately house 1686 by Sir Robert Pollok. It was completely destroyed by fire in 1882 (after remaining empty for some while) and then rebuilt again shortly after in the Scottish Baronial style. It was finally abandoned in the 1940s and fell into ruin. Some of the ruins were dynamited in the 1970s and a large prefabricated house erected on the castle foundations. The prefabricated house was removed and the site cleared in the early 1990s, and the castle was again rebuilt in 2003, in the Scottish Adam style. Some of the original foundations and castle walls remain.