When a new road from Paisley to East Kilbride was built through the area in the 1790s, a toll point was set up where it crossed what was then the main route from Glasgow to Kilmarnock and Ayr.Clarkston, Stamperland & Netherlee, Portal to the Past (East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure) A man named John Clark built a house at the toll, and the name 'Clarkston' came to be used for the locality.Nisbet 2007, p. 4.Nisbet 2007, p. 34. The Maxwell family (owners of the Williamwood Estate, on which Clarkston was situated) advertised the creation of a new village there in 1801, but initially, it grew slowly. Clarkston at this time had no industry of its own, and villagers were mainly employed in the mills at nearby Netherlee.
