Blantyre ( or ; gd, Baile an t-Saoir) is a town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

, Scotland, with a population of 16,900. It is bounded by the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

to the north, the

Rotten Calder The Rotten Calder is a river to the east of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland and along with the Rotten Burn it forms the southern and western boundaries of Blantyre. It begins as the Calder Water at its source at Ardochrig, and is jo ...

to the west, the Park Burn to the east (denoting the boundary with the larger adjoining town of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

) and the Rotten Burn to the south. Blantyre was the birthplace of

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

, the 19th-century explorer and missionary, and because of Livingstone's work, the second-largest city in Malawi is named after it.

History

The name is probably originally

Cumbric Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...

''blaen tir'' "top of the land"Watson, W. (1926) A History of Celtic Place-names of Scotland". Edinburgh which has been

Gaelicised Gaelicisation, or Gaelicization, is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the ''Gaels'', a sub-branch of celticisation. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group, traditionally viewed as having spread from Ire ...

.Local and family history: Blantyre and David Livingstone

South Lanarkshire Council South Lanarkshire Council ( gd, Comhairle Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas) is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and a budget of almost £1b ...

The town consists of a number of small hamlets which have largely become connected into a single urban area, with housing in a variety of styles and ages reflecting the changing use and availability of land over the decades. ''High Blantyre'' is the area to the east and south of Burnbrae Road which continues to High Blantyre Cross at the north. It is thought to be the area of earliest settlement, with a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

village near Auchintibber south of Blantyre Parish Church (High Blantyre). Also in this area is Greenhall Park, where the Calder (Cawther) flows north through a valley to eventually join the Clyde near Newton. A new residential development, Greenhall Village, was built at the western side of High Blantyre in the 2010s. There was previously a large mining community in this area clustered around several pits including Auchinraith and Larkfield which still exist as distinct communities within the town; weaving was another local occupation. A railway station (on the

Hamilton and Strathaven Railway The Hamilton and Strathaven Railway was a historic railway in Scotland. It ran from a junction with the Hamilton Branch of the Caledonian Railway to a terminus at Strathaven. The railway was worked from the start by the Caledonian Railway, who a ...

) was in use from the 1860s to the 1950s, located to the west of the church. High Blantyre Primary School was established in 1875, continuing through various reconstructions to its current buildings dating from 2005. Blantyre and the River Clyde from the air (geograph 5716649)

Blantyre and the River Clyde from the air (geograph 5716649)

At the western end of the main thoroughfare, Glasgow Road ( A724) which runs east–west, is the ''Priory Bridge'' neighbourhood (named after the original bridge over the Calder towards Cambuslang, which itself was named after the now-ruined Blantyre Priory to the north of the town which was home to monks from around 1235). It borders the older and larger ''Coatshill'' housing estate which has its own schools and community facilities. On the other side of the main road from Coatshill is the similar neighbourhood of ''Wheatlands'' (parts of which were built by the

Scottish Special Housing Association The Scottish Special Housing Association was established in 1937 to provide good-quality social housing. It had headquarters in Edinburgh's West End, Palmerston Place and Manor Place, Edinburgh, where it employed a large team of architects, enginee ...

), while further east is the modern centre of the town, built up from the 19th century mining communities at ''Stonefield'' and ''Low Blantyre'' featuring the local secondary school

Calderside Academy Calderside Academy is a Scottish secondary school in Blantyre. It was created by merging two local secondary schools (Blantyre High School and Earnock High School) on the land where Blantyre High School was. The school opened in January 2008 and ...

, Stonefield public park, Blantyre Leisure Centre, several churches and the ''Clydeview Shopping Centre'' (which has featured a large Asda supermarket since its opening in 1980). Glasgow Road continues south-east via the A725 elevated bypass, the ''Springwells'' neighbourhood and the town boundary, leading on to

Burnbank Burnbank is an area in the town of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was formerly a separate mining village before being absorbed into the town. Location and governance Burnbank, previously an independent settlement, then part of Hamil ...

