Earnock Estate

Earnock Estate is a private, residential area in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, which is located just east of High Earnock and south of Hillhouse. The area was developed in the 1960s and is home to some of the oldest buildings in the area.

Amenities

Almost all amenities with Earnock Estate are located on Wellhall Road - the main road running through the estate that links all parts of the neighbourhood.

hops

There are three shops within the Earnock area: Fillipetti's, an Aldi supermarket and an Esso petrol station.

Fillipetti's is a small convenience shop situated at 115 Wellhall Road and offers a large, compared to other convenience shops, selection of goods; confectionery, newspapers, and other such standard items are on offer. As well as these the shop also has a large behind-counter alcohol section, and a small homewares and gifts section that stocks items such as vases, cards and seasonal gifts.

The Aldi store, also on Wellhall Road, opened in Winter 2006 and was built on the site of a former Safeway store. The Safeway store was closed and relocated to the centre of Hamilton when the Safeway chain was bought over by Morrisons. Aldi stocks the normal produce associated with a supermarket as well as offering a number of non-food items each week. These are described as "specials" and are changed twice a week - items can range from such things as tool kits to walking boots to consumer electronics.

An Esso petrol station is located on Wellhall Road. There is a small convenience store and cash machine - a fee of £1.75 is made for every withdrawal from this ATM.

Take-aways

Within Earnock the only take-away is the Golden Fry Chip Shop; it is located in the same block as the Fillipetti's store.

Public houses

Earnock has only one public house - The Avon Pub located on Wellhall Road. Sky Sports are available to view in the main bar area and there is a small Off-Licence located to the front of the building.

Community centres

The Hillhouse & Earnock Community Centre is situated on Hillhouse Road and is used by residents of both Hillhouse and Earnock. It was reopened in 2003 having undergone refurbishment after an arson attack in 2001. Facilities within the centre include a main hall which can be divided into two smaller halls (Jubilee Hall and the Hillhouse Room); a youth area, a crèche, a large library and an 'Active IT' area which provides computers, printing facilities and internet access for free; a café is also operated in the centre by local volunteers. The main hall is 240msq and has a stage and demountable folding seats; it can accommodate up to 210 people seated in 'concert style' and 170 at a catered function. The youth area is available for hire and can accommodate 50 people in 'concert style' seating and up to 30 seated with tables. The Routes to Work project is based in the Earnock Room and the Wellhall and Udston rooms are used for a range of activities organised by the Up4It project. The centre is ideal for hire for large scale events as it has a modern kitchen, toilets and bar facilities. A large car park is also located to the front of the building.

Parks and walking paths

Situated at the centre of the estate, off Iona Ridge, there is a large grassy park. The park has ample room for games of football or golf practice and access can be gained to the local "nature trail" or, as it is know to local children, "The Natchy" (nate-chay). The nature trail is a disused railway now transformed into a path. The path runs to Strathaven Rd and many residents can also gain access to it through their back gates. The trail is popular with cyclists, recreational walkers and dog-walkers.

Churches

There are currently no churches in Earnock, however, in neighbouring Hillhouse there are two. These are the Church of Scotland Hillhouse Parish Church and the Catholic St Ninian's Church. David Burt, minister of the Parish Church, serves as school chaplin to local, multi-denominational, schools.

GP surgeries

Earnock is home to one GP's surgery, the Wellhall Medical Centre. The surgery opened in the mid 1990s and is located at 4 Hillhouse road. It can be contacted, by phone, on 01698 285 818.

Pharmacies

A Moss Pharmacy, formerly known as The Wellhall Pharmacy, is located on the corner of Hillhouse Road and Wellhall Road. The Moss Pharmacy provides medicine to many residents of Earnock and surrounding communities and stocks a number of other health related products and confectionery.

Education

Primary school education

The primary aged children of Earnock Estate, High Earnock and Hillhouse are served by the multi-denominational Townhill Primary School, situated on Melfort Road. The school was opened in 1965 and currently has a pupil roll of approximately 450.

