| Coatbridge | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid a' Chòta | |
| Scots: Coatbrig[1] | |
Coatbridge Coat of Arms. |
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Coatbridge
Coatbridge shown within North Lanarkshire |
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| Area | 6.818 sq mi (17.66 km2) |
|---|---|
| Population | 41,170 (2001 Census) |
| - Density | 6,038 /sq mi (2,331 /km2) |
| OS grid reference | NS730651 |
| - Edinburgh | 33 mi (53 km) ENE |
| - London | 341 mi (549 km) SSE |
| Council area | North Lanarkshire |
| Lieutenancy area | Lanarkshire |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | COATBRIDGE |
| Postcode district | ML5 |
| Dialling code | 01236 |
| Police | Strathclyde |
| Fire | Strathclyde |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill |
| Scottish Parliament | Coatbridge and Chryston |
| Central Scotland | |
| List of places: UK • Scotland • | |
Coatbridge (Scots: Coatbrig, Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era. Foundations of the town can be traced back to the 12th century when a Royal Charter was granted to the Monks of Newbattle Abbey by King Malcolm IV. Coatbridge, along with its neighbour Airdrie, forms the area known as the Monklands.
It was during the last years of the 18th century that the area developed from a loose collection of hamlets into the town of Coatbridge. The town's development and growth have been intimately connected with the technological advances of the industrial revolution, and in particular with the hot blast process. Coatbridge was a major Scottish centre for iron works and coal mining during the 19th century and in this period Coatbridge was described as 'the industrial heartland of Scotland'[2] and the 'Iron Burgh'.
Coatbridge also had a notorious reputation for air pollution and the worst excesses of industry. By the time of the 1920s however coal seams were exhausted and the iron industry in Coatbridge was in rapid terminal decline. After the Great Depression the Gartsherrie ironwork was the last remaining iron works in the town. One publication has commented that in modern day Coatbridge 'coal, iron and steel have all been consigned to the heritage scrap heap'.[3]
Coatbridge today is best described as a working class town anchored to Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. Coatbridge has also been described as 'uniquely populated largely by people of Irish descent'.[4]
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There are various explanations for the origin of the town's name. The place name Coatbridge first appears on a number of 19th century maps, although Roy's 1750 map notes 'Cottbrig' as a hamlet in the Old Monkland area. One source states 'Coatbridge' is either derived from the Middle English 'cote' (cottage) or from the Old Welsh 'coed' meaning 'wood'.[5]
An alternate explanation is that from around the 13th century the local area was owned by the Colt family, sometimes known as Coats, and their estate generated place-names such as Coatbridge, Coatdyke, Coathill and Coatbank.[6] Drummond and Smith suggest the name derives from the granting of land to Ranulphus le Colt around the time of the 12th century.[7]
Settlement of the Coatbridge area dates back 3000 years to the Mesolithic Age.[8] A circle of Bronze Age stone coffins was found on the Drumpellier estate in 1852.[9] A number of other Bronze Age urns and relics have been found in Coatbridge.[10] An Iron Age wood and thatch crannóg dwelling was sited in the Loch at the present day Drumpellier Country Park. Dependant upon the water level in the loch, the remains can still be seen today.[11]
Roman coins have been unearthed in Coatbridge,[12] and there are the remains of a Roman road on the fringes of the town near the M8 motorway.[13]
The 'Monklands' area inherited its name after the area was granted to the Cistercian monks of Newbattle Abbey[14] by King Malcolm IV in 1162. 1n 1323 the Monklands name appeared for the first time on Stewards’ charter.[15] The Monks mined coal and farmed the land until the time of the reformation when the land was taken from them and given to private landowners. In 1641 the parish of Monklands was divided between New Monkland (present day Airdrie) and Old Monkland (present day Coatbridge).[16] In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army seized Coatbridge from government troops on their march to Edinburgh in an action described as the 'Canter of Coatbridge'.[5] Coatbridge was described in the 1799 Statistical Account as an 'immense garden' with 'extensive orchards', 'luxurious crops' where 'rivers abound with salmon'.[17]
The Monkland Canal was constructed at the end of the 18th century initially to transport coal to Glasgow from the rich local deposits. The invention of the hot blast furnace process in 1828 meant that Coatbridge's ironstone deposits could be exploited to the maximum by the canal link and hot blast process.[18] The new advances meant that iron could be produced with two thirds less fuel.[19] By the mid 19th century there were numerous hot blast furnaces in operation in Coatbridge.
