 The first written mention of Giffnock came in 1530, when James V presented Rockend (Ruken) Mill and the surrounding lands to Hugh Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Eglinton. The settlement of Giffnock first appeared as Gisnock, in an atlas created by Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu in 1654, the first atlas of Scotland. Giffnock was primarily a scattered farming community until the late 1780s, when Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton was forced to partition the land into a number of small properties for sale to raise finances.
