Clydeside:
Red, Orange and Green
by Ian R. Mitchell. Luath
Press (2010) £9.99
This new book has a
chapter devoted to
Coatbridge. Its theme is the
working class communities in
the Clyde basin, from New
Lanark in the east to
Greenock in the west: in
North Lanarkshire, there are
chapters for Motherwell as
well as Coatbridge.
Coatbridge’s chapter is
titled “Coatbrig: the
strugglin’, toilin’ masses”.
This is a quote from local
poetess Janet Hamilton,
during whose long life (1796
– 1873) in the town it was
transformed from a rural
idyll to an industrial
nightmare.
Her wonderful Scots
poetry – e.g. “big lums
spewin’ reek an’ red lowe in
the air” – is used several
times by Mitchell to good
effect. He combines it with
a brief history of the
growth of the iron industry
and the lavish spending it
enabled for the Bairds of
Gartsherrie, ironmasters
extraordinaire.
This
he contrasts with the living
and working conditions of
the workers and their
families, and the crushing
of attempts to win
improvements through union
struggle. Mitchell ends the
chapter with a section
called ‘Coatbridge today’
which combines some
sociology – the religious
divide in the town – with a
walk visiting some of the
important landmarks. He is
not a Monklander, but his
treatment of the town and
its people is sympathetic,
in contrast to some big city
newspapers which delight in
mocking the ‘carbuncle
town’.
This
is a good read, and not just
for the Coatbridge chapter –
another dozen Clydeside
communities are covered.
Peter Drummond
(author, Coatbridge -
Three Centuries of Change
(1982)) |
Books
- Calendars etc
![[t3 home]](../inserts/top_banner_MAIN_r2_c02.gif)