Greengairs
Greengairs
has an interesting historical link with
the
new Heritage Park at
Summerlee,
Coatbridge,
because it was the Summerlee Iron
Company which
first mined ironstone at Greengairs in
the 1840s. Coal
later replaced ironstone as the main
product and the
local colliery changed hands five times
between 1873
and 1923.
Today, Greengairs has a
popluation
of 1,166 and
the metal industry still lives on, if
only on a small
scale, with the Plains Steel Foundry in
the village.
Longriggend
Longriggend
began life as the longest of a group of
mining villages in this area. Over a
hundred houses
were built in the 1870s but by the
1910only 20 houses
remained and most of the pits had
closed. Today only
a handful of houses are to be found on
the Main Street
but the Community Council is one of the
most active
in the area.
Moffat
Mills
A Victorian factory
built on the outskirts of
Airdrie
gave its name to this village
which grew up as a result
of the paper-making industry. The
Craig
family pro-
vided housing and other amenities for
their mil I work-
ers. Takeover and rationalisation
eventually put the
mills out of existence and in 1963 they
were sold and
converted into the
Inverhouse
Distillery.
Plains
Plains has its
origins in the growth of the mining
industry. The men of
Whiterigg
and
Meadowhead,
Ballochney,
Arden
and Stanrigg
all worked in the pits,
the last of which closed only 20 years
ago. The railway
once linked Plains to Airdrie,
Caldercruix
and
Bathgate
until bus services took over.
Plains has a population of over 3,000
peopl
Salsburgh
Salsburgh, situated at the south-eastern
limit of the
Monklands,
is best known for the Kirk O'Shotts
Parish
Church, which sits at
1,000
feet above sea level on the
site of a medieval chapel. Salsburgh as
a community
can be traced back to 1726 when it
consisted of only
four houses. The coal and iron interests
of the Colt-
ness Iron Company at the east of the
village provided
work for the villagers during the last
century. Tests
are presently being carried out in
Salsburgh to locate
oil or natural gas in the local rock
formations and so
there is the possibility that a new
industry will appear
in the village.
Caldercruix
Caldercruix
is situated to the north-east of
Airdrie
on
the Bathgate
road and it owes its rise to the
building of
a paper mill and a textile printing
works which
attracted workers to settle there. The paper
mill was
famous for being powered by two of the
largest water
wheels in Scotland and the paper secured
a high
reputation for quality in Scottish and
English markets
with the company being particularly
noted for the
manufacture of blotting paper. New
houses and an
Institute were built for the workmen in
the village and
the church was even named
afterthe
mill owners and
called the
Craig Memorial Church.
The present population is 2,248.
Caldercruix.
Chapelhall
Chapelhall
lies on the opposite side of the North
Cal-
der Water from
Calderbank
and it has a very similar
history.
Ironworking and coal mining were
once
prominent industries here with three
blast furnaces
working at Chapelhall as early as the
1830s.
The old community also had a quarry, a
brickworks
and a bakery. The first curator of the
Royal Gardens in
Kew,
William
Aiton, began work as a gardener
in the
grounds of the former
Woodhall
House near
Chapelhall.
Chapelhall now has a population of 4,639
and the
industrial estates at Chapelhall and
Newhouse
are
important employers.
Glenboig
Situated north of
Coatbridge,
at the beginning of this
century Glenboig was a thriving
industrial villag
famous for the
production of fireclay products. The
population of the village increased from
only 120 in
1860 to 1,500 in 1890 and nearly all the
houses in
Glenboig formerly belonged to the
Glenboig Union
Fireclay Company whose works were said
to be the
largest of their kind in the world. The
reputation of the
goods produced at the works was such
that medals
were awarded from all over the world
including
awards from Chile, India and Australia.
Latest popula-
tion figures record 2,312 people in
Glenboig.
Glenmavis
Glenmavis
is the community formerly known as New
Monkland
and is the home of New
Monkland
Church
which was originally the only church for
the whole of
the parish which included Airdrie. The
present build-
ing was completed in 1777 and the church
has a
remarkable record of only 16 ministers
in charge from
the mid-17th century to the present day.
Visitors to
the village should also look out for the
Kirkstyle
Inn
which also appears on the 1860 map of
what was then
a small hamlet. Coal mines were active
at
Braidenhall
and
Whitehill in Glenmavis until
1906.
The growth of private housing estates
has changed
the appearance of Glenmavis which is now
mainly a
commuter village for Glasgow and the
rest of Lanark-
shire.
