Motherwell
(Tobar na Màthar
in Gaelic Mitherwill
in local Scots however most people tend to pronounce the town Motherwill
or Motherwll
) is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, south east of Glasgow. The town was a burgh from 1865 until it merged with the burgh of Wishaw in 1920.
Motherwell was noted as the steel production capital of Scotland, nicknamed Steelopolis
, with its skyline dominated by the water tower and three cooling towers of the 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 works continues to be operated by Corus. 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 blenders.
Motherwell is the headquarters for both North Lanarkshire Council, which is one of Scotland's most populous local authority areas, and of Strathclyde Police "N" division. These organisations cover an overall population of 327,000 people (59,000 in Motherwell and Wishaw) throughout the of North Lanarkshire.
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MOTHERWELL FC TICKETS
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Shopping
There is a large shopping district next to the
town's main train station known as
Brandon Shopping Centre on Brandon Parade. It contains a wide variety of major retailers.
There has been suggestions the new
Ravenscraig town centre would disrupt nearby retail centres such as Brandon but those have settled down after the
House of Lords granted the new community town centre status.
Transport
Railway
The town has two train stations, the main train station (known simply as Motherwell - however again, people tend to say Motherwill or Motherwll) and the smaller train station located in
Airbles. The main station runs on the
West Coast Main Line from
Glasgow to
London. The smaller station in the Airbles suburb of Motherwell only runs on the line to
Dalmuir via
Glasgow Central low level and
Hamilton, though it is the closest station to the likes of
Fir Park stadium.
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 English border, where it becomes the M6. It is also about 3 miles drive from the
M8 motorway, between the two largest cities of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The M8 also leads to
Glasgow Airport, approximately 22 miles away from the town.
Bus
There are a number of different bus companies that travel through the town to various different locations. Some examples include
First,
McKindless and
Coakleys.
Some of the places that can be accessible by bus from Motherwell:
- Wishaw
- Hamilton
- Bellshill
- East Kilbride
- Coatbridge
- Airdrie
- Glasgow
- Lanark
The three acute hospitals in lanarkshire can also be reached by bus from Motherwell:
- Wishaw General Hospital
- Hairmyres Hospital
- Monklands Hospital
Education
Primary Schools
The following
primary schools are located in Motherwell:
- Calder Primary School
- Cathedral Primary School
- Glencairn Primary School
- Knowetop Primary School
- Ladywell Primary School
- Logans Primary School
- Muirhouse Primary School
- Muir Street Primary School
- St. Bernadette's Primary School
- St. Brendan's Primary School
Secondary Schools
Dalziel High School is located in Crawford Street and has a school roll of around 1,000 pupils.
Braidhurst High School, in the Forgewood area of Motherwell, serves areas including Forgewood, North Motherwell, The Globe and Jerviston. With a roll of around 500, Braidhurst is one of the smaller secondary schools in Lanarkshire. The main school building was recently modernised, with the outdated pink and yellow panels replaced by a modern-looking glass exterior.It has had many medals
Our Lady's High School is a
Roman Catholic secondary located in Dalzell Drive, near the home ground of
Motherwell F.C. At one point it was the largest school in Scotland, but the current school roll is around 700. Notable alumni of Our Lady's include
Manchester United legend
Sir Matt Busby, Celtic F.C legend Billy McNeill and current
Derby County footballer
Stephen Pearson.
Other secondary schools in the Motherwell area (thought outside the boundaries of the town itself) include Brannock High School in
Newarthill, Taylor R.C. High School in
New Stevenston and Clyde Valley High School in
Overtown. The nearest private school is Hamilton College in Hamilton,
South Lanarkshire.
Further Education
There is a Further Education college in Motherwell, known as
Motherwell College. This is located next to Our Lady's High School though in 2009, this college will be relocating to Ravenscraig, about 1km away from the current site.
