Strathaven (; from gd, Strath Aibhne ) is a historic market town in

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 Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and is the largest settlement in Avondale. It is south 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 ...

. The Powmillon Burn runs through the town centre, and joins the

Avon Water Avon Water, also known locally as the River Avon, is a river in Scotland, and a tributary of the River Clyde. Course The Avon Water rises in the hills on the boundary between East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, close to the head of the Ir ...

to the east of the town. The current estimated population is 8,000. The town was granted a royal charter in 1450, making the Town of Strathaven a

burgh of barony A burgh of barony was a type of Scottish town (burgh). Burghs of barony were distinct from royal burghs, as the title was granted to a landowner who, as a tenant-in-chief, held his estates directly from the crown. (In some cases, they might also ...

. The A71, which connects

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...

, passes through the town.

History

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

road passes close by, on the south side of the

; it led to the Roman fort at

Loudoun Hill Loudoun Hill (; also commonly Loudounhill) is a volcanic plug in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located near the head of the River Irvine, east of Darvel. Location The A71 Edinburgh - Kilmarnock road passes by the base of the hill. This route ...

near

Darvel Darvel ( sco, Dairvel, gd, Darbhail) is a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the Loudoun, Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" ( en, the Long Town). The town's Latin motto, , means "No ...

. The origins of

Strathaven Castle Strathaven Castle is located in the centre of the small town of Strathaven, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The ruin is publicly accessible, and can be found at grid reference . Also known as Avondale Castle, the ruin and mound is now a Scheduled ...

are obscure, but it is believed to have been held by the Bairds until after the end of the

Wars of Scottish Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of ...

in 1357. It then passed to

William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas (c. 1323 – 1 May 1384) was a Scottish nobleman, peer, magnate, and head of the Black Douglas family. Under his leadership, the Black Douglases continued their climb to pre-eminence in Scottish politics ...

in 1370. The settlement within the lands of Strathaven became a

in 1450. The centre of the town is occupied by the market square, formerly a grassed common, and still known as Common Green, or just 'The Green'. Linking the town and the castle is the old 'Boo Backit Brig' ('bow-backed bridge'), a small arched bridge. The Old Parish Church, with its landmark spire, was built in 1772, and was the place of worship of the

Dukes of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sc ...

, who had a section of the church reserved for them. The town played a significant part in the

Radical War The Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest in Scotland, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the earl ...

of 1820, when

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

led a band of radicals on a march to Glasgow, to join a rumoured general uprising, which never actually happened. Wilson was hanged for treason. Its most famous 'modern' resident was the singer, Sir

Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

(1870–1950) whose mansion, Lauder Ha', or Hall, was just above the town on the road to Kilmarnock. Sir Harry spent the Second World War years there, and died in February 1950.

Dungavel House Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention facility in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the town of Strathaven that is also known as Dungavel Castle or Dungavel House. It is operated by the American private prison firm GEO ...

on the outskirts of Strathaven was the place where German Deputy Führer,

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

, originally intended to land on the evening of 10 May 1941 in a misguided attempt to seek peace talks with

the Duke of Hamilton The Duke of Hamilton is one of the oldest pubs in London, situated in Hampstead. It is located in New End Square, New End street. In 2011, the pub was awarded "Londoner of the Day" by London 24 magazine. The ''Not For Tourists Guide to London 20 ...

. However bad weather and poor navigation resulted in Hess having to land at Floors Farm in

Eaglesham Eaglesham ( ) is a village in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, situated about south of Glasgow, southeast of Newton Mearns and south of Clarkston, and southwest of East Kilbride. The 2011 census revealed that the village had 3,114 occupants, dow ...

. In 2002, Strathaven was granted the title of Scotland's First Fairtrade Town (jointly with Aberfeldy) under the leadership of Paulo Quadros, chair of the first Fairtrade group in Scotland.

Governance

The town is part of the Avondale and Stonehouse ward of the South Lanarkshire

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

. Before 1996, it was part of the

Strathclyde 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 et ...

region, with a district council in

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 ...

. Previous to that, it had been part of the Fourth landward district of the County of Lanark. As part of Scottish

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...

, national governmental power is split between the UK Parliament and Government and the Scottish Parliament and Government. As of 2021, it is in the East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow constituency of the UK Parliament (MP

019 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

Lisa Cameron Lisa Cameron (born 8 April 1972) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and consultant clinical psychologist. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow since winning the seat at the 2015 ...

