Rutherglen
Rutherglen is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow District within the Strathclyde region. In 1996 the towns were reallocated to the South Lanarkshire council area.
Etymology
The name of Rutherglen, as well as its Scots name Ruglen, is perhaps ; however, the derivation may also be Welsh or Cumbric, meaning "the valley of Rydderch" – Rydderch being one of the most famous rulers associated with the Alt Clut kingdom of the early middle ages which centred on Dumbarton – but could be even older and refer to Reuther, one of the legendary kings of Scotland in the pre-Roman era.History
Rutherglen received the status of Royal Burgh in 1126 by Royal Charter from King David I of Scotland, who reigned from 1124 to 1153. It gradually diminished in importance as neighbouring Glasgow grew in power and size. The masons who built Glasgow Cathedral are thought to have lodged in Rutherglen.File:Blaeu.Atlas.of.Scotland.1654.Renfrew.Govan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Rutherglen's prominence in late mediaeval Lanarkshire is shown in the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland —Castlemilk House, Shawfield and Farme Castle are also shown
In the 14th century Walter Stewart, father of King Robert II, was granted Farme Castle. This was located close to Farme Cross in the north of Rutherglen, and stood until the 1960s.
Rutherglen Castle, located to the north of the town's Main Street today, was occupied by an English garrison during the struggle between John Balliol and Robert Bruce for the Scottish crown. It was besieged by Robert the Bruce in 1309 and eventually came into Scottish possession in 1313. It was destroyed by Regent Murray after the Battle of Langside with the stones used for other buildings, and no trace remaining.
Rutherglen was a centre of heavy industry, having a long coal mining tradition which died out by 1950. In the 18th century, barges carried coal from Rutherglen to Greenock almost every day. A small shipyard, T.B. Seath & Co., was in operation on the Clyde at the northern edge of the town for several decades. The Clydebridge Steelworks, situated between Rutherglen and Cambuslang, began operating in the 1880s and employed thousands by the mid-20th century, but the workforce dwindled to a few dozen by the 20th century and now only refines steel produced elsewhere. J & J White Chemicals in Shawfield, which was in existence from 1820 to 1967, produced more than 70 per cent of the UK's chromate products including chromic acid, chromic oxide pigment, sodium and potassium chromate and dichromate. Today there is a significant legacy of soluble chromium waste in the area.
The town seal's 19th-century Latin motto rendered by Professor George Gilbert Ramsay is "Ex fumo fama". A local saying derived from it is "Let Ruglen's lums reek briskly". There is also the deliberately difficult to pronounce alternative "Ru’glen’s wee roond red lums reek briskly".. All refer to the importance of industry and industriousness to the area.
The traditional version of the seal itself contained depictions of the Virgin and Child supported by twin angels and a fishing boat and men in the background. Along with the addition of the motto, in the 1889 official version the boat had a water design added, became more prominent and was placed in a shield at front centre, flanked by the angels with a helmet and mantling above, and the Virgin Mary above that. Over a century later, a simplified version was produced in 1999 featuring only the boat, the motto and a crown to represent the historic Royal Burgh status ; in the early 21st century, this seal often appears on the local Christmas lights. The ship and crown appear on the similar South Lanarkshire coat of arms, with cinquefoil flowers representing Hamilton and a double-headed eagle for Lanark.
Horse and cattle markets, including the regular Beltane Fair in May and St Luke's Fair in November were also common and popular until the 20th century, and are the reason for the Main Street being unusually wide.
Rutherglen is nowadays primarily a dormitory suburb of Glasgow.
Governance
Westminster
A separate constituency in the Parliament of Scotland from the late 16th century,Rutherglen was a parliamentary burgh represented in the UK Parliament as a component of Glasgow Burghs constituency from 1708 to 1832, and as a component of Kilmarnock Burghs from 1832 to 1918. In 1918, the Rutherglen constituency was created, which became Glasgow Rutherglen in 1983. In 2005, Scottish constituencies for the UK parliament were reviewed with many new seats introduced, and the town fell within the new Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency. Following another review in 2023, the Rutherglen constituency was revived.
As of October 2023, Michael Shanks of the Scottish Labour Party is the local MP; He won a by-election after the previous incumbent Margaret Ferrier, latterly an independent, was removed in a recall petition. Ferrier won the 2015 and 2019 elections representing the Scottish National Party, with Labour's Ged Killen serving a brief term from 2017 to 2019. She was the town's first female MP as well as the first for the SNP. Michael Shanks retained the seat comfortably when the revived Rutherglen constituency was first contested in 2024.
