Holytown

Infobox UK place
country= Scotland
official_name= Holytown
scots_name= pronounced "Holly-Town"
population= 5483 (2001 census)
population= 5483 (2001 census)

os_grid_reference= NS766606
map_type= Scotland
area_total_sq_km= 4.216 (2001 census)

latitude= 55.82288
longitude= -3.97013
unitary_scotland= North Lanarkshire
lieutenancy_scotland= Lanarkshire
Traditional= Lanarkshire
constituency_westminster= Motherwell and Wishaw
constituency_scottish_parliament= Hamilton North and Bellshill
Central Scotland
post_town= Motherwell
postcode_area= ML
postcode_district= ML1
dial_code= 01698

Holytown is a small village situated outside Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.

History

The area was born and grew on the back of the nearby coal mining industries in the 18th century, although the roots of the town stretch back to at least the 17th Century, where records show that a meeting house was used for prayer services for the community.

One old description of the town from the 19th century from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland by Francis H Groome, 1885 is as follows:

Holytown, a town in Bothwell parish, Lanarkshire, 1 mile E by N of Holytown Junction on the Caledonian railway, 5½ miles SSE of Coatbridge, and 11 ESE of Glasgow. Surrounded by a well-worked part of the Lanarkshire mineral-field, and partaking largely in the indnstry and traffic connected with the working of the same, it experienced considerable increase of prosperity from the opening of the Cleland and Midcalder railway (1866), in result partly of through traffic on that line and partly of junction-communication with Motherwell.

It includes the suburb of New Stevenston, ½ mile SSW ; and has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, a branch of the Clydesdale Bank, 3 insurance agencies, gasworks, a quoad sacra parish church, a Free church, and a public school. The quoad sacra parish is in the presbytery of Hamilton and synod of Glasgow and Ayr ; its minister's stipend is £120.
Pop. of town
(1836) 755,
(1861) 1135,
(1871) 2197,
(1881) 2480, of whom 1048 were in New Stevenston ;
of q. s. parish
(1871) 10,099,
(1881) 10,449.—Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
[ [http://www.mining-villages.co.uk/9.html Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland] ]

Reports of living conditions showed that the residents of the town lived in tough conditions in the 19th century. In 1913, one report describing housing in Jerviston Square said that the housing "may be taken as an example of houses that are very near the border line of the habitable standard" [Scottish Mining Villages - Housing [http://www.mining-villages.co.uk/54.html] ] .

Working in mining was a dangerous life with long hours, and accidents resulting in multiple deaths were not uncommon in Lanarkshire. Life was harsh, but forged the character of the working class mining community in the face of hardship, especially the politics of Keir Hardie, the founder of the Labour Party in the UK.

The Holytown Miners' Association was a local union formed in the 1840s. In 1847 the union attempted to restrict output, to combat a 1s (5p) per day wage reduction proposed by the owners. The owners imposed a 3 month 'lockout', which ended in defeat for the union. In 1855 the union merged with the Scottish Coal and Iron-stone Miners' Protective Association. According to the Board of Trade Reports there was another Association of the same name formed in the early 1890s. With an estimated membership of 200 for both 1894 and 1895 it became a branch of the Lanarkshire Miners' County Union in 1896.

Many have drifted away since the early 1990s due to the decline in the coal industries.

The bulk of people in the town are now employed in blue collar roles including manufacturing and retail roles. The local Euro Terminal set up in the 1990s has not materialised with a huge boom in jobs as hopedFact|date=January 2008. Other well-known local employers include Honeywell, a large electronics firm based in the Newhouse industrial estate.

Description

The population of Holytown is approximately 5483 (2001 Census), divided between the four main population areas. The town is approximately 422 hectares (2001 Census) in size. There are around 5-6 public houses ("pubs") and two primary schools as well as two main places of worship.

The main backbone of the town is Main Street, which stretches across the north of the town from east to west upon which are the numerous shops and pubs. The town has lost various services with the old bank (Clydesdale Bank) having moved out of the town (now a dentists) whilst certain other services such as the petrol station closed around the late 1970s. There is a post office. The video shops that were in the town closed in the mid-1990s.

Hairdressers and barber shops, and a vets still ply their trade in the town.

For general shopping most go to the nearest local towns, especially Bellshill. Motherwell and Hamilton are used for clothes and gifts shopping with their larger shopping centres, or for a big day out families head into Glasgow which is convenient to reach with the M8 motorway.

The community centre is used for various activities all year round, for dances and larger get-togethers.

A halal butchers was opened in the late 1990s to help cater for the Muslims in the districts.

Holytown railway station has a direct link into Glasgow and the approximate time from Holytown to Glasgow is 20-30 minutes by car or train, and 45 minutes to Edinburgh. The station (opened in 1869) is not conveniently located, so buses into Motherwell or to Glasgow (or even a bus to Motherwell for the train to get to Glasgow) is more usual.

A sports centre was built in the early 1990s and named "The Keir Hardie Leisure Centre" in honour of local hero James Keir Hardie. The Centre's gym (two rooms) and indoor 5-a-side football pitch are regularly used.

Religion

The town is historically Protestant (Presbyterian/Church of Scotland), and the character of the town remains so. On the far west of the town on Edinburgh Road stands Holytown Parish Church, possibly the oldest building in the town which is still used on a daily basis. The original church was founded in the 17th century which helped to set the roots of the town. The current building was built and opened in 1837 [ [http://www.holytownparishchurch.org.uk/ Holytown Parish Church] ] .