NP and the

Clydesdale Clydesdale is an archaic name for Lanarkshire, a traditional county in Scotland. The name may also refer to: Sports * Clydesdale F.C., a former football club in Glasgow * Clydesdale RFC, Glasgow, a former rugby union club * Clydesdale RFC, South ...

constituency of the Scottish Parliament (MSP 021

Màiri McAllan Màiri Louise McAllan (born 1993) is a Scottish politician serving as Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform since May 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MS ...

NP.

Long-established business

The town's longest established business is Gebbie & Wilson, Solicitors in the Common Green, which was founded in 1816.

Landmarks

The major landmark in the town is

Strathaven Public Hall Strathaven Public Hall, also referred to as the Old Town Hall, Strathaven, is a municipal building in Kirk Street, Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The structure, which serves as a scout and guide centre, is a Category C listed building. ...

was designed by Alexander Cullen and completed in 1896.

Transport

The A71, which connects

and

passes through the town. The A723 links Strathaven to Hamilton and the

A726 The A726 road in Scotland is a major route with several distinct sections with different characteristics and names; owing to its stages of construction, since 2005 it has two separate parts, the first running between Strathaven in South Lanark ...

links it to East Kilbride, and further onto Glasgow. As part of South Lanarkshire, the town is in the

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is a regional transport partnership for the Strathclyde area of western Scotland. It is responsible for planning and coordinating regional transport, especially the public transport system in the are ...

area.

Former railway stations

Strathaven had, at various times, three railway stations. * , the first station, was the terminus of 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 ...

. The railway was taken over by the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

; and the station closed in 1964. * , a terminal station on the Hamilton and Strathaven Branch of the Caledonian Railway, opened in October 1904, closed temporarily during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; and closed completely in 1953. * , on the

Darvel and Strathaven Railway The Darvel and Strathaven Railway linked, with the Darvel Branch to the former Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway in Scotland to allow trains to travel between Kilmarnock and Lanarkshire. History On 4 July 1905 the line opened, conne ...

closed in June 1964 to services from the east, although the line to Darvel closed in 1939.

Strathaven Airfield

Strathaven Airfield is home to a

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

flying school, which operates both the traditional-style weightshift microlights and the light aircraft-style ones, and the new airfield manager's house was featured on Channel 4's ''

Grand Designs ''Grand Designs'' is a British television series produced by Boundless and broadcast on Channel 4 which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects. The programme has been presented by Kevin McCloud since it first ...

'' in October 2013. There are approximately 35 aircraft – both light aircraft and microlights – hangared at Strathaven in two modern purpose-built hangars. The airfield is also home to an annual local music festival, HangarFest. The airfield was set up on the old Couplaw Farm, which The Scottish Flying Club Ltd bought in May 1964. The club had begun flying in 1927 at the old Renfrew Airport but was left homeless after Renfrew was nationalised in 1946. Strathaven Airfield was given to the

RAF Benevolent Fund The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund (RAF Benevolent Fund or RAFBF) is the Royal Air Force's leading welfare charity, providing financial, practical and emotional support to serving and former members of the RAF – regardless of rank – as well ...

in 1974 and then sold privately in 2005. It has three grass runways, the main runway is oriented 09/27 (east-west) and is 530 m long (with a 100 m starter extension on 27 available on request). The airfield co-ordinates in the UK Air Pilot ENR 5.5-17 are: 554049N 0040654W.

Education

Strathaven Academy is the town's only secondary school.

Religion

Strathaven contains six churches including three Church of Scotland parishes: Avendale Old (built in 1772) linked with Drumclog Parish Church, Strathaven Rankin linked with Chapelton Parish Church, and East Parish Church (built in 1777) linked with Glassford Parish Church. The only Catholic Church in the town is St Patrick's Catholic Church (built in 1863). There is an active ecumenical body, consisting of six churches in the area (five within the town, one nearby), named "Hope Strathaven", which work together bringing a mix of community projects that reflect faith and service.

Sport

Strathaven is home to several sports clubs, which include Strathaven Rugby Club which has a 3G, all-weather pitch.

Notable people

Bertie Auld Robert Auld (23 March 1938 – 14 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was a member of Celtic's Lisbon Lions, who won the 1967 European Cup Final. As a player, he made more than 200 appearances in the Scottish League f ...

, footballer and one of the

Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose ma ...

who played with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, lived in Strathaven *

Stuart Braithwaite Stuart Leslie Braithwaite (born 10 May 1976) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter. He is the guitarist of post-rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums. He is also a member of the British alternative rock supergroup ...

, singer and musician with the band

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). Mogw ...