The prosperous industry which had sprung up around the new iron industry required vast numbers of largely unskilled workers to mine ironstone and work in the blast furnace plants. Coatbridge therefore became a popular destination for vast numbers of Irish (especially from County Donegal in Ulster) arriving in Scotland. The iron bars and plates produced in Coatbridge iron works were the raw materials needed throughout the British Empire for railways, construction, bridge building and shipbuilding. One example of uses Coatbridge’ iron was put to included armour plating for British ships fighting in the Crimean War.[20]
Over the course of the following forty years the population of Coatbridge grew by 600%.[21] The character of the Coatbridge area changed from a rural, Presbyterian landscape of small hamlets and farmhouses into a crowded, polluted, Irish Catholic industrial town. In 1840, The Rev. William Park wrote that:
| “ | 'The population of this parish is at present advancing at an amazing rate, and this propensity is entirely owing to the local coal and iron trade, stimulated by the discovery of the black band of ironstone and the method of fusing iron by hot blast. New villages are springing up almost every month, and it is impossible to keep place with the march of prosperity and the increase of the population.' | ” |
One contemporary observer at this time noted that Coatbridge is 'not famous for its sylvan beauties of its charming scenery' and 'offers the visitor no inducements to loiter long'. However, 'a visit to the large Gartsherrie works is one of the sights of a lifetime'.[23] Most of the town's population lived in tight rows of terraced houses built under the shadow of the iron works. These homes were often owned by their employers. Living conditions for most were appalling, tuberculosis was rife.[24]
For a fortunate few though fortunes could be won 'with a rapidity only equalled by the princely gains of some of the adventurers who accompanied Pizarro to Peru', noted one observer.[16] Among the most notable success stories were the six sons of Coatbridge farmer Alexander Baird. The Baird family had become involved in coal mining but opened an iron foundry in order to exploit the new hot blast process of iron smelting invented by James Beaumont Neilson. The Baird’s subsequently constructed numerous iron foundries in Coatbridge including the famous Gartsherrie iron works.[25] The waste heap or 'bing' from the Baird's Gartsherrie works was said to be as large as the great pyramid in Egypt. One son, James Baird, was responsible for erecting sixteen blast-furnaces in Coatbridge between 1830 and 1842.[26] Each of the six sons of Alexander Baird was reputed to have become a millionaire.[16]
The town was vividly described by Robert Baird in 1845:[25]
| “ | 'There is no worse place out of hell than that neighbourhood. At night the groups of blast furnaces on all sides might be imagined to be blazing volcanoes at most of which smelting is continued on Sundays and weekdays, day and night, without intermission. From the town comes a continual row of heavy machinery: this and the pounding of many steam hammers seemed to make even the very ground vibrate under ones feet. Fire, smoke and soot with the roar and rattle of machinery are its leading characteristics; the flames of its furnaces cast on the midnight sky a glow as if of some vast conflagration. Dense clouds of black smoke roll over it incessantly and impart to all buildings a peculiarly dingy aspect. A coat of black dust overlies everything'. | ” |
In the 19th century the Baird family wielded a pervasive influence over Coatbridge. They were responsible for the design of the lay out of present day Coatbridge town centre. The land for the Town Hall and the land which later came to form Dunbeth Park was gifted to the town by the Bairds. Gartsherrie church was built by the Baird family. The Bairds donated the site on the Main Street for the erection of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. However, they also used patronage of the Orange Order to try and undermine the local trade union movement.[28]
By the end of the 19th century the once plentiful Monklands ironstone deposits had been largely exhausted by 1885.[25] It became increasing expensive to produce iron in Coatbridge as raw materials had to be imported from as far afield as Spain. The growth of the steel industry (in nearby Motherwell) had also led to a start of a decline in demand for the pig iron Coatbridge produced. Living conditions remained grim. In the 1920s Lloyd George's 'Coal and Power' report described the living conditions in the Rosehall area of Coatbridge:
