Carfin (
Scottish Gaelic: ''An Càrn Fionn'', meaning the White Cairn) is a village situated to the north-east of
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
,
Scotland. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of
Holytown
Holytown ( sco, 'Holy-Town' - Holytown, gd, Baile a' Chuilinn) ,
Newarthill
Newarthill is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, situated roughly three miles north-east of the town of Motherwell. It has a population of around 6,200. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Carfin, Holytown and ...
and
New Stevenston which have a combined population of around 20,000 across the four localities.
Local facilities
Carfin has strong Irish Catholic links, which are exemplified in
Carfin Grotto
Carfin Lourdes Grotto, a Roman Catholic shrine in Scotland dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, was created in the early twentieth century. The "Carfin Grotto", as the shrine is locally referred to, was the brainchild of Father, later Canon Thomas N ...
a famous pilgrimage place, with extensive gardens and a visitors' centre with cafe. It was built in the early 1920s, when parish priest, Canon Thomas Nimmo Taylor engaged the unemployed miners of the village to build a shrine to
Our Lady of Lourdes, allowing people in Scotland to venerate the
Blessed Virgin
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
without having to travel to France to do so.
There are many places of worship in Carfin. A church hall is present and a small mosque for Muslims, which in 2006 was moved to a bigger mosque near
Mossend,
Bellshill
Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...
. A community church met in the community centre but due to an increase in attendance has moved to a larger community centre in
Craigneuk
Craigneuk is a suburb of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The original village of Craigneuk was located in the area where Meadowhead Road meets the A721 at Craigneuk Street. It was originally part of Dalziel parish, along with the other rur ...
,
Wishaw.
The closest
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
is
Taylor High School in nearby
New Stevenston. Since this is a
Roman Catholic school, the nearest
nondenominational secondary school is
Brannock High School
Brannock High School is a non-denominational, co-educational comprehensive secondary school in Newarthill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated on Loanhead Road.
Feeder schools
The school catchment area takes in Carfin, Holytown, New ...
in
Newarthill
Newarthill is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, situated roughly three miles north-east of the town of Motherwell. It has a population of around 6,200. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Carfin, Holytown and ...
.
The nearest public house is the Hibernian Social and Recreation Club (The Hibs Club) 200 metres away to the Newarthill side. Half a mile in the opposite direction is the Carfin Vaults. The ''Bell Quadrant'' is the main shopping area in Carfin. It contains several famous retailers such as
Greggs,
Farmfoods,
Betfred and a
Tesco Express. Opposite this site is a Lidl store.
The outskirts of Carfin do offer some interest, with a private golf club/rugby fields/driving range complex situated between Carfin and
Holytown
Holytown ( sco, 'Holy-Town' - Holytown, gd, Baile a' Chuilinn) . Carfin is also next-door to the new settlement of
Ravenscraig, currently under construction.
Carfin doesn't have many sports facilities of note, with nearby Brannock and Taylor High Schools containing both football pitches and athletics tracks. The nearest sports facility is the large
Ravenscraig Sports Centre.
The golf course, named after
Sam Torrance (Torrance Park), was funded by former
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
chairman
David Murray.
At the 2001 census, Carfin had a population of 1,048 residents.
[.]
Transport
Carfin railway station provides the hub for transport to
Glasgow, with the local bus stops providing easy access to Motherwell and surrounding towns. These services operate a restricted timetable on Sundays. The station is in the Newarthill boundary but is named Carfin.
References
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Villages in North Lanarkshire
Motherwell
Mining communities in Scotland