until the new town's development, the land that is now abronhill was occupied by farms such as whitelees, glenhead, low abronhill and high abronhill. these farms had developed from the fleming estate; the flemings were the ruling family in the area, living at cumbernauld castle. they acquired the estate after robert the bruce murdered the previous laird, red comyn. the four original abronhill cottages were from before the new town arrived. they were built for the workers of the nearby farms, and are situated on the old slamannan road which ran from wardpark through the glen and all the way to slamannan. the site can still be found close to cumbernauld glen on what's now known as broom road. nearby is the dovecote ("doocot" in scots), a 16th-century historical site of interest, which was part of the original flemming's estate. this received a grant to be renovated from north lanarkshire's environmental key fund via the scottish wildlife trust. other local industry which pre-dates the new town includes weaving and mining. entrances to old mines can be seen at the glen and other places around the area.