Auchinloch

Auchinloch
—  village  —
Map of Auchinloch in 1923
Coordinates:
Country Scotland
Council North Lanarkshire

Auchinloch (Gaelic: Achadh an Locha) is a village in North Lanarkshire, near Lenzie in Scotland. The village's name - "Field of the Loch" - derives from its proximity to a small loch locally called the "Gadloch". Industrialization came in the 1880s, with the opening of the Lumloch Colliery, and then in the 1920s Wester Auchengeich Colliery. The latter closed in 1968.

Just outside Auchinloch is the Wallace Well, also Cardyke Farm Shelter, a branch of Cats Protection.

Contents

The Village

Auchinloch is home to the school, Auchinloch Primary,[1] the present school building dates to the 1930s whilst the original 19th century school building still remains to the east of the village and now serves as the village hall. There is also a small corner shop, where the Asian shopkeeper Gurmit Basra was found murdered on 29 December, 1999.[2] The shop has since re-opened. Auchinloch Community Centre lies at the top of the village, near the local pub, the Golden Pheasant. There is also a Bowling Green in the village.

Auchengeich mining disaster

In September 1959, 47 men lost their lives in a coal mine near the village of Auchengeich when a faulty fan purifying the air in the colliery went on fire due to an electrical fault. The men were in bogies travelling to the coal face to start work, and due to the intense smoke they were abandoned just a few hundred yards from safety. The mine was eventually flooded to put out the fire; there was only one survivor from the crews. The Mining accident was one of the worst within the UK in the 20th century, widowing 41 women and leaving 76 children without a father.[3]

Notable residents

Pop Diva Mary Kiani chose Auchinloch as her home before moving back to London in 1999, STV Announcer and Radio presenter Cameron McKenna now lives in the village after relocating with his partner from the Eastend of Glasgow.[4]

References

External links

See also