Motherwell


Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, around south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarkshire, Motherwell is the headquarters for North Lanarkshire Council. Geographically the River Clyde separates Motherwell from Hamilton to the west whereas the South Calder Water separates Motherwell from Carfin to the north-east and New Stevenston and Bellshill towards the north.
Motherwell is also geographically attached to Wishaw and the two towns form a large urban area in North Lanarkshire, with both towns having similar populations and strong community ties.

History

A Roman road through central Scotland ran along Motherwell's side of the River Clyde, crossing the South Calder Water near Bothwellhaugh. At this crossing a fort and bath house were erected, but the Roman presence in Scotland did not last much later than this. Motherwell's location in the Scottish Lowlands means that it would have been inhabited by the Britons. Motherwell's name reportedly comes from a well, the Lady Well, formerly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The site of this well is now marked by a plaque on Ladywell Road. The name "Moderwelt" appears on a map of Lanarkshire made by Timothy Pont some time between 1583 and 1611 and printed in the Netherlands in around 1652.
File:Blaeu - Atlas of Scotland 1654 - GLOTTIANA PRÆFECTVRA INFERIOR - Cleland.png|thumb|right|Blaeu's map based on Pont's original "Glasgow and the county of Lanark" map c.1596 depicting Moderwelt east of Hamelton, south of Clydsid and north of Dalzel Castle
By the start of the 19th century, Motherwell was a small hamlet, a farming community of some 600 people living adjacently to the 16th century laird's manor, Jerviston house. The hamlet remained reasonably small, reaching 1,700 people by 1841, and centred on the crossroads between the main road following the Clyde, and the road connecting Edinburgh with Hamilton and the west.
Motherwell's fortunes changed dramatically in the second half of the 19th century. With the coming of the railway in 1848, came industry and money. By 1881 David Colville had opened both an iron and steel works; Motherwell had a new piped water supply; had been granted burgh status and had its population swelled to 13,800 people.
By the end of the 19th century, Motherwell Town Hall and Dalziel High School had been built, the local football club had been founded, and its stadium, Fir Park, had been constructed.
At the start of the 20th century, Motherwell stood a large and growing industrial centre, a town of 37,000 people and a wide variety of heavy industries such as munitions, trams and bridge components. By the 1930s most of Scotland's steel production was in Motherwell, and owned by the Colville family. In 1959 the Colville family were persuaded by the government to begin work of a vast new steel works, which would become Ravenscraig. Within a few years, Ravenscraig was producing more than a million tonnes of steel per year. Following nationalisation of the steel industry, production at the plant was raised, with the Motherwell blast furnaces producing 3 million tonnes each year.
40 locals from Lanarkshire travelled to become volunteers of the International Brigades to fight for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War memorial in Duchess Park in Motherwell commemorates them.
By the middle of the 1970s, Motherwell's steel industry employed more than 13,000 people.
The 1980s brought a catastrophic collapse in the industry of Motherwell. The steel strike of 1980 lost British Steel Corporation important contracts and markets, followed by the closure of important local customers such as the Linwood car factory and Bathgate truck factory, Ravenscraig employed only 3,200 people by the end of the 1980s.
Ravenscraig closed on 24 June 1992, and was demolished in July 1996, bringing 400 years of Scottish iron production to an end. Today the Dalzell Plate Mill is all that remains of Motherwell's industrial heritage, rolling steel from Middlesbrough into steel plates of various sizes.
By the start of the 21st century, Motherwell had begun to transform itself with the service industry thriving, the large scale unemployment of the previous twenty years had been largely remedied. Through the expansion of both towns, Motherwell and Wishaw are now effectively one continuous urban area, although the towns remain distinct.

Culture

Motherwell hosted the National Mòd in 1983.
Strathclyde Park previously hosted the major Scottish music festival, T in the Park, until 1996, when it was moved to a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire. It houses Roman bath ruins, in said park, and is a 2 hour drive away from some remnants of Hadrians Wall.

