Cambuslang

Coordinates: 55°49′08″N 4°10′02″W / 55.819°N 4.1671°W / 55.819; -4.1671
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cambuslang
  • Scottish Gaelic: Camas Long
  • Scots: Cammuslang
Town
Cambuslang main street, 2013
Cambuslang is located in South Lanarkshire
Cambuslang
Cambuslang
Cambuslang is located in Glasgow council area
Cambuslang
Cambuslang
Location within Scotland
Cambuslang is located in Scotland
Cambuslang
Cambuslang
Cambuslang (Scotland)
Population30,790 (mid-2020 est.)[1]
OS grid referenceNS642605
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGLASGOW[2]
Postcode districtG72
Dialling code0141
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
55°49′08″N 4°10′02″W / 55.819°N 4.1671°W / 55.819; -4.1671

Cambuslang

Halfway.[5][6][7]

Cambuslang is located just south of the

iron and steel making, and ancillary engineering works, most recently The Hoover Company (in the town from 1946 to 2005).[8][9] The Clydebridge Steelworks and other smaller manufacturing businesses continue but most employment in the area comes from the distribution or service industries. The headquarters of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
is in Cambuslang.

History

The local geography of Cambuslang explains a great deal of its history.

Cadzow and Earls of Arran
).

The Clock Inn bar, junction of Main Street and Greenlees Road
Modern tenements in the Whitlawburn housing scheme – demolished in the early 2020s

Because of its relative prosperity, Cambuslang has been intimately concerned in the politics of the country (through the Hamilton connection) and of the

Protestant Reformation. From then until the Glorious Revolution a stream of Ministers of Cambuslang came, were expelled, or were re-instated, according to whether supporters of the King, Covenanters, or Oliver Cromwell were in power. The religious movements of the 18th century, including the Cambuslang Wark,[11][10] were directly linked to similar movements in North America. The Scottish Enlightenment was well represented in the person of Rev Dr James Meek, the Minister. His troubles with his parishioners foreshadowed the split in the Church of Scotland
during the 19th century.

The manufacturing industries that grew up from the agricultural and mineral resources attracted immigrants from all over Scotland and Ireland and other European countries. Cambuslang benefited at all times from its closeness to the burgeoning city of Glasgow, brought closer in the 18th century by a

railway. In the 21st century, it continues to derive benefit from its proximity to Glasgow and to wider communication networks, particularly via the M74 motorway system. Its increasing (and increasingly diverse) population posed problems, over the centuries, of employment and housing as well as of schooling and health, not all of which have been solved;[13][14][15]
in this regard, it is fairly typical of most Scottish towns.

In sport,

was established and continues to this day – they enjoyed great success in the 1970s.

Governance

Westminster

Cambuslang is in the

.

As of October 2023,

recall petition.[18][19] Ferrier won the 2015[20][21] and 2019 elections representing the Scottish National Party,[22][23] with Labour's Ged Killen serving from 2017 to 2019.[24][25]

Holyrood

Cambuslang was originally in the Glasgow Rutherglen Constituency for the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. In 2011 the boundaries were redrawn and the new constituency renamed simply Rutherglen, despite its boundaries taking in not only Cambuslang but also Blantyre.

In the 2016 elections, Clare Haughey won the seat for the SNP with 15,222 votes, giving a majority of 11.4%, replacing James Kelly who had been elected both in 2007 and 2011.[26] Kelly remained in the Parliament as a 'list member' elected on a regional proportional representation basis.

South Lanarkshire Council

Administratively, the town centre is within the Cambuslang West ward of South Lanarkshire Council,[27][28] which has a population of around 15,000.[29] Taking another ward encompassing the eastern parts of the town into consideration,[30] its overall population was approximately 30,000 in 2016. With neighbouring Rutherglen's figures being very similar,[31][32] the many services and amenities shared between the towns should provide for 60,000 residents, many assessed as living in economic hardship.[13][14][15]

Geography

Map of Cambuslang, published in 1923
Hallside towards Dechmont Hill

Cambuslang is located on a lengthy bend on the

M74; the nearby A724 links to Glasgow city centre and Hamilton; the town is also accessible by car from East Kilbride by the A725, A749 and then the B759. The town's railway station, Cambuslang, lies on the Argyle Line between central Glasgow and Lanark
.