Bargeddie
Bargeddie
developed as part of a mining community
in the western part of the Old Monkland
Parish and
other local industries followed such as
a brickworks,
opened in 1900, which at one time
produced 4'/2
mill-
ion bricks per year.
Bargeddie Church was built in 1876 and
Bargeddie
School in 1894.
Drumpark
Special School, built in
1929, continues to fulfil an important
role, providing
an education for handicapped children.
The population of Bargeddie in 1981 was
2,624.
Calderbank
This village lies
south of
Airdrie on the opposite side
of the North
Calder water from
Chapelhall
and it was
a prosperous industrial settlement with
a population
of almost 3,500 in the middle of the
last century. Iron-
works and coal pits were established in
the area and
the proximity of the Monkland Canal was
an impor-
tant factor in the growth of local
industry. The first
iron-hulled passenger boat, the
Vulcan, was con-
structed at nearby
Faskine
on the banks of the canal
and launched into it in 1819. A full
scale replica of the
Vulcan has been reconstructed and
was the centre-
piece of the District Council's display
at the Glasgow
Garden Festival in 1988. It was then
transferred to
Summerlee
Heritage Park where it is now on
display.
After the period of iron construction
was over, steel
works were built on the site of the
ironworks, and so
heavy industry continued in Calderbank.
Ship plates
forthe
Queen
Marywere
made in Calderbank.
The present population of Calderbank is
1,878.
Annathill
The name Annathill
is thought to mean the site of a
patron saint's church and early
settlement in the area
is proved by prehistoric ritual and
burial sites. The
later history is of a mining village
near the pithead of
the former
Bedley Colliery and the
population of the
village in 1981 was 149.
Coatbridge
Coatbridge
was formed by the amalgamation of the
villages of
Langloan,
Whifflet,
Gartsherrie,
Dundy-
van, Coatbridge and
Coatdyke.
The area around
Coatbridge was described in the
1799 Statistical Account as an "immense
garden" and
it was not until the
1830sthatthecharacterofthe dis-
trict began to change from a rural
landscape of small
hamlets and farmhouses to a crowded
industrial
town.
The industry which
transformed Coatbridge was
the iron industry
and the town became known as the
Iron Burgh. In 1811 less than 6,000
people were
recorded as inhabitants of the Old
Monkland
Parish
which included
Coatbridge.
By 1885, when Coat-
bridge achieved Burgh status, the
population had
increased to around 25,000. The
present-day street
layout of the town centre was largely
influenced by
the planning of the
Baird
family, owners of one of the
town's largest ironworks. Coatbridge was
the eighth
largest town in Scotland in 1911.
Modern industries have now replaced the
older
heavy industries and industrialists are
attracted to the
town because of the intersection of
three major
motorways nearby.
The town now has a population of 48,000
and is the
administrative centre of
Monklands
District. It has a
library, heritage park, public baths,
four railway sta-
tions (three of them on the electrified
route from
Air-
drie to Glasgow), many public
parks, two golf
courses, one cricket club, 25 churches,
an indoor and
outdoor sports centre, a modern shopping
centre and
six industrial estates.
Airdrie
Airdrie
is first referred to by name in 1605 but
it was
not until the end of the 17th century
that the founda-
tion of its future prosperity was laid
when in 1695 an
Act of Parliament made Airdrie a market
town with a
weekly market and four Fairs each year.
The statistical
account for the Parish of New
Monklandfor
1793 tells
us that the population of Airdrie had
increased from
300 in 1760 to 1,762 at the time of the
account. The
chief occupation at this time was
farming but the min-
eral wealth of the area was also
reflected in the state-
ment that coal and ironstone could be
found at almost
every farm.
Airdrie's other claim to fame by
the mid-
dle of the 18th century was as a weaving
community.
Flax was grown on many local farms and
the town
became a well-established centre of
woollen and
linen fabrics. The population of the
town continued to
grow from 2,745 in 1801 to 4,860 in 1821
which was
the year Airdrie was created an
Independent Burgh.
The expansion of the coal and iron
industries led to a
demand for machinery and tools and
Airdrie became
important for engineering works and the
population
climbed to13,488 in 1871.
Today, Airdrie is a
large town of over 38,000
inhabitants and encompasses the former
villages of
Clarkston
and Rawyards.
It has an Arts Centre, library,
museum ,
two railway stations (with frequent
electric
trains to Glasgow), an open air market,
public baths, a
sports centre, a modern shopping centre,
20
churches, many public parks, a golf
course and five
industrial estates.
Pedestrianisation and ring road
schemes are soon to be completed which
will
improve the character of the town
centre.