(specifically the area once known as ''Greenfield''). Further north of the town centre is ''The Village'', the oldest industrially developed part of Blantyre which was previously a mill settlement on the

. Near to the town's train station, it is the only part which is north of the railway lines. Next to the

David Livingstone Centre The David Livingstone Birthplace Museum is a biographical museum in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, dedicated to the life and work of the explorer and missionary David Livingstone. The museum is operated by the David Livingstone Trust and ...

, at the end of Station Road, is an iron suspension

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

which crosses the Clyde giving pedestrian access to Bothwell.

Mine disaster

On 22 October 1877, Blantyre was the site of the

Blantyre mining disaster The Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877, in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Blantyre, Scotland, was Scotland's worst ever mining accident. Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the s ...

, where 207 miners (men and boys) were killed when a coal mine exploded due to

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

gas. A monument to the disaster, of which the youngest victim was a boy of 11, is at High Blantyre cross. The site of the mine now lies under the

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

expressway.

Nearby towns and cities

(borders the Burnbank, Hillhouse and Whitehill areas) *

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

( City Centre) * Bothwell *

Uddingston Uddingston ( sco, Uddinstoun, gd, Baile Udain) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries ...

* Cambuslang *

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) 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 existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

* Motherwell

Sport

Football

Blantyre presently has a football club competing in

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the level of football ...

competitions, Blantyre Victoria, known as the Vics. They won the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...

(the highest achievement in junior football) in 1950, 1970 and 1982. Their home ground is called Castle Park. There is another football club in the town, Blantyre Celtic. The original club went out of existence in the early 1990s; however, in 2010 they reformed as an amateur team.

Speedway

The town of Blantyre has long had links with speedway racing. In the pioneer days a group of riders who appeared at White City in Glasgow were known as "The Blantyre Crowd". They operated their own track at Airbles Road in Motherwell in 1930 and this was known as Paragon Speedway. The Blantyre Crowd also operated a more professional version on the same site in 1932. Speedway was staged at the Greyhound Stadium as the home of the Glasgow Tigers in the late 1970s/early 1980s before the new road forced a move to Craighead Park which closed down at the end of the 1986 season.

Skateboarding

Recently, Blantyre Skate Park has received a lot of business as the youth company Radworx has been operating within it as well as some other skate parks. The skate park contains a spine section as well as an halfpipe, alongside a counterpart. There is a mini-bowl and a credible street section which contains two fun boxes as well as a 5-set.

Redlees Park

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, an

Anti-aircraft battery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

and associated camp for military personnel known as the 'Whins' or 'Blantyreferme' was set up on open land off the Blantyre Farm Road between Newton and Blantyre. The camp was used as emergency accommodation after the conflict, but the huts were later demolished. However, some of the AA battery buildings survived into the 21st century (albeit heavily vandalised in some cases) and were incorporated – along with a former clay quarry nearby – into the landscape of ''Redlees Urban Park'' developed by the local council.

Education

*Primary schools (''2019-20 pupil roll in parentheses''): **St Blane's PS (220) **St Joseph's PS (300) **High Blantyre PS (244) **David Livingstone Memorial PS (268) **Auchinraith PS (295) * Secondary schools: **

(1253) **

John Ogilvie High School , established = , closed = , type = Secondary School , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , authority = South Lanarkshire , head_label = Headteacher , head = Liv Lawson , r_head_ ...

(

) (1027) *Special Educational Needs: **Kear Campus (43) *Higher Education: **

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland ( gd, Oilthigh na h-Alba an Iar), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Blantyre, South Lanar ...

(Lanarkshire Campus); relocated from

Bell College Bell College was a higher education college based in Hamilton and Dumfries in Scotland. Founded in 1972, the College merged with the University of Paisley on 1 August 2007, it is now part of the renamed University of the West of Scotland. Hist ...

to ''Hamilton International Technology Park'' (within Blantyre) in 2018

Institutions

Blantyre contains many amenities, including: *Blantyre Leisure Centre – sports centre with swimming pool (opened 1982) *Stonefield Park – with a purpose-built skate-park *Victoria Nursing Home (for the elderly) *

– museum built in the birthplace and former home of

*Six churches: **Blantyre Congregational Church ( C.o.S.) **St. Joseph's ( R.C.) **David Livingstone Memorial Church ( C.o.S.) **St. Andrew's ( C.o.S.) **Saint John Ogilvie ( R.C.) **Blantyre Old Parish Church ( C.o.S.) *

David Dale David Dale (6 January 1739–7 March 1806) was a leading Scottish industrialist, merchant and philanthropist during the Scottish Enlightenment period at the end of the 18th century. He was a successful entrepreneur in a number of areas, m ...

