Skinflats
Main Street, Skinflats
Skinflats in the Falkirk council area, near the Firth of Forth, in the Central Belt of mainland Scotland.
Skinflats in the Falkirk council area, near the Firth of Forth, in the Central Belt of mainland Scotland.
Skinflats
Location within the Falkirk council area
Population347 [1] (2001 census)
OS grid referenceNS908831
• Edinburgh22.5 mi (36.2 km) ESE
• London346 mi (557 km) ESE
Civil parish
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townFALKIRK
Postcode districtFK2
Dialling code01324
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Websitefalkirk.gov.uk

Skinflats is a small village in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-west of Grangemouth, 1.1 miles (1.8 km) east of Carronshore and 2.3 miles (3.7 km) north-east of Falkirk. It lies on the A905 road between Glensburgh and Airth, near to the River Carron and the point where it flows into the Firth of Forth.[2]

The United Kingdom 2001 census reported the population as 347, almost unchanged since 1991.[1]

The name of the village is sometimes claimed to be of Dutch origin, supposedly bestowed by Dutch engineers working on land reclamation in the 17th century, but there is no evidence that any such reclamation projects took place in the parish of Bothkennar where Skinflats is located and the place-name is readily explained as Scots in origin, meaning "short flat".[3]

Skinflats was originally a pit village, but no mining has taken place there for many years.[4]

There is an RSPB Nature Reserve at Skinflats which protects saline lagoons and saltmarsh, both types of habitat being increasingly rare in the Forth Estuary. A project was established to increase the extent of these habitats at Skinflats and following years of discussion planning for the project started in 2018 and on Wednesday 3 October 2018 the seawall at the reserve was breached and the project to realign the coast at Skinflats was completed.[5] In 2018 the first recorded successful breeding of pied avocets in Scotland occurred at Skinflats.[6]

The bus service F23 used to connect Skinflats with Falkirk and Stenhousemuir but the local authority deemed it too costly and proposed the cancellation of the service in April 2019.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Insight 2001 Census, No 3 - 2001 Census Population of settlements and wards" Archived 2011-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, Falkirk Council. June 2003. Retrieved 2009-12-09
  2. ↑ "Skinflats, Falkirk (FK2 8NJ)". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  3. ↑ "Stirlingshire: The Truth about Skinflats". Scotland County-by-County. Scottish Place-Name Society. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "Housing of Scottish Miners – Report on the Housing of Miners of Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire". Scottish Mining Website. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Allison Leonard (23 October 2018). "Skinflats Managed Realignment Project - We did it!". RSPB. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  6. ↑ Allison Leonard (10 July 2018). "RSPB's emblem bird, the avocet, breeds at RSPB Skinflats for the first time". RSPB. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  7. ↑ "Angered Skinflats residents claim they have been left to live in an "open prison" following Falkirk Council's decision to scrap a bus service which they say is vital to the village". The Falkirk Herald. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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