Holyrood
In 1999, the Scottish Parliamentary constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen was created, with the same boundaries as the then UK parliamentary constituency. Labour's Janis Hughes was the first elected MSP. In 2011, The constituency was redrawn and renamed simply Rutherglen. Following the 2016 elections, Clare Haughey is the MSP for Rutherglen. The defeated incumbent James Kelly was elected as a list MSP for the Glasgow region which includes Rutherglen due to the town's proximity to the city. Haughey held the seat in the 2021 election with a slightly increased majority.South Lanarkshire Council
Administratively, the historic town centre is within the Rutherglen Central and North ward of South Lanarkshire Council, which has a population of around 15,000. Taking another ward encompassing the southern parts of the town into consideration, its overall population was approximately 30,000 in 2016. With neighbouring Cambuslang's figures being very similar, the many services and amenities shared between the towns should provide for 60,000 residents, many assessed as living in economic hardship.- ''South Lanarkshire Council election results detailing local wards: 1995, 1999; 2003; 2007; 2012; 2017; 2022''
Transport
Completion of the M74 Extension in 2011 meant that there is a six-lane motorway bisecting the northern part of the town, allowing easier access to places such as Glasgow Airport and the English border. Some years after the project was completed, studies show that pollution levels on Rutherglen's densely populated Main Street were still measured consistently at dangerously high levels, despite forecasts that traffic levels on urban streets in areas served by the motorway would reduce.
Media
The local newspaper is the Rutherglen Reformer. The local community radio station is CamGlen Radio.Geography
Since being granted Royal Burgh status by King David I in the 12th century, Rutherglen has grown considerably from its origins as little more than a single street, and although growth has been hampered to some extent by the proximity of the river Clyde to the north, the encroaching Glasgow urban sprawl to the west and the boundary with neighbouring Cambuslang to the east, it now covers a much larger area than its ancient parish boundaries. Historic areas near the Main Street such as Bankhead, Burnhill and Gallowflat have changed greatly over the decades, with the Farme Cross and Shawfield areas mostly occupied by industry of various types; the expansion of the village of Burnside to share a single suburban settlement with its larger neighbour, and the construction after World War II of peripheral housing schemes on land surrounding Burnside which had been either farms or rural estates have given the town a frequently changing character.The 1922 book Rutherglen Lore indicated a deliberate intention for the historic Burgh area to be encircled to the south by residential suburbs, while all land to its north would be dedicated to industry, and that largely remains the case a century later. This focus, and the aforementioned territorial limitations, have meant housebuilding has generally been southwards on the higher ground leading to the Cathkin Braes and nowadays the town's historic core, with the majority of facilities and the highest population density, is concentrated much further north than the geographic centre. Cambuslang has a similar issue: its main street is in the far west of its territory near to the Rutherglen boundary and the river, and eastwards has been the easiest direction of its suburban expansion.
Burgh (Main Street) and Clincarthill
The Burgh area includes the old heart of the around the ancient and unusually wide, tree-lined Main Street and its environs, which have been designated a conservation area since 2008. It features several religious establishments, various pubs, shops and restaurants, historic and modern civic buildings and community facilities, all within a dense network of housing, mainly tenements. In the 2000s, a webcam focused on the everyday activities at the western end of Main Street was recognised as having among the highest number of views in the world at the time for footage of its type, despite there being no obvious reason for this popularity; the webcam is no longer in operation, although later proposals were made by local civic figures to have another installed.The dominant architectural feature of the Main Street, on its north side, is the imposing Town Hall built in 1862 to a design by Charles Wilson. Having fallen into disrepair and disuse the Category A-listed building was refurbished and extended around 2005 and today is a venue for weddings, theatrical performances and exhibitions, while still providing some local services.
Most of the other most important Rutherglen landmarks are in the immediate vicinity of the Town Hall. To its west is Rutherglen Old Parish Church, the fourth incarnation of the institution constructed in 1902 to a J. J. Burnet design. Between the church and the town hall sits the ancient graveyard , the and its Kirk Port stone entrance. The mediaeval church was said to be the location where William Wallace completed a peace treaty between England and Scotland in 1297, and where John de Menteith subsequently agreed a pact to betray Wallace in 1305, events which are marked by plaques and commemorated annually by Scottish nationalists.