House –

facility named after another famous Lanarkshire dweller (

New Lanark New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometres) from Lanark, in Lanarkshire, and some southeast of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1785 and opened in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and hou ...

) *Blantyre Credit Union *Terminal One – Fully equipped Youth Centre

Youth

In August 1983, a pressure group was formed in Blantyre called Blantyre Youth Council, which set up a youth enquiry service for young people and a Claimants Union. The Youth Enquiry Service Base was in the Elizabeth Scott Centre (now Terminal One). In 1984,

Strathclyde Regional Council Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. ...

created Blantyre Youth Development Team (BYC agreed to disband and support this provided it was youth-led); the BYDT gained charity status in 1997 and created the ''Terminal One'' youth centre. It provides many services to the local young people, and is funded by

, the Scottish Arts Council and the Blantyre/North Hamilton Social Inclusion Partnership.

David Livingstone

Blantyre's most famous son is the 19th-century missionary and explorer

. He is acknowledged as the first European to see the "Mosi-oa-Tunya" ( Tokaleya and

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

: "the Smoke that Thunders") which he named in English

Victoria Falls Victoria Falls ( Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and anim ...

after then British sovereign

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. His birthplace and childhood home is now a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

at the end of Station Road, Low Blantyre on the banks of the

. The Centre includes a museum dating from 1929 (now run by the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...

), a playpark, a cafe, a shop, an African Garden and several workshop studios. An adventure assault course also existed there before a young man died in 1995. A pedestrian footbridge over the River Clyde adjacent to the museum (its third incarnation) links the area to the town of Bothwell. Mandala (the largest city and commercial centre of

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

, one of the territories Livingstone explored) is more commonly named

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

in recognition of the link created by Livingstone during the colonial era.

Notable natives or residents

* John Brown, footballer (Rangers) *

Martin Bulloch Martin Bulloch (born 14 August 1974) is a Scottish musician, best known for being the drummer in the rock band Mogwai. Early life Bulloch was born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was once a cook at a Chinese restaurant in East ...

, drummer (

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mog ...

) *

Stuart Christie Stuart Christie (10 July 1946 – 15 August 2020) was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. When aged 18, Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish caudillo, General Francisco Franco. He was later alleged ...

, anarchist *

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band The Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and renowned for his charismatic stage presence ...

, musician * John Fallon, footballer (Celtic,

Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic F.C., Celtic team that won the UEFA Champions League, European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967 European Cup Final, 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. The name i ...

) *

Ryan Fletcher Ryan Fletcher (born 1983) is a Scottish actor. Early life Fletcher grew up in Blantyre, Glasgow, born to Stevie and Lorna Fletcher. Career Fletcher appeared in the stage show ''Black Watch'' for the National Theatre of Scotland (2007-8), had ...

, actor *

Ken McKinlay John Robert Vickers (Ken) McKinlay (7 June 1928 – 9 February 2003) was an international speedway rider, captaining Scotland, England, Great Britain and Europe teams. He also finished on the rostrum of the British Speedway Championship finals t ...

, speedway rider *

Jim Mullen Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Scottish, Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum. Biography Jim Mullen was guitarist with Pete Brown & Piblo ...

, CEO Ladbrokes PLC *

Philip Murray Philip Murray (May 25, 1886 – November 9, 1952) was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers o ...

, American trade union leader * Maureen Rooney, trade unionist * Steven Smith, footballer (Rangers, Portland Timbers, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock) * Ian Stewart, former Labour MP for Eccles. *

William Bauchop Wilson William Bauchop Wilson (April 2, 1862 – May 25, 1934) was an American labor leader and progressive politician, who immigrated as a child with his family from Lanarkshire, Scotland. After having worked as a child and adult in the coal mines of ...

, 1st

United States Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...

References

External links

Video of Greenhall Viaduct
{{authority control Towns in South Lanarkshire Civil parishes of Scotland Mining communities in Scotland