| “ | '...on the outskirts of Coatbridge, I found nearly the worst of all. In each of these single rooms lives a miners’ family. There is no pantry. The coal is kept under the bed. Water has to be obtained from a standpipe outside, used by a number of houses. Conspicuously huddled together in the yards are filthy huts for sanitary purposes.' | ” |
George Orwell's book The Road to Wigan Pier was illustrated by a photograph of homes in the Rosehall area of Coatbridge.[30] In 1934 there was an exodus to Corby in England when the local Union Plant relocated. This had the effect of a hammer blow impact on the town’s iron industry and ushered in the end of serious iron production. The decline of the Clydeside shipbuilding industry in the 1950s meant the demand for iron finally collapsed.[31] A legacy of 'devastating'[32] unemployment, appalling housing conditions and some of the worst overcrowding in Scotland left its stamp on the Coatbridge of the early 1930s.[33] As late as 1936 Coatbridge was the most overcrowded place in Scotland. In the 1930s and 1950s however massive programmes of state-sponsored house building saw thousands of new homes built in Coatbridge and some of the worst examples of slum housing were cleared away. By the early 1980s 85% of homes in Coatbridge were part of local authority housing stock.[34] The last of the blast furnaces, William Baird’s famous Gartsherrie works, closed in 1967.[25]
Since the 1970s there have been various initiatives to attempt to regenerate Coatbridge. Urban Aid grants, European Union grants and, more recently, Social Inclusion Partnership's have attempted to breathe new life into Coatbridge. Despite these efforts the town's population has continued to fall and in recent years the town has been dubbed the 'most dismal in Scotland'.[35]
| Gartcosh | Glenboig, Cumbernauld | Glenmavis | ||
| Glasgow | Airdrie, Edinburgh | |||
| Coatbridge | ||||
| Uddingston, Motherwell | Bellshill | Calderbank |
At (55.861°, -4.047°), Coatbridge is situated in Scotland's Central Lowlands. The town lies 288 feet (88 m) above sea level, 9 miles (14.5 km) east of Glasgow, 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Cumbernauld and 2 miles (3 km) west of Airdrie. Although Coatbridge has no major river running through it, the North Calder Water runs east-west to the south and the now defunct Monkland Canal used to run straight through the centre of the town toward Glasgow. The canal route through Coatbridge can still be seen today. There are also several smaller burns which run through Coatbridge, most of which drain to the North Calder Water. Coatbridge has four significant public parks. Dunbeth park, West End park, Whifflet park and Drumpellier Country park. Woodend and Witchwood Loch are situated on the north-west edge of Coatbridge.
The topography of Coatbridge was an important feature in the towns development during the industrial revolution. Coatbridge rests 60 metres below the ‘Slamannan plateau’ which neighbouring Airdrie sits on the edge of. The low lying flat ground of Coatbridge was a vital factor in the siting of the towns’ blast furnaces and the Monkland Canal route. Although Airdrie was an already established town and had local supplies of ironstone, the Monkland Canal link did not extend into Airdrie because of its higher elevation.[36] The Clyde Valley plan of 1949 described Coatbridge as 'situated over a flooded coalfield'.[37] Tenement buildings in Coatbridge were not built to the same level as Glasgow tenements due to danger of local subsidence from centuries of local mining.[38]
Dunbeth hill where the present local authority municipal buildings stand is a wedge of rock which was probably squeezed upwards by the force of two (now-extinct) fault lines. There are the remains of spreads of glacial sands along the crest of Drumpellier, the west bank of Gartsherrie Burn and along modern day Bank Street. Kirkwood, Kirkshaws and Shawhead sit on a sandstone capped ridge looking south over the Clyde Valley. The vital Coatbridge black band coal field extended from Langloan to beyond the eastern edge of the town.[20]
Like much of the British Isles, Coatbridge experiences a temperate maritime climate with relatively cool summers and mild winters. The prevailing wind is from the west. Regular but generally light precipitation occurs throughout the year.
