RAF Bishopbriggs Originally a
Second World War-era
Royal Air Force (RAF)
Barrage balloon depot, known as RAF Bishopbriggs, constructed in 1939, base of No.18 (Balloon) Squadron and
No. 15 Maintenance Unit. It was also used as an overnight 'transit' camp for other RAF Units being transferred from the south of England to the north of Scotland. After WW2, RAF Bishopbriggs was utilised as a training school for the
Royal Military Police for a time.
RAF 388 Mobile Radar Bomb Scoring Signals Unit In the 1960s the Officers Mess building on the other side of the Lenzie road, next to St Mungo's playing fields, was later used for the Combined Messing (Officers, SNCOs and other ranks) and Unit HQ base for 388 Signals Unit (RAF), also known as 388MRBSSU or the Glasgow bomb plot. It used two
AA No. 3 Mk.7 radars to score simulated bombing missions on pre-determined target ranges in the Glasgow area. The radars were installed on one of the concrete former Barrage Balloon pans, situated near the Civil defence practice house and were enclosed by a fence and locked gates. The unit closed in mid 1966 and the radars moved to
RAF Ouston in Northumberland. USAF and RAF bombers utilised the range, types included the
Douglas B-66 Destroyer,
Convair B-58 Hustler, the
V bombers and
English Electric Canberras.
Scottish Prison Service use Low Moss was first used by the
Scottish Prison Service as a training school between 1964 and 1970. There was a break in this use between 1966 and 1968 when training reverted to
Barlinnie Prison.
Conversion to Prison In September 1968, the former RAF camp was initially converted into a temporary, low security male prison. The planning permission restricted the sentence length and category of prisoner, and it set an eventual closure date of the temporary prison for December 1974. An extension of time until 1986 was sought in December 1981, to allow closure of Low Moss once
Shotts Prison had been refurbished.
Strathkelvin District Council agreed to that extension in January 1982. A further year was requested in February 1988, but in July the council objected to that request and sought a public local inquiry, after which the council approved a limited 3-year period, as opposed to the originally proposed 5 years, in June 1989. In June 1992 the council received a further renewal request, and in November it agreed to the continued use of the site as a prison until November 2002. Another 10 year renewal request was lodged in June 2002, and because the council objected in August 2002, the request was referred to the
Scottish Executive for a decision, with a further 10-year extension granted in June 2003.
Accommodation The prison was of wooden, single-storey construction, and the accommodation comprised 11
Nissen hut dormitory-style units linked by internal corridors and Davidson House, a temporary,
pre-fabricated building. The corridors linking the dormitories were narrow and did not permit good access. Some investment took place, with the partial refurbishment of seven dormitories in the mid-1980s. The accommodation was communal and offered little privacy. It housed approximately 300 prisoners at any one time. ==Closure and reconstruction==