On the corner of Main Street and Queen Street outside the church is a statue of Dr. James Gorman, a well-known local surgeon – this was erected in 1901 by public subscription due to his great standing in the area for his actions, including treating the injured after mining disasters. To the rear of the church is a Masonic Hall dating from 1897 and built to replace older premises on Cathcart Road – the group can trace their origins locally back to the 1760s.
To the immediate east of the Town Hall is the burgh's public library constructed in 1907 to an Edwardian design by Sinclair & Ballantine. A Carnegie library, its main hall to the rear features a stained-glass dome in the roof and oak paneling in the interior. Its first librarian, who also lived in the upper floor, was William Ross Shearer, author of the 1922 book Rutherglen Lore which would come to be considered one of the most important references for the town's long history. The building was refurbished in the early 1990s and re-opened once again in 2010 following a further extensive refurbishment which included an expansion into the Post Office section. On the wide pavement outside the library is a replica of the town's mercat cross, erected in 1926 as part of Rutherglen's octo-centenary celebrations, and in memory of a former provost of the burgh. It was earlier the site of the old 'Tollbooth and Gaol' which was constructed in the 1760s and demolished in the 1900s.
Behind the library on King Street is the premises of the local branch of The Salvation Army whose brass band play regularly at the Old Parish Church and who have had a presence in the town since the 1880s; their hall stands roughly on the site of the mediaeval Rutherglen Castle, and replaced a wooden building initially used by the Rechabite Society. The local fire brigade was also based nearby, but since 1970 the local station has been at Cambuslang with other stations fairly close at Polmadie and Castlemilk.
Directly across from the Town Hall is, the current main building of which dates from 1940, although the congregation was established in 1851 and there has been a documented Catholic presence in the local area since the 6th century. Behind the church are its older halls, previously serving as a school, which was rebuilt internally after a major fire in 2004. To the west of the church, hemmed in by tenements is the 1930s Vogue Cinema, which is the only surviving building of its type in the town, although it was converted to a bingo hall in the 1970s.
Other buildings of note include the spire of Rutherglen East Parish Church at Rutherglen Cross – the junction of Main Street, Farmeloan Road and Stonelaw Road – which was originally built in 1872 for a Reformed Presbyterian congregation, closed in 1981 and was converted into the 'Aspire Business Centre' in 2003. Its church halls became a facility used by local community organisations. After a new eastern section of Main Street was set out with the removal of old cottages beside the church, in 1914 a cinema, 'The Pavilion' was constructed there to a design by John Fairweather; later being refurbished in 1930 as 'Green’s Picturedrome', it closed in 1959 although was not demolished until the 1980s. A further small church was also built opposite the cinema; in the wake of the congregation moving on to new premises on Johnstone Drive, its halls were occupied from the late 1930s by the Rutherglen Repertory Theatre, established by Glaswegian actress Molly Urquhart who set up in the town for no particular reason apart from the venue being available. The halls are now apartments and the theatre company have their premises a few blocks south on Hamilton Road, with many of their performances held at the renovated Town Hall.
Behind the East Church on King Street, once the location of one of the local Stonelaw coal mines in the 19th century, is the Rutherglen police station which was built in the mid-1950s; prior to this the local force, established as the Rutherglen Special Constabulary in 1848, had their premises and cells in the Tollbooth followed by the new Town Hall. The police station is adjacent to the former district Court and museum and was overlooked to the south by 'Royal Burgh House', an office block built in 1998, originally occupied by the local authority which subsequently relocated the services to East Kilbride and Cambuslang before the building was largely destroyed by a fire in 2022.
Further west between King Street and High Street, the ornate Rutherglen Evangelistic Institute was completed in 1887 with input from local businessmen John White and Daniel Rodger and played a significant role in supporting local members in military service during World War I, but had fallen out of use and been demolished by the 1940s, with only the later housekeeper's residence still remaining and modern apartments occupying the rest of the site; however, the adjacent three-storey Burgh Primary School building has been retained and was converted to a business centre. Across the street to the north is Glenburgh Nursery Centre, a modern dedicated council childcare facility for the town centre.
In 2010, Burgh Primary moved from their 1901 building to new premises a few blocks east, still in the heart of town on Victoria Street, – this site was previously the location of the Macdonald School: built 1865, used in its later years as an annex for Rutherglen Academy, then as a nursery and community centre, demolished in the 2000s. The new school's mini sports pitch was once the site of the Rutherglen United Presbyterian Church from 1836 until the 1910s while on the opposite side of King Street sits the current Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster premises, next to a wynd leading to Main Street which has existed for several centuries.