Coatbridge is the home of 'Scotland's Noisiest Museum', Summerlee Heritage Park, which contains an insight into the life in industrial Coatbridge. A row of 1900-1960's cottages, a working tram line and a real coal mine can all be experienced on site. The park is situated on the remains of one of Coatbridge's historic blast furnaces. In recent years there has been something of a cultural renaissance in the town, largely rooted in the St. Patrick's Day Festival.
Janet Hamilton, the nineteenth century poet and essayist, died in Langloan in 1873. Present-day writers Anne Donovan (Orange prize winner), Brian Conaghan, whose first novel The Boy Who Made it Rain was published in June 2011, and award-winning author Des Dillon[40] are all from Coatbridge. Coatbridge has regularly featured in Des Dillon's work. Two of his books about Coatbridge have been turned into plays.[41]
Mark Millar is a Coatbridge comic book writer whose Wanted comic book series has been translated into a feature film starring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. Coatbridge born Dame Laurentia McLachlan was the Benedictine abbess of the Stanbrook Community whose correspondence with George Bernard Shaw and Sydney Cockerell was the subject of the film The Best of Friends.[42] Coatbridge is also home to the annual Deep Fried Film Festival. Local filmmakers Duncan and Wilma Finnigan have been described by The List as 'the John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands of Coatbridge'.[43]
Thomas McAleese (alias Dean Ford) was the lead singer of The Marmalade who had a U.K. number one single in 1969 with a cover of The Beatles' 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da'. Coatbridge brothers Greg Kane and Pat Kane are the band Hue and Cry. Coatbridge born Alan Frew is the ex-pat lead singer of Canadian group Glass Tiger. Cha Burns (deceased), Jimme O'Neill and JJ Gilmour of The Silencers are from Coatbridge. Coatbridge sisters Fran and Anna were a famous duo on the Scottish traditional music scene.
The only way is coatbridge is a facebook page created by local man Stephen Shaw in April 2011. The page was primarily created as a mock protest to "The only way is Essex" but soon became a place for people of the town to share memories. Now it has locally taken off with interest from the local media and with almost 6000 members to date, the page has became an online community. Stephen, with the help of a committee and fellow admin Tony Rossetti brought the town together to raise money for a young local boy who needed a life changing operation in America. The page is going from strength to strength with its creator and fellow adminlooking to change the perception of the town.
Coatbridge is especially noted for its historical links with Ireland. This is largely due to large scale immigration into the town from Ulster (especially from County Donegal) in the 19th century and throughout most of the 20th century. Indeed, the town has been called 'little Ireland'.[44][45][46] Within the town there are a number of Irish dance schools, Irish language classes, a Gaelic football team (Sands McSwiney), Gaelic Football Summer School, a branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (Music and Musicians of Ireland) and an Irish genealogy project.
The most obvious manifestation of these links can be seen in the annual St. Patrick's Day Festival. The festival is sponsored by the Irish Government and Guinness. The festival currently runs for over a fortnight and includes lectures, film shows, dance/Gaelic football competitions and music performances. The festival is the largest Irish celebration in Scotland.[47][48][49]
The Coatbridge accent has been categorised as making less use of the Scots tongue and exhibiting a tendency to stress the 'a' vowel differently from general Scots usage. Examples of this are seen the pronunciation of the words stair (sterr), hair (herr), fair (ferr) and chair (cherr). This different enunciation has been attributed to the impact of successive influxes of Ulster Catholic immigrants into Coatbridge.[50][51]
Coatbridge's local football team are Albion Rovers. Albion Rovers play in the Scottish second division, and Cliftonhill is where they play their home games. The 'wee rovers' were founded in 1882 when two local Coatbridge clubs, Rovers and Albion, amalgamated to form the club bearing the current name.[52] The clubs greatest success came in 1920 when they reached the final of the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park. Noted Albion Rovers players from the past have included Jock Stein, Bernie Slaven and Tony Green. Former Celtic players John Hughes, John McNamee, Gerry Creaney and Peter Grant are all from Coatbridge. Current Scottish internationalist Chris Iwelumo was born in Coatbridge.
Drumpellier Cricket Club has been in continuous existence for around 150 years and the club have a ground in the Drumpellier area.