Sport
Football
Motherwell Football Club was established in 1886. Known as the "Steelmen" because of the history of steel making in the area, they play in the
Scottish Premier League from their home ground at
Fir Park. Like many smaller clubs in the area, Motherwell struggle to attract a large fanbase due to the attraction of Glasgow's "Old Firm" of Rangers and Celtic. However, the team attracts a regular home support of between five and six thousand fans. Also, the club is known to be one of the most established clubs in the top flight, having been in the top flight since the mid-80's. Again, due to the Old Firm's dominance of Scottish football, Motherwell's list of honours is somewhat modest. The club's last major trophy was the
Scottish Cup in 1991 where they beat Dundee United F.C. by four goals to three in the final. More recently, they faced Rangers in the 2005 CIS Cup Final, but lost 5-1. In the 07-08 season, Motherwell (led by
Mark McGhee) finished third behind
Celtic F.C and
Rangers F.C meaning that in the 08-09 season Motherwell got the chance of playing European (
UEFA Cup) football. Motherwell lost out to French team
AS Nancy in the first round (3-0 aggregate).
Speedway
Motherwell hosted
motorcycle speedway racing at two venues. In 1930 and 1932 racing took place at a site in Airbles Road and the 1930
speedway venture was known as
Paragon Speedway
. The venture was run by a group of riders who were regulars at White City in Glasgow and known collectively as
The Blantyre Crowd
.
Speedway returned to the town in 1950 and the then newly constructed
greyhound racing stadium (The Stadium)in Milton Road. The
Lanarkshire Eagles staged open meetings from July to September 1950. In 1951 the Eagles started out in the
National League Second Division with veteran ex-
Glasgow Tigers Will Lowther and Joe Crowther in the line up. They operated until the end of the 1954 season.
The top man was Derrick Close, signed from the
Newcastle Diamonds in 1951, and he was supported by
Gordon McGregor who was a founder eagle. Eagles also featured Aussies Keith Gurtner and Ron Phillips who moved over when Ashfield left the League. Popular Australian
Noel Watson was sadly killed in his home country in 1953. However, due to his never say die approach, the fans favourite was Bluey (Eric) Scott who joined the Eagles in 1951. The pioneer Eagles feaatured Bill Baird from Forth who became the only rider to ride for all four Scottish teams.
Tommy Miller, one of the top Scottish speedway stars of the day, joined the Eagles in 1954 but moved on to the
Coventry Bees mid-season. A short season in 1958 under former Glasgow Tigers promoter Ian hoskins saw the end of the events at The Stadium but a short lived Long Track venture and a small speedway track staged four events —three on the long track and one on the short track —in 1972.
Derrick Close represented
Lanarkshire Eagles and England in the
1952 Speedway World Championship Final. He was the third Scottish based rider to achieve this feat after
Ken Le Breton (
Ashfield Giants and Australia) in 1949 and
Jack Young (
Edinburgh Monarchs and Australia) in 1950 and 1951.
Rugby Union
Dalziel Rugby Club play at Dalziel Park (formerly Cleland Estate) between the villages of
Carfin and
Cleland (both near Motherwell). They currently compete in the BT Scottish National League Division One and have played at a similar level for many years now, with relatively little movement up or down the divisions for some time. The club has a strong mini and midi section which is quite impressive given its location in football-mad Lanarkshire.
Strathclyde Park
Recreation
The largest "Fun Park" in Scotland is based within
Strathclyde Park in the Motherwell vicinity, known as
M&Ds. Strathclyde Park contains many sports and leisure facilities and also has sites for
bird-watchers and
anglers. The
woodland and grass areas are ideal for picnicking and leisurely strolls. Excavations in the park have revealed a site of
archaeological interest including a
Roman mosaic, Roman
bath house and bridge (currently closed for health and safety reasons). It also hosted two live outdoor events, parklife and retrofest.
Major Events
The park will be a venue for the
2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2011
International Children's Games. It will host the
Triathlon event in both.
Notable people
- Andy Thomson - ex professional footballer
- Doogie White
- Katie Leung - Actress, best known as Cho Chang in Harry Potter films.
- Johnny Goodtime - Barworker, formally of the Alexander Bain in Wick.
Location Grid
| Hamilton
| North:
Bellshill
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| West:
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
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| East:
Wishaw
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| South:
Larkhall
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