, attended Strathaven Academy *

Eric Caldow Eric Caldow (14 May 1934 – 4 March 2019) was a Scottish professional association football, footballer, who played for Rangers F.C., Rangers, Stirling Albion F.C., Stirling Albion and Scotland national football team, Scotland. Caldow played as ...

, Scottish international footballer who played with Rangers, founder of Strathaven Dynamo * William Craig, surgeon and botanist, President of the

Edinburgh Botanical Society The Botanical Society of Scotland (BSS) is the national learned society for botanists of Scotland. The Society's aims are to advance knowledge and appreciation of flowering and cryptogamic plants, algae and fungi. The Society's activities includ ...

and Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

, born in Strathaven * Jack Smart Football Player *

Linda Fabiani Linda Fabiani (born 14 December 1956) HonFRIAS OSSI FCIH is a Scottish politician who served as a Deputy Presiding Officer in the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was the Member of the ...

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

politician and former Scottish Executive Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, lived in Strathaven * David Fernández, Spanish footballer who spent most of his career in Scotland playing for clubs including

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, lived in Strathaven * Daniel Thomson Footballer * James Mackinnon Fowler, Australian politician and founding member of the Victorian Socialist League, born in Strathaven *

Gordon Gibb Gordon Gibb is the CEO of Flamingo Land Ltd and former chairman of Bradford City Football Club. Personal Gordon Gibb was born in November 1975 at Strathaven in Scotland, moving to Yorkshire when his father, Robert Gibb, a former professional foo ...

, businessman,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Flamingo Land Ltd and former chairman of Bradford City Football Club, brought up in Strathaven *

Sir Robert Giffen Sir Robert Giffen (22 July 1837 – 12 April 1910) was a Scottish statistician and economist. Life Giffen was born at Strathaven, Lanarkshire. He entered a solicitor's office in Glasgow, and while in that city attended courses at the univ ...

, financial editor of

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

newspaper and President of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

, born in Strathaven *

Andy Kerr Andrew Kerr (1878–1969) was an American football coach. Andrew or Andy Kerr may also refer to: * Andrew Kerr (Australian politician) (1837–1907), New South Wales politician *Andrew Kerr (broadcaster), Scottish television presenter and journalis ...

, Labour politician and former Scottish Executive Health Minister, lives in Strathaven. *

Sir Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

, singer, comedian and music hall entertainer *

Thomas Leiper Thomas Leiper (15 December 1745 – 6 July 1825) was a Scottish American businessman, banker and politician who owned a successful tobacco exportation business as well as several mills and stone quarries. He served as a lieutenant in the Philade ...

, tobacco merchant *

Stuart McCall Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player. He is assistant manager at Sheffield United. McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matches for Scotla ...

, Scottish international footballer who played for Rangers, Everton and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, lived in Strathaven *

Una McLean Una McLean MBE (born 12 January 1930 in Strathaven, Scotland) is a Scottish actress and comedian. She is best known for appearing in pantomimes. She was married to Scottish stage and film actor Russell Hunter from 1991 until his death in 20 ...

, actress and comedian *

Aileen Neilson Aileen Neilson (born 15 August 1971) is a Scotland, Scottish wheelchair curling, wheelchair curler. She is the first woman to skip a wheelchair curling team in either the Wheelchair curling at the Winter Paralympics, Paralympic Games (2010) or W ...

, Paralympian, lives in Strathaven *

Corrie Scott Corrie Scott (born 17 August 1993) is a Scottish swimmer. She stood out as a junior swimmer, and joined the University of Edinburgh on their performance swimming programme where she studied chemistry. She has since established herself as one of S ...

, swimmer and bronze medalist at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

* Andy Stewart, Conservative MP from 1983–1992 for

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...

, chaired Strathaven Young Unionists in 1957–58. *

Sara Vickers Sara Louise Vickers (born 1985) is a Scottish theatre, television and film actress best known for playing List of Endeavour characters#Thursday's Family, Joan Thursday in the British television detective drama series ''Endeavour (TV series), End ...

, actor, born in Strathaven *

Ricky Warwick Ricky Warwick (born 11 July 1966) is a Northern Irish musician and the lead singer of the rock bands Black Star Riders and Thin Lizzy. He is also the frontman for the Scottish hard rock band The Almighty, with whom he achieved chart success in ...

, Singer and guitarist with rock bands The Almighty and

Circus Diablo Circus Diablo is an American rock band formed in early 2006 by Billy Morrison (vocals), Billy Duffy (lead guitar) and Ricky Warwick (rhythm guitar). Fuel frontman Brett Scallions and Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum subsequently joined the b ...

currently new vocalist with

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...