Speedway racing also took part in the town, using the Albion Rovers FC ground. The Edinburgh Monarchs rode there in 1968-69 (as the Coatbridge Monarchs) after losing their track at Meadowbank Stadium to the developers for the 1970 Commonwealth Games.[53] Glasgow Tigers moved from Hampden Park to Coatbridge in 1973, and stayed there until June 1977, when they were forced out for the introduction of greyhound racing.[54]
Coatbridge was the home of former boxer Bert Gilroy, Scotland's longest-reigning champion. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles, California, in 2006. Coatbridge is also home to the current WBO World Super-Featherweight Champion Ricky Burns. Walter Donaldson, former World Snooker champion, also hailed from Coatbridge.[55]
There are 2 golf courses: the municipal course bordering Drumpellier Country Park and the nearby private member's club Drumpellier Golf Course. Clare Queen, Scotland's number one female golfer on the women's European tour, is from Coatbridge.[56]
Coatbridge was given burgh status in 1885. The arms have a black field and on it a flaming tower to represent a blast furnace and Coatbridge's industrial tradition. The crest of the demi-monk holds a stone in his left hand. The stone relates to the parish of Monklands being split into its two parts (Old and New Monkland) and to legend of the 'aul' Kirk stane'.[57] The legend of the 'aul' Kirk stane' is that a pilgrim undertaking a penance from Glasgow carried a stone in the direction of Monklands. When he could carry the stone no further (or in another version of the legend, when an angel spoke to him) he laid the stone down. It was where the stone came to rest that he was to build a church. The church is the present day Old Monkland Kirk. To this day the stone can still be seen.[23]
The Latin motto 'Laborare est orare' translates as 'to work is to pray', which originates in the writings of St. Benedict and is commonly associated with the Cistercian Order whose monks came to Monklands in the 12th century.[14]
Coatbridge is represented by three tiers of elected government. North Lanarkshire Council, the unitary local authority for Coatbridge, is based at Motherwell, and is the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance. The Scottish Parliament is responsible for devolved matters such as education, health and justice,[58] while reserved matters are dealt with by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Up until 1975, Coatbridge had its own Burgh Council. Between 1975 and 1996, Coatbridge was part of Monklands District Council and Strathclyde Regional Council. During the by-election campaign in Monklands East of 1994, there were accusations[59] of sectarianism and nepotism in favour of Coatbridge over neighbouring Airdrie by Monklands District Council. See Monklandsgate and Monklands East by-election, 1994. The fact that all 17 Labour councillors were Roman Catholic led to Coatbridge being seen as a 'Catholic town'. Subsequent inquiries showed no evidence of sectarianism, but allegations of nepotism were shown to be true.[60]
Coatbridge is presently part of the burgh constituency of Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Before the constituency's creation in 2005, Coatbridge lay in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency. Tom Clarke[61] of the Scottish Labour Party has been the MP since 1982 and currently holds the record for the largest UK parliamentary majority with 19,519.[62] For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Coatbridge forms part of the Coatbridge and Cryston constituency, which is represented by Elaine Smith MSP,[63] also Labour. Coatbridge is further represented by seven regional MSPs from the Central Scotland electoral region.[64] A small part of the eastern fringes of the town forms part of the Airdrie and Shotts constituency.
Notable modern politicians from Coatbridge are The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Liddell, a former M.P. who was formerly both Secretary of State for Scotland and Britain's High Commissioner in Australia, and The Rt. Hon. The Lord Reid, also a former M.P. who was the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Home Secretary. Lord Reid is currently the Chairman of Celtic F.C..
| Coatbridge | North Lanarkshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total population | 41,170 | 321,067 | 5,062,011 |
| Foreign born | 1.3% | 1.7% | 3.8% |
| Over 75 years old | 6.1% | 5.6% | 7.1% |
| Unemployed | 5.3% | 4.5% | 4.0% |
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the census locality of Coatbridge had a total resident population of 41,170, or 13% of the total of North Lanarkshire. This figure, combined with an area of 6.818 square miles (17.7 km2),[69] provides Coatbridge with a population density figure of 6,038 inhabitants per square mile (2,331 /km2).
