Biggar is a community as well as previous burgh in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located in the Southern Uplands, near the River Clyde, on the A702. The closest communities are Lanark and Peebles, and as such Biggar serves a wide rural area. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 2294 although by the mid-2014 quote it had actually expanded to 2320. The town was once served by the Symington, Biggar and also Broughton Railway, which ran from the Caledonian Train (now the West Coastline Main Line) at Symington to join the Peebles Railway at Peebles. The station and also signal box are still standing however housing has actually been improved the line running west from the station and also the railway running eastern from the station is a public path to Broughton, part of the Biggar Country Path network. The new Biggar & Upper Clydesdale Museum run by the Biggar Museum Trust opened in 2015 and also the Biggar Gasworks Museum is the only maintained gas operates in Scotland. In addition, Biggar has Scotland's only long-term puppet theatre, Biggar Puppet Theatre, which is run by the Purves Puppets family members. Biggar was the birthplace of Thomas Gladstones, the grandpa of William Ewart Gladstone. Hugh MacDiarmid invested his later years at Brownsbank, near the town. Ian Hamilton Finlay's residence and also garden at Little Sparta is nearby in the Pentland Hills. The imaginary Midculter, which features in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles books, is set right here. The town organizes a yearly arts festival, the Biggar Little Festival. The town has actually commonly held a big bonfire at Hogmanay. In 2007 local estate agent John Riley, encouraged a team of Biggar homeowners to launch the Carbon Neutral Biggar project, with the mentioned purpose of ending up being the first carbon neutral community in Scotland. The launch of the project, covered in both regional and national media, happened at the community's yearly eco online forum in May 2007. The group has formed links with the town of Ashton Hayes in Cheshire, which has a comparable group pursuing carbon neutral status for the town. This town has two institutions, one main, and also one second. The secondary school, Biggar High School, likewise confesses students from surrounding small towns and towns. Biggar Primary is a little school, situated on South Alleyway, with a current roll of 238 pupils. Key students have lunch simply offsite in the Biggar Key Sports Barn. The Senior high school, situated on John's Financing and also adjacent to the primary, shares its sporting activities facilities with the primary school when the event demands it. The yearly main Sports Day is held on the Senior high school playing field.