The Mitchell Arcade indoor shopping precinct on the south side of Main Street, built in the early 1970s in place of a block of older tenements on Mitchell Street and Stonelaw Road and a small cinema was given a makeover in 2014 and renamed the Rutherglen Exchange Shopping Centre; it has a rooftop car park and used to feature a daily market. A branch of Boots Chemist occupied a corner site both in the older buildings at Rutherglen Cross and when these were replaced, having a presence at the same location in the town for over a century. The land to the east on Stonelaw Road stood unused for several years until the local council housing office was constructed there in the 1990s, while as of 2020 the land across the road once occupied by the 'Electric Palace Cinema' has never been built upon.
A short distance to the west of the Arcade, the contemporary Greenhill Court housing complex similarly replaced a street of tenements at Regent Street, as well as the Royal Burgh Bakery, home to Paterson's bakers from 1895 until 1971 when the factory became outdated and production moved to Livingston.
At what is now the western end of Main Street, there are two public houses on its northern side; the 'Vogue Bar' has been present for some decades and is known as a base for local Celtic F.C. supporters; the 'Picture House' is a 2009 expansion of the equally venerable Linn O Dee establishment, taking inspiration for its name from another disappeared cinema, the 'Rio', which was demolished in 1971 to make way for the bypass. This extensive work on the road network in this part of the town also caused the destruction of the town's medical clinic and many other older residential and commercial buildings, and physically disconnected the war memorial and a church from the heart of the burgh. Most of the pubs in Rutherglen are on the north side of the Main Street and to its west, a legacy of the Temperance Act 1913 when the south side of the street and other parts were declared 'dry areas' following local referendums on the issue. The Act was repealed in the 1970s, but it still drew comment in local media in 2012 when a textiles shop on the south side of Main Street opposite the Vogue and Picture House was to be converted into a new Wetherspoons pub.
There is a high concentration of licensed premises in the vicinity, several with a continuous presence on the same spot since the mid-19th century and others which have been forced to relocate but carry the traditions of earlier versions including the three aforementioned hostelries on Main Street plus 'The Sportsman' on Glasgow Road, 'The Millcroft' and 'Wallace Bar' on the old section of Mill Street and the 'Cathkin Inn' two blocks further south, 'Harleys Sky Bar', 'Gormans' and 'The Burgh Bar' around Queen Street, 'Chapmans' at Rutherglen Cross and the 'Victoria Bar' a short distance further north, plus three dedicated off-sales and additional licensed grocers, and several other premises which were converted from bars to other uses in the early-21st century. As well as the clustering of pubs being explained by historic licensing arrangements, the proximity of Hampden Park and Celtic Park football stadiums also brings some occasional additional custom to the area, which to some extent also accounts for a high number of bookmakers around the Main Street.
While redevelopment saw many of central Rutherglen's older tenements swept away, many of the others also fell into disrepair until work to maintain them was carried out by Rutherglen Housing Action Group, established in 1979. This later became the Rutherglen and Cambuslang Housing Association, based at the Aspire Centre and managing hundreds of properties in the area, although some like Greenhill Court are still managed directly by the local authority. Despite new projects being undertaken regularly by the organisation in the limited space available in the area, the shortage of homes available for rent became a major issue locally going into the 21st century.
The town's current railway station opened in 1979 is the fourth such provision in the immediate area, with the first - on what are now the West Coast Main Line tracks which no longer offer a stop in Rutherglen - accessed from either side of Farmeloan Road. The third version was further west and accessed off Queen Street; it was soon extended in 1896 to include the Glasgow Central Railway line which increased the total number of platforms on various lines to twelve, but this gradually reduced until 1964 when the Beeching cuts resulted in the Glasgow Central extension closing, with only two at Queen Street remaining. On the opening of the Argyle Line and new station in 1979 the old station was abandoned, although its crumbling platforms are still visible and its entrance stairway and walkway is linked to its replacement.
Located on an island platform and now directly under the elevated M74 motorway, the current station is connected to the Burgh streets via a covered pedestrian overbridge, the main entrance to which on Victoria Street was decorated with murals themed on the history of the town in 2018. Beside this mural to the west is Reuther Hall, a community centre used by a retired ladies group among others, while to the east is the building previously used as the town Employment Exchange - it has been converted into business use, as has the Youth Employment Exchange on King Street, while the local JobCentre service is now based further south at Greenhill Road.