| Year | Population figure |
|---|---|
| 1755 | 1,813 |
| 1831 | 9,580 |
| 1851 | 27,333 |
| 1901 | 36,991 |
| 1911 | 43,286 |
| 1921 | 43,909 |
| 1931 | 43,056 |
| 1951 | 47,685 |
| 1961 | 54,262 |
| 1971 | 51,493 |
| 1981 | 48,445 |
| 2001 | 41,170 |
The median age of males and females living in Coatbridge was 35 and 38 years respectively, compared to 37 and 39 years for those in the whole of Scotland.[65] Thirty four percent were married, 6.1% were cohabiting couples, 14.7% were lone parent families and 32.5% of households were made up of individuals.[72]
The place of birth of the town's residents was as follows: 98.7% United Kingdom (including 96% from Scotland), 0.32% Republic of Ireland, 0.30% from other European Union countries, and 0.72% from elsewhere in the world.[65] The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 39.3% in full-time employment, 9.4% in part-time employment, 3.6% self-employed, 5.3% unemployed, 2.5% students with jobs, 3.2% students without jobs, 13.4% retired, 5.7% looking after home or family, 12.0% permanently sick or disabled, and 5.7% economically inactive for other reasons.[67] Compared with the average demography of Scotland, Coatbridge has low proportions of people born outside the United Kingdom, and people over 75 years of age.[65]
During the 19th century, Irish people began to arrive in large numbers in Coatbridge. The 1851 census recorded that the Irish constituted 35.8% of the local population. Although while a significant proportion of these emigrants were Protestant, the majority were Catholic. By 1901, the percentage of Irish-born people in Coatbridge had fallen to around 15%, but remained the highest of all the major towns in Scotland.[73] In the 2001 census Irish ethnicity was recorded at just over 1%, although just over half the population claimed their religious denomination as Roman Catholicism. In 1985, 56% of the population of Coatbridge were Roman Catholic.[44]
In 2006, Coatbridge (along with Port Glasgow and Clydebank) was voted 'the least Scottish town in Scotland' due to having the highest percentage of Irish names in the country. Reportedly more than 28% of adults in Coatbridge had names with Irish origins.[74][75]
Other immigrants to Coatbridge have included in 1880s a small number Lithuanians.[76] In 1905, part of a 'wave' of immigrants from Monte Cassino in Italy settled in Coatbridge. A small number of Polish people had stayed in Coatbridge after a Polish tank regiment was stationed in the town during WWII. The 1960 Coatbridge town plan forecast the population to reach 76,000 by 1990.[77]
One local author argued that despite the population apparently remaining relatively static during the 1970s, Coatbridge's population has declined by around 15,000 due to emigration.
Present day Coatbridge is the site of Scotland's inland container base. Coatbridge was chosen as the site in part due to the proximity of various rail and motorway networks.[25] Makers of PA systems and loudspeakers Tannoy Ltd. are headquartered in Coatbridge. Lees Foods Plc is a local confectionery and bakery products company and are the manufacturers of the Lees macaroon bar. William Lawson’s Scotch Whisky distillery has been located in Coatbridge since 1967.[78] Coatbridge was home to one of the first B&Q Depots, which was closed in 2006 and moved to the new retail park.
In terms of housing, property prices in Coatbridge have undergone rapid growth in recent years. In 2005, house prices rose by 35%, reportedly the largest such increase in Scotland.[79]
The built environment around Coatbridge's town centre is characterised by its mixture of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sandstone buildings and late twentieth-century precast concrete shops. The leafy Blairhill and Dunbeth conservation areas to the west and north of the town centre comprise detached, semi-detached and terraced sandstone residential buildings. The bulk of the remaining surrounding areas consist of various twentieth-century local authority housing buildings. Several high rise flats dominate the skyline. Due to the decline of industries, several private housing estates have been built on reclaimed land.
In 2007 Coatbridge was awarded Prospect architecture magazine’s carbuncle award for being the ‘most dismal town in Scotland’.[80] The town was also recently described by Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle as 'like Bladerunner... without the special effects'.[81]
Drumpellier Country Park is set around Woodend Loch. There are extensive woodlands, a visitor centre and a butterfly house. Monkland Canal runs through a section of the park. The Time Capsule is a multi-purpose leisure centre containing a swimming pool, an adventure pool set in a prehistoric environment, an ice skating facility, suana/steam room and a sports complex with gym halls and other facilities. The Showcase Leisure Park contains a 12-screen cinema, a 10-pin bowling complex and numerous restaurants.