Economy

Motherwell is the headquarters for both North Lanarkshire Council, which is one of Scotland's most populous local authority areas, and of Police Scotland "Q" division. These organisations cover an overall population of 327,000 people throughout the of North Lanarkshire.
Motherwell was noted as the steel production capital of Scotland, nicknamed Steelopolis, home of David Colville & Sons during the 19th and 20th centuries, with its skyline later dominated by the water tower and three cooling towers of their Ravenscraig steelworks which closed in 1992. The Ravenscraig plant had one of the longest continuous casting, hot rolling, steel production facilities in the world before it was decommissioned. The closure of Ravenscraig signalled the end of large scale steel making in Scotland, although the town's Dalzell steel plate works continues to be operated by Tata Steel Europe.
In the past decade, Motherwell has to an extent recovered from the high unemployment and economic decline brought about by this collapse of heavy industry. A number of call centres and business parks such as Strathclyde Business Park have since set up in the region. Large employers include William Grant & Sons whisky distillers and the heavy equipment manufacturer Volvo Construction Equipment/Rokbak.
Motherwell has been a Fairtrade Town since January 2007.

Transport

Railway

The town has two stations, a main railway station, and. The main station runs on the West Coast Main Line from Glasgow to London and on the East Coast Main Line via Edinburgh and Newcastle, and is located next to Motherwell Shopping Centre. National train operators; Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express, pass through the main station, but not all stop there. The station is also served by Abellio ScotRail who provide direct services to Carstairs, Coatbridge Central, Cumbernauld, Dalmuir, Edinburgh, Lanark, Milngavie and North Berwick. London North Eastern Railway also provide a direct daily service between London King's Cross and Glasgow Central that stops at Motherwell. The smaller station in the Airbles suburb of Motherwell only runs on the line to via low level and ; however, it is closer to the Civic Centre and Fir Park stadium than the main-line station. That station is served by Abellio ScotRail.
Formerly, Motherwell, Wishaw and Hamilton were served by the Lanarkshire Tramways, which were connected to the very large Glasgow electric tramway system at both Cambuslang and Uddingston. At its maximum extent, the 200-mile system extended to Balloch, Milngavie, Airdrie, Larkhall, Clarkston, Barrhead, Kilbarchan and Renfrew, besides providing a dense network of lines offering pollution-free electric transport in the city centre.
The firm of Hurst Nelson was a major railway rolling stock manufacturer based in the town. The company built trains for the London Underground, and tramcars, as well as vehicles for main line railways.

Roads

Motherwell is very accessible, as it is right next to the M74 motorway beside the River Clyde. This road leads to Cumbria on the Anglo-Scottish border, where it becomes the M6. It is also about drive from the M8 motorway, between the two largest cities of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In the future, there are plans to build a dual carriageway, that will travel through the town linking the two motorways.

Bus

There are a number of different bus companies that travel through the town to various different locations. Some examples include First, JMB Travel, Whitelaws Coaches and United Coaches.
Some of the places that can be accessible by bus from Motherwell:
The three acute hospitals in Lanarkshire can also be reached by bus from Motherwell:
Since the M74 Extension has been completed, access to Glasgow Airport has become easier. The airport is approximately away from Motherwell. Edinburgh Airport is further away, at, and can be reached by the M8.

Places of interest

As well as the town's Country Park, The North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, formerly the Motherwell Heritage Centre on High Road, situated next to the town's railway station, is a building that displays the history of Motherwell from the Roman era. The building also has a viewing tower on the fifth floor, giving visitors a good view of the town and other parts of Lanarkshire, as well as of mountains as far back as Ben Lomond.
Motherwell Civic Centre is the headquarters of North Lanarkshire Council. A number of pantomimes and musicals have taken place in the concert hall and theatre within the complex. As well as this, top-level snooker was also held there.
The Dalzell House is a building that is situated to the south of the town, right on the banks of the River Clyde. This house is protected as a Category-A listed building.
One of the main attractions in Motherwell is the M & D's Amusement Park, which is situated next to Strathclyde Loch in Strathclyde Park.