Old Monkland; by the Calder on the east, which separates it from Blantyre; by part of Blantyre and Kilbryde, on the south; and by Carmunnock and Rutherglen on the west."[33] The highest points in this low-lying Parish are Dechmont Hill (602 ft) and Turnlaw (or Turnlea) Hill (553 ft.) There are remains of an Iron Age fort on Dechmont.[34][35][36]

Landmarks

Cambuslang Institute

Cambuslang has an interesting range of churches, public buildings, schools, industrial and commercial buildings (see

Buildings of Cambuslang
). Its domestic buildings range from 19th-century mansions, villas and tenements to modern flats and detached houses, along with sheltered and nursing homes.

Sites

Cambuslang Park spans 27 acres (11 ha) encompassing the contrast of open parkland and the Borgie Glen, which is a steep tree-lined ravine, containing a complex network of pathways. The park also features a pond, sports pitches, war memorial (depicting a soldier in a kilt),[37] woodland areas and the Bandstand, which is a natural amphitheatre, near where the famous Cambuslang Wark took place in the 18th century.[38]

Education

There is a range of schools in Cambuslang, and a history of further education colleges, although there are no longer any in the town.

Primary schools

Primary schools (2022–23 pupil roll in parentheses:[39]

  • Cairns Primary School (333)
  • Hallside Primary School (254)
  • James Aiton Primary School (148)
  • Newton Farm Primary School (639)
  • Park View Primary School (206)
  • St Bride's Primary School (273)
  • St Cadoc's Primary School (140)
  • St Charles' Primary School (350)
  • West Coats Primary School (409)

Secondary schools

Some parts of Cambuslang are within the catchment area of Stonelaw High School, which is situated in Rutherglen, the adjoining town.[43][44] Uddingston Grammar School, one train stop from Cambuslang on the Motherwell via Bellshill line, includes Newton Farm Primary in its catchment.[45]

Colleges

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service headquarters and training centre, Cambuslang

Cambuslang College of the Building Trades was a specialist college established in the mid-twentieth century but it gradually expanded to teach other trades and academic subjects. It became Cambuslang College of Further Education in the 1960s, and went on to open a campus in East Kilbride, as well as facilities in Hamilton and Wishaw. A substantial annexe remained in Cambuslang on Hamilton Road, by now located in the former Gateside School.[46] Reflecting its wider geographical coverage, it became South Lanarkshire College in 2000. In 2008, the Cambuslang campus closed and all South Lanarkshire College facilities were moved to a new, custom-built campus in East Kilbride.[47]

South Lanarkshire College has links with University of the West of Scotland, Hamilton Campus, a degree-awarding higher education institution, 3 miles (5 km) away in Hamilton, so that local students can progress through to degrees.

As well as hosting the headquarters of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Scottish national training centre for firefighters is based in Cambuslang (having previously been located in Gullane, East Lothian).

Early schools in Cambuslang

There has been a Parish school in Cambuslang at least since the Reformation, and probably before that. The schoolteacher was appointed and paid by the heritors, though he also charged fees. Free primary education came with the Education Act for Scotland (1871).

Cambulang's original public school (1882) became Cambuslang College of the Building Trades and then subsequently a nursing home.

The original Cambuslang Public School can be seen on Greenlees Road, where it is now Greenlees Care Home. It had been for some time the Cambuslang College of the Building Trades, which became part of Cambuslang College (now South Lanarkshire College ). An even earlier school is now a Gospel Hall in Bushiehill Street.

Cambuslang Subscription School 1848, now a Gospel Hall

The Cambuslang Subscription School of 1848 provided basic education to the children of miners and weavers in return for a few coppers. It was attractive to those who did not like the influence of the gentry and the minister on the parish school.

Transport