In the annual Orange Walk on 12 July, a parade consisting of members and sympathisers of the Orange Order, the Boys Brigade and other related organisations travel from all over, in particular from Northern Ireland, to participate in the walk. A prime reason for the walk is the celebration of the victory at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

There is also a thriving community of people of Irish Catholic descent, who have long set up a Roman Catholic school with a church in the town, Christ the King Church. The church and the school are both on the main street. The church was founded and built in 1975 [ [http://www.rcdom.org.uk/parishes_christtheking_holytown.htm Christ the King Church] ] .

A small number of Muslims began to move to Lanarkshire in the late 1960s, and a few families of Pakistanis moved to Holytown in the 1970s. For prayers, a room above one of the shops on the main street (across from the Christ the King Church) was used as a small makeshift mosque for Muslims throughout Lanarkshire during the early to mid 1980s (the mosque was the first in Lanarkshire) before it moved to Carfin. In those days, for Eid (Islam's holiest religious annual day), Christ the King Church on the main street used to help and provide their halls to the small Lankarkshire Muslim community for use for the day. In the mid 1980s, the initial group of people who formed the mosque (led by GS Siddiquie who was a long-time resident in Holytown) formed the Lanarkshire Muslim Welfare Society [ [http://www.lanarkshiremosque.com/index.php?categoryid=9 Lanarkshire Muslim Welfare Society] ] . Since the mid-1990s there has been a halal butchers to cater for the area.

Football

The town has had its own teams representing the area [Scottish Junior Football Clubs since 1878 - [http://geocities.com/br1anmccoll/juniorcounty.htm list of clubs] ] , as listed below. There are still various small amateur teams playing in local regional leagues at all ages representing the community.

One notable footballer from Holytown was Harry McShane who won the First Division in England with Manchester United in 1951-52 and then played for various clubs in and around the north-west of England. He was the father of the British TV actor Ian McShane.

John Reid was a member of parliament for the local constituency. On 28 September 2007 it was announced that he would become Chairman of Celtic Football Club. Reid is a lifelong supporter of the club and described the appointment as the next best thing to playing for his heroes. [ [http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_280907143835.aspx Board changes at Celtic PLC] ]

War memorial

At the start of the Main Street, on the far east just off the large roundabout, is the War Memorial statue. This was built to pay respect to those who died in World War One.

The inscription on the Statue says: "In Memory of the Men of Holytown District who fell in the Great War
1914 - 1918".

and on the lower plinth it says: "Their name liveth for evermore".

The statue is made of granite, and is 16ft x 8ft x 8ft, and is of a life-sized kilted soldier bearing full uniform, on a tapering plinth stepped base. [ [http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.44549/fromUkniwmSearch/1 Imperial War Museum] website page for the memorial]

The statue was built by Scott & Rae (Sculptors) and James Paterson (Builder), and was unveiled by Alexander Whitelaw on 9 October 1921 with a dedication by Rev JD Dykes. The cost of the memorial was £1160 which was funded by public, private and corporate donations.

Behind the memorial there is also a memorial garden park and walk-through for use by the public.

Politics

Holytown's biggest claim in its history is undoubtably being the home of James Keir Hardie (more commonly referred to as simply "Keir Hardie"), founder of the Labour Party in Britain. He was born in the hamlet of Legbrannock in 1856, which is now in the Holytown area, and his old home/cottage has been preserved for future generations ("the Keir Hardie Cottage"). In honour of the great man, a street in the town is named after him ("Keir Hardie Avenue") as is the local sports centre ("The Keir Hardie Leisure Centre"). His name is still a focal point for pride and respect for the town and its people.

Since the time of Keir Hardie the town has been Labour Party territory.

The town now lies in the Hamilton North and Bellshill constituency for the House of Commons (Parliament) and Scottish Parliament (previously in Motherwell and Wishaw), with Michael McMahon as the local MSP (Member for Scottish Parliament) winning the seat with a 48% majority in 2007.

A previous MP for the town was John Reid MP, who went on to serve in various high level positions in government including Home Secretary and Leader of House of Commons. He supported the Iraq War.

Robert Crosser was born in Holytown in 1874, and was a Congressman in the US government for 38 years. His family emigrated when he was still a child in 1881 to the USA, where he was educated and made his way through university, law and the US government. A Democrat, he gained senior positions in government. Crosser suffered from arthritis and from 1934 was confined to a wheelchair. He died in Cleveland in 1957 and was buried in Highland Park Cemetery in the US.

External links

* Memorial to those who died in WW1 & WW2 from Holytown - [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~miningvillages/holytown.html Holytown War Memorial] , [http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.44549/fromUkniwmSearch/1 Imperial War Museum]
* Scottish Mining Villages
** [http://www.mining-villages.co.uk/9.html History of area - Holytown and Bothwell district]
** [http://www.mining-villages.co.uk/54.html Housing reports from early 20th Century]
* Mining Dictionary - [http://website.lineone.net/~coalmining/DictionaryA.htm Holytown Miners Association definition]

* The Scotch Railway Strike - [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=2&res=9501EED81E3BE533A25757C2A9649D94619ED7CF&oref=slogin&oref=slogin NY Times story Dec 24 1980]
* Robert Crosser - [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CR10 Biography]

References