Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life is an industrial and

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

museum in

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is situated on the site of the Victorian Summerlee Iron Works and the former Hydrocon Crane factory. The main Hydrocon factory building became the museum’s exhibition hall but it has been substantially changed and adapted since. The museum aims to show Lanarkshire's contribution to engineering, mining, steel working, weaving and farming, and also show the lives of the people of the area. It includes interactive displays and a temporary exhibition space. Entry is free of charge. The museum also incorporates several railway

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s, preserved

railway carriage A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truc ...

s from a 1960s-era Glasgow Class 311 and has a short working heritage

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

line. The museum covers and includes two

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

s, Summerlee Iron Works and the Monkland Canal, a large play area, mine and miners' row, outdoor exhibits, a cafe, changing place, gift shop and sweet shop.

The Miners' Row

Built in 1991–1992, the miners' row, or "raw" shows typical workers' homes from the 1880s to the 1980s. In the row there is also a sweet shop selling old fashioned sweets and some of modern houses have gardens such as the 1940s house which has a wartime "

dig for victory Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock on the surface of Earth. Digging is actua ...

" garden with

Anderson shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but ...

. The row is used frequently as a location for filming.
File:Summerlee Miners Row 1840 to 1910.jpg, Summerlee Miners' Row 1840 to 1910 File:Summerlee Miners' Row 1940 to 1980 General View.jpg, Summerlee Miners' Row 1940 to 1980 File:Summerlee Miners row 1980s Living Room.jpg, Summerlee Miners' Row 1980s Living Room File:Summerlee Miners Row 1960s Living Room.jpg, Summerlee Miners Row 1960s Living Room File:Summerlee Miners Row 1910.jpg, Summerlee Miners' Row 1910 File:Summerlee Miners Row 1840.jpg, Summerlee Miners Row, 1840 File:Summerlee Miners Row 1940 kitchen.jpg, Summerlee Miners Row 1940 kitchen File:Summerlee Miners Row Gardens.jpg, Summerlee Miners Row Gardens File:Summerlee Miners Row 1880.jpg, Summerlee Miners Row interior 1880 File:Summerlee Miners Row 1960s Bathroom.jpg, Summerlee Miners' Row 1960s Bathroom File:Summerlee Miners row 1940s living room.jpg, Summerlee Miners' Row 1940s living room File:Summerlee Miners Row 1960s Kitchen.jpg, Summerlee Miners Row 1960s Kitchen

Summerlee Tramway

The Summerlee Transport Group (STG) was formed in 1988, in order to support the maintenance and operation of the tramway. The original tramway used to terminate only 300 yards from the entrance at the timber shed, before the extension of the Gartsherrie Branch canal bridge and thence towards the Miners' Cottages. As continued tradition, the cars continued to halt at the timber shed before continuing over the bridge and around the bend. The tramway opened in 1988 and was the first operational tramway in Scotland for over a quarter of a century, following the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramway in 1962, and continued to be the only tramway in Scotland for twenty-six years until Edinburgh reopened its tramway in 2014, save from the Glasgow Garden Festival Tramway, which opened six weeks after the Summerlee Line. Whilst the first two operational trams at Summerlee were continental cars - Brussels 9062 and Graz 225 - it has always been the intention to use traditional British cars, preferably with local connections, which is now being realized. There were also two donor cars on site, which were never operational, purchased for their spare parts: Oporto 150 was built in 1925 and remained in service there until 1992, when it was purchased by Summerlee for its truck and electrical equipment for Lanarkshire 53 during its restoration. The body was later scrapped. Lisbon 400-474 was built in 1900-1901 and worked on the system until 1973. The truck was sold to Summerlee in 1995, re-sized and fitted to Glasgow 1017.

Railway rolling stock

Electric Multiple unit

Other transport

* A replica of the 1819 barge ''Vulcan'', the first all-iron-hulled vessel, built for the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988. The replica is probably the last hand riveted boat built on the Clyde and was Summerlee Museum and Monklands District Council's entry into the Festival. In 2016, it was re-sited on the Monkland Canal, the Gartsherrie Cut runs through the site, following refurbishment with the aid of Scottish Waterways, Scottish Canals and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It rests on a cradle, slightly proud of the water and is fully accessible for visitors.

References

External links

Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life
- North Lanarkshire Council's "Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life" official website
Details from ''Visit Lanarkshire''
{{authority control Coatbridge Industry museums in Scotland Living museums in the United Kingdom Mining museums in Scotland Museums in North Lanarkshire Open-air museums in Scotland Railway museums in Scotland Tramways with double-decker trams Transport museums in Scotland Tram museums in the United Kingdom 1988 establishments in Scotland Museums established in 1988