Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...

, Scotland, named after the former

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 of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy.

Description

The park covers some , centred on the artificial Strathclyde Loch. It is located next to the River Clyde between

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 Motherwell. Strathclyde Park forms what used to be known as the Low Parks of the now demolished

Hamilton Palace Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it dated from the 14th century and was subsequently much enlarged in the 17th and 19th centuries.Bothwellhaugh Bothwellhaugh was a Scottish coal mining village housing Hamilton Palace Colliery workers and their families. Locals referred to the village as The Pailis. It was located near to the towns of Motherwell, Bellshill and Hamilton in Lanarksh ...

. The park offers many amenities and attractions such as coarse angling, woodland walks, watersports, and a camping and caravanning site. One of Scotland's theme parks,

M&D's M&D's Scotland's Theme Park is an amusement park located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bordering on Strathclyde Park, the park contains four operating rollercoasters, two water rides, several fairground rides, an arcade, a thea ...

, is located in the park. Until 1996, the music festival

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused B ...

was held here. The west side of the park is bounded by the River Clyde, which was diverted when the loch was built in 1975. The original course can be seen between the east loch shore and the island. Across the Clyde is the

M74 motorway The A74(M) and M74 form a major motorway in Scotland, connecting it to England. The routes connect the M8 motorway in central Glasgow to the Scottish-English border at Gretna. In conjunction with their southward continuation, the M6 motorw ...

, which creates a significant level of noise. The east side of the park is quieter, with woodland and paths leading up the slopes to Motherwell. The remains of Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort and a

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 lette ...

bathhouse can be seen in the park, where the

South Calder Water The South Calder Water, known locally as "The Cawder", or simply "Calder", is a river in Scotland. It runs west from the high plateau between Shotts and Fauldhouse to its joining with the much larger River Clyde. The high plateau is also the w ...

flows into the loch. There is an arched Roman bridge across the South Calder nearby. The site of the

Battle of Bothwell Bridge A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and forc ...

(1679) is to the north west of the park. Although the focus of the park is on recreation, a variety of habitats are present, including wetlands and native woodland. The

Greenlink Cycle Path The Greenlink Cycle Path is a cycle path in North Lanarkshire that is a direct route running from Strathclyde Country Park to Motherwell Town Centre. The path is 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) in length. The Greenlink project was established in 2005, a ...

start-off point is located in the park and travels to Motherwell Town Centre. Also, a section of the

Clyde walkway The Clyde Walkway is a foot and mountain bike path which runs from Glasgow, Scotland, to just above the UNESCO World Heritage Site of New Lanark. The path runs close to the River Clyde for most of its length. It was completed in 2005, and is n ...

, from

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 ...

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 ...

, runs through the park.

Rowing

Major events held at the loch include the rowing events for the 1986 Commonwealth Games, the 1996

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December of the year in which he reaches the age of ...

(and the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of th ...

for non-Olympic events), the 2005

World Rowing Masters Regatta In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, the 2007

World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is l ...

the 2006 and 2014

Commonwealth Rowing Championships The Commonwealth Rowing Championships are a regatta for rowers from Commonwealth nations held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games. Rowing is classed as an 'optional' sport for the purposes of the Commonwealth Games, but is currently not in ...

. and the 2018 European Rowing Championships. The loch also hosts the

British Rowing Championships The British Rowing Championships usually take place every year. The event is held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham) with occasional championships held at the Strathclyde Country Park. The championships originall ...

once every four years, which are normally held in

Holme Pierrepont Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet and civil parish located south-east of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the Gamston ward of the Rushcliffe local authority in the East Midlands region. The population of the civil parish ...

, Nottingham, and also every four years hosts the

Home International Regatta The Home International Regatta is a rowing regatta held every year for the countries of the British Isles - England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Events are held for both men and women at junior (under 18) and senior levels, including Para-rowi ...

. The park is home to Strathclyde Park Rowing Club,

Edinburgh University Boat Club Edinburgh University Boat Club (EUBC) is one of the oldest sports clubs of the University of Edinburgh, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally started in 1867 it has been going continuously ever since. The annual Edinburgh/Glasgow Boat ...

, Heriot-Watt University Boat Club and to th
Scottish Rowing Centre
and acts as a secondary training centre for St Andrew Boat Club.

Major events

The watersports events of the 2005 Glasgow

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

and the 2006 Scottish Triathlon Championships were staged at the park. Since 2005, the park has been the venue for the annual ''Stereofunk'' music festival. The park was also the venue for the

festival between 1994 and 1996. In 2009 the park was used to host the first ever Great Scottish Swim, a mass participation open water swim event. The event was due to be held there again in 2010 but was cancelled due to poisonous

blue-green algae Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, bl ...

in the loch. The park was an official venue for the 2011

International Children's Games The International Children's Games (ICG) is an International Olympic Committee-sanctioned event held every year where children from cities around the world and between the ages of 12 and 15 participate in a variety of sports and cultural activitie ...

. In 2014, Strathclyde Park hosted the

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

event of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The

2018 European Triathlon Championships The 2018 European Triathlon Championships were held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, from 9 to 11 August 2018. The championships were part of the first 2018 European Championships, European Championships with six other sports events taking place in ...

were held at the Strathclyde Park as part of the multi-sport

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

. The park hosts a

Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

event at 09:30 every Saturday morning. It has also hosted an ' Inflatable 5k' event, popular with families and participants collecting charity donations. Strathclyde Gloom

In the news

On the June 2012 Strathclyde Country Park was host to the Western District Open Water Swimming Championship that attracted up to 70 competitors. Following the race 57 people were discovered to be suffering from stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea 5 of the 57 tested positive for

norovirus Norovirus, sometimes referred to as the winter vomiting disease, is the most common cause of gastroenteritis. Infection is characterized by non-bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Fever or headaches may also occur. Symptoms usually devel ...

. All water based activities were subsequently temporarily suspended. Experts attributed the incident to heavy rainfall prior to the event, with council officials confirming that tests of the water quality in the days before the event within the accepted open water guidelines. The loch previously had issues with open water events affected by blue and green algae growth, resulting in the cancellation of the Great Scottish Swim in August 2010. In summer 2011 algae growth also put a stop to water sports just two months before the start of the International Children's Games.

References

External links