Architecturally noteworthy landmarks in Coatbridge include:
The Monkland Canal (completed 1791[86]) was used in the 19th and 20th century to transport coal and iron to Glasgow. The town centre section of the canal was interred in pipe between Sikeside and Blair Road in the mid 1970s.[25] Some sections of the Monkland Canal can still be seen today between Townhead and Drumpellier. Coatbridge is adjacent to the M8 and M73 motorways. The M74 motorway is also a short drive away. The major cities of Edinburgh, Stirling and Glasgow are all within commuting distance.
Due to the number of rail lines running through Coatbridge it was once dubbed the 'Crewe of the North'.[87] There are six railway stations on the four railway lines that bisect the town: Motherwell-Cumbernauld Line; Argyle Line; Whifflet Line; and North Clyde Line. The six stations within Coatbridge and on these lines are: Blairhill; Coatbridge Central; Coatbridge Sunnyside; Coatdyke; Kirkwood; and Whifflet. Coatbridge has had additional passenger stations, such as Langloan and Calder Station (Greenend). However these stations have however been closed for many years. A bus transit terminus is situated along both sides of the South Circular Road.
The earliest map showing Coatbridge is by Timothy Pont published in Johan Blaeu's Nether warde of clyds-dail (1654). The districts of Dunpelder, Gartshary, Kangloan, Kirkwood, Kirkshawes, Wheatflet are all evident.[88]
The present day neighbourhoods of Coatbridge are Barrowfield, Blairhill, Brownshill, Carnbroe, Cliftonville, Cliftonhill, Coatbank, Coatdyke (actually part of Airdrie [89][90]), Cuparhead, Drumpellier, Dunbeth, Dundyvan, Espieside, Gartsherrie, Greenhill, Greenend, Kirkshaws, Kirkwood, Langloan, Old Monkland, Rosehall, Shawhead, Sikeside, Summerlee, Sunnyside, Townhead and Whifflet. Victoria Park is a relatively new area close the town centre which was built on a brownfield site once occupied by heavy industry. The Blairhill and Dunbeth neighbourhoods are part of the Blairhill and Dunbeth conservation area.[91]
Whitelaw is the area which the town centre is in but is a term which has not been used for many years. The fountain which is situated at the town centre on the corner of main street/south circular road is officially called the Whitelaw Fountain.
Coatbridge College was built as Scotland’s first college in the late 19th century. As Coatbridge has moved away from the traditional heavy industries the teaching focus has shifted from traditional industry courses towards commerce, care and the arts.
St. Ambrose, St. Andrew's and Coatbridge High are the three mainstream secondary schools serving Coatbridge. St. Ambrose was the subject of an HMI follow-up assessment visit in January 2009.[92] The sports journalist, broadcaster and erstwhile Brain of Britain Bob Crampsey was formerly headmaster of St Ambrose High School. Singer and television presenter Michelle McManus and musician Tony Donaldson are former pupils of the school.
Coatbridge has several special needs school's including Pentland School (Primary school), Portland High School and Willowbank School (High School).
Coatbridge forms part of the Western water and sewerage regions of Scotland. Waste management is provided by the North Lanarkshire local authority. Water supplies are provided by Scottish Water, a government-owned corporation of the Scottish Government. Coatbridge's Distribution Network Operator for electricity is Scottish Power.[93] Coatbridge is served by Monklands Hospital, sited on the Airdrie side of the Coatbridge/Airdrie border. The NHS board is NHS Lanarkshire. Strathclyde Fire and Rescue is the statutory fire and rescue service which operates in Coatbridge. Policing in Coatbridge is provided by the Strathclyde Police force, N-Division. The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body in Scotland, has direct operational responsibilities, such as supporting (and in some cases running) local bus services, and managing integrated ticketing in Coatbridge and other areas from the former Strathclyde region.[94] Transport Scotland manages the local rail network.[94]
The local authority responsible for community based service in Coatbridge is North Lanarkshire Council. The council provides local services related to education, social work, the environment, housing, road maintenance and leisure.[95]
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