I am indebted to the Abertay Historical Society for the above B&W illustration

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The Village Of Ardler – Brief History

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This farming village has a very interesting history as it was founded in the 1830s by the local laird  and radical thinker George Kinloch.

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Being the local landowner he planned a village originally to be named Washington*, after the American president and located in the Parish of Ardler.

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It was his intention that the streets, should be layed out in a grid pattern, and that these would be named after well known political and philosophical personages from the past including…

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• William Wallace (Wallace Street),

• Benjamin Franklin (Franklin Street),

• Jeremy Bentham (Bentham street) etc.

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A new railway was constructed nearby too and thereafter a  school, tavern, shop and church were also constructed to serve the village.

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Most of the cottages provided were single storey stone construction and were designed to accommodate home based textile craft people because, at the time, the early 19th  century was a boom period In the rural flax spinning industry with much use being made of relatively cheap labour and home spinning.

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This, however, declined very rapidly with the introduction of spinning industrialization and stopped any further development of the village.

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The Village Name Change – From Washington to Ardler

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Thereafter the village reverted back to farming and agricultural activities.

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With centralization of services it also lost its school and church and its name changed gradually from Washington to Ardler, which was the name of the railway station located at the end of the village.

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Today it is a beautiful residential village set in lovely arable land, the heart of the village being the local Tavern /Restaurant which is well patronized.

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