Catholic primary-school aged children often attend the denominational school of St Ninian's in Hillhouse.

econdary school education

High School provision for children in Earnock Estate is met by the multi-denominational Calderside Academy, Blantyre.

Calderside Academy opened on Monday 13 August 2007. It brought together the old Earnock and Blantyre High Schools and was until Monday 7 January 2007 split over two campuses - one on the former Blantyre site and one on the former Earnock site. During this time children of first to third year attended the Blantyre campus and fourth to sixth year the Earnock Campus. On Monday 7 January 2007 a new building, bringing both campuses together, was opened on the site of the former Blantyre High, thus, completing the merger. This new building has been critiscised by locals for being "overcrowded" and a "rip-off". Children who live in the Earnock area are currently bussed to Calderside Academy, free of charge; these transport arrangments have also been criticised as "unsafe" and "laughable".

Catholic secondary school-aged children in the area often attend John Ogilvie or Holy Cross High Schools, both in Hamilton.

Earnock High School

Earnock High School provided education to those in the Earnock area for 50 years - from 1957 to 2007. The school was closed in June 2007 and merged with Blantyre High to form Calderside Academy.

On June 21st 2008, at around 1.50am, the disused building of Earnock High was set alight. Both the Science and Main Teaching Blocks were extensively damaged - with damage to all three floors in each. At the height of the blaze around thirty firefighters were tackling it - aided by five fire engines and two aerial appliances.

Transport

Public transport from Earnock Estate is accessed from Wellhall Road. There is a bus service every 15 minutes that goes directly to Hamilton Bus Station, in the town centre. There are currently four different bus routes to Hamilton Bus Station from Earnock Estate, three of which are operated by First Glasgow and one by Irvine's Coaches:

* The First operated 226 which serves Hillhouse, Burnbank, Peacock Cross (Hamilton West train station), Hamilton Town Centre, Hamilton Palace Nightclub, Low Waters Road and Fairhill.

* The First operated 228 service which serves Blantyre, Coatshill, Burnbank, Peacock Cross (Hamilton West train station), Hamilton Town Centre, Bent Road, Laighstonehall Road, Woodfoot Road, Wellhall Road and the High Earnock Loop.

* The First operated X1 to Glasgow City Centre via Fairhill, Woodhead, Low Waters Road, Hamilton Bus Station, Hamilton Palace Nightclub and the M74/M73/M8 motorways direct to the City Centre.

* The Irvine's Coaches operated X5 to East Kilbride via Hillhouse and the A725 EK Expressway.

The 226 stops at Hamilton West & Hamilton Central stations allowing for passengers to change onto one of the four trains per hour to Glasgow or two trains per hour to Larkhall and Motherwell (with one of the Motherwell services continuing to Lanark).

Politics

Councillors

Councillors are elected using the Single Transferable Vote System.

Earnock sits within the council seat of Hamilton West and Earnock and has four councillors. All four councillors sit on South Lanarkshire Council.

Members of the European Parliament

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected using the Party List System.

In the EU Earnock is, along with the rest of Scotland, part of the Scotland constituency. Seven MEPs represent Scotland.

Pressure groups

The only pressure group that currently represents issue at a local level is the Earnock Residents' Association. The group meet regularly in Hillhouse Parish Church to discuss matters of importance to Earnock and to decide what action should be taken to help benefit the estate.

treet names

Many of the street names originate from the rulers of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde in the 6th century, e.g. Rederech Crescent (King Rederech), Langoreth Avenue (Queen Langoreth) and Royellen Avenue (Princess Royellen). It is said that the family's summer hunting lodge was in the Earnock area.

Many of the streets are also named after famous geographical features of Scotland. For example, Lomond Crescent is named after Ben Lomond and Iona Ridge after the island of Iona in Western Scotland.