The Early
History of the
Monklands
The Monklands
District was formed at the reorganisa-
tion of Local
Governmentin
Scotland in 1975andcon-
sists
of the former burghs of Airdrie and
Coatbridge
together with part of the former County
of Lanark.
The name of Monklands dates back to 1323
(the
name was first recorded in the Steward's
Charter of
the year) but there is evidence of
settlement by
hunter-gatherer tribes as far back as
the
Mesolithic
Age (c6500-4000 be).
Bronze Age remains have been
discovered in the area, and there is an
Iron Age
Cran-
nog site in
Lochend
Loch.
The area roughly corresponding to the
present
Monklands District was gifted by Royal
Charter of
King Malcolm IV to the Cistercian Abbey
of Newbattle
in 1162. The Monks of Newbattle
farmed the area
extensively using the western part for
the cultivation
of grain and the eastern part mainly for
pasture.
Over the years the monks leased their
land to pri-
vate individuals and at the time of the
Reformation
the whole area passed into private
ownership.
The
Monkland
Canal was constructed during the
period 1770—1781 for the purpose of
carrying coal
cheaply from the
Monklands
area to Glasgow. The
canal prospered until the late 1860s but
from then
the traffic on the canal began to
decline and by the
1930s it had practically ceased. An Act
of Parliament
extinguished rights of navigation in
1952 and from
that time until the late 1960s it was
generally consi-
dered that the derelict canal was
proving to be an obs-
tacle to the proper
replanning
of
Coatbridge. Con-
sequently, over half of the original
canal and
branches were either piped or infilled.
With the formation
of the Scottish Development
Agency in 1975 the way was set to
establish a com-
prehensive programme of improvements for
the
derelict canal corridor under the
Monkland Canal
Land Renewal Project. In
1978
the District Council
approved the report which proposed that
a com-
prehensive walkway system be established
along the
entire canal corridor within the
District. The report
also proposed that a length of navigable
canal be
created from
Bargeddie to the Fountain Cross
by
rehabilitating the open water stretch of
the canal and
by reopening the culvert section from
Blair
Bridge to
Fountain Cross. It was established at
that time that
nothing should be done which would
prejudice the
eventual reopening of the remainder of
the canal. It
was anticipated at that time that the
cost of carrying
out these rehabilitation works would be
considerable
and the District Council agreed in
association with the
Scottish Development Agency and the
Countryside
Commission that the works would be
phased over a
number of years in order to implement
the prog-
ramme. Where it has been feasible,
stretches of canal
have been reopened and water
reintroduced
to give
the effect of the former canal and in
many cases
where it has not been possible to reopen
the canal a
linear walkway system has been laid out.
Along some
of these linear walkways the potential
exists in the
future for water to be introduced into
certain parts of
the canal beds and once the
rehabilitation prog-
ramme is complete it will be possible to
walk from
Calderbank
to Bargeddie
(Cuilhill Road) following the
line of the former Canal much of which
will have been
restored to its original form.
The most recently
completed section of canal work
is at Bank Street Coatbridge, where,
between the
large railway bridges, water has been
reintroduced
and the foundations laid for further
stretches of canal
to be opened.
In August 1984 the
District Council decided to pro-
ceed in principle with the
Summerlee
Heritage Park
Development and an essential ingredient
of this prop-
osal was the reopening of the Monkland
Canal from
the Heritage Park westwards to Blair
Bridge thus per-
mitting the passage of boats between
Summerlee,
the Monklands Leisure Centre and
Drumpellier
Coun-
try Park to open up a major recreational
attraction in
the District. This attraction will be
further improved by
the construction of the Time Capsule—a
major water-
based leisure project adjacent to the
Indoor Sports
Centre at Bank Street. The
reconstruction of the canal
between Summerlee and the District
boundary at
Cuilhill would create a total navigable
length of 3,500
metres allowing at least an hour's
return trip by canal
narrow boat. This comprehensive facility
may well
have a capacity to attract in excess of
2 mil I ion visitors
a year, only rivalled in both regional
and national
terms by developments like the
Burrell
Collection and
Strathclyde
Water Park.
As the history of the Monklands is
inextricably linked
with the Industrial Revolution, it is
appropriate that
the heart of Coatbridge, "The Iron
Burgh" should be
the site of Scotland's most exciting
museum project.
Summerlee Heritage Trust is developing a
major new
museum on a once
derelict
25-acre site on the banks
of the Monkland Canal, centred on the
archaeological
excavations
of the Summerlee Iron Works, put into
blast in 1835.
Summerlee is becoming the main
showplace
in
Your
Home Town
