Carstairs, South Lanarkshire
| Carstairs | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Tarrais | |
 Carstairs Village Green |
|
| Council area | South Lanarkshire |
|---|---|
| Lieutenancy area | Lanarkshire |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Lanark and Hamilton East |
| Scottish Parliament | Clydesdale |
Carstairs (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Tarrais) is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Mainline runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs railway station. Carstairs is best known as the location of the State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Carstairs is applied to the places Carstairs Village and the village of Carstairs Junction where the train station is situated. The two places are two completely different villages divided by one mile of land, a parkland area (Monteith Park) and the train line.
Carstairs Village has massively expanded since 2007 with the building of Millwood Estate (MCA Homes now defunct and completed by Cala Homes). Carstairs Village is centred on the main thoroughfare Lanark Road, off which is the original Rosemount Crescent and Avenue Road and School Road. There are further streets at Millwood Estate namely- Castledyke Way, Castledyke Lea, Castledyke Gardens, Castledyke View and Castledyke Road. The village is currently served by a Doctors Surgery, an Rx Pharmacy, a Cooperative food store, a cafe (Green Granary), a Car Wash and Tyre fitting workshop. There is also a pub and restaurant called the Carstairs Village Inn situated on Lanark Road whilst there is a second-hand car dealer located at the entrance of the village from the Carnwath to Lanark road.
History
During the 1920s, the Ministry of Labour acquired Lampits Farm, Carstairs Junction, for use as a labour camp. By 1938 there were 35 so-called "Instructional Centres", with a capacity of over 6,000. Their role was to 'harden' young unemployed men and prepare them for work elsewhere. Lampits Farm was originally intended in 1929 to train young men in farm and forestry work, with a view to their emigrating to Canada or Australia; it became an Instructional Centre a year later. Many of the Carstairs inmates came from coal-mining and other industrial backgrounds in the West of Scotland. The Ministry of Labour sold the site in 1935, and it reverted to use as a farm. In its last months, the Ministry of Labour used the inmates to help the Scottish Office Prison Department to build a new secure hospital.
Carstairs has gained a certain notoriety as the location of the State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland (also known as Carstairs Hospital), a maximum-security psychiatric facility where some of Scotland and Northern Ireland's most severe cases of mental illness are treated. Many of the patients have been convicted of serious offences and some are incarcerated at the facility indefinitely.
Transport
The main road running through Carstairs is the A70 road. Carstairs is served by bus route 37 and 137, operated by Stuart's Coaches of Carluke.
Carstairs is served by Carstairs railway station on the West Coast Mainline and Carstairs is also the location of a triangular junction where the line to Edinburgh diverges from the mainline.
References
Source: John Field, "Working Men's Bodies: work camps in Britain, 1880-1940", Manchester University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7190-8768-4
External links
Media related to Carstairs, South Lanarkshire at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 55°42′N 3°42′W / 55.700°N 3.700°W
