Blantyre, South Lanarkshire

Blantyre
Scottish Gaelic: Baile an t-Saoir
240px Shuttle Row, the birthplace of David Livingstone
Blantyre  Blantyre shown within South Lanarkshire
Population	17,505 (2001)
OS grid reference	NS685575
Civil parish	Blantyre
Council area	South Lanarkshire
Lieutenancy area	Lanarkshire
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Glasgow
Postcode district	G72
Dialling code	01698
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Scottish Parliament	Rutherglen
List of places UK Scotland

Blantyre ( or ; Scottish Gaelic: Baile an t-Saoir) is a civil parish in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, with a population of 17,505. The name is probably originally Cumbric blaen tir "top of the land" which has been Gaelicised. It is bounded by the River Clyde to the north, the Rotten Calder to the west, the Park Burn to the east and the Rotten Burn to the south.

Blantyre was the birthplace of David Livingstone, the 19th-century explorer and missionary (see below).

Blantyre has a number of small hamlets. High Blantyre is the area to the east and south of Burnbrae Road and continues to High Blantyre cross at the north. It is thought to be the area of earliest settlement, with a Bronze Age village near Auchintibber 2 miles (3 km) south of Blantyre Parish Church (High Blantyre). Also to the west is Greenhall Park, where the Calder (Cawther) flows to eventually join the Clyde near Flemington.

Blantyre is loosely divided in half by Main Street, High Blantyre. At the west-end is Priory Bridge – named after the former priory to the north which was home to monks from around 1235. There is also Coatshill and the village, the oldest industrially developed part of Blantyre. Glasgow Road continues south via Springwell and eventually joins to Burnbank. Next to the David Livingstone museum, at the end of Station Road, is an iron suspension footbridge which crosses the River Clyde giving pedestrian access to Bothwell.

Mine disaster

On 22 October 1877, Blantyre was the site of the Blantyre mining disaster, where 207 miners (men and boys) were killed when a coal mine exploded due to methane gas. There is little doubt that safety regulations were not adhered to. Christy Moore and Luke Kelly along with local Blantyre singer/songwriter Drew Semple recorded well-known versions of the traditional song about this disaster. A monument to the disaster of which the youngest victim was a boy of 11 is at High Blantyre cross. The site of the mine now lies under the East Kilbride expressway.

Nearby towns and cities

• Hamilton (borders the Burnbank, Hillhouse and Whitehill areas)
• Glasgow (City Centre) 8 miles (13 km)
• Bothwell 2 miles (3 km)
• Cambuslang 2.5 miles (4.0 km)
• Rutherglen 5 miles (8 km)
• East Kilbride 4 miles (6 km)
• Motherwell 5 miles (8 km)

Sport

Football

Blantyre presently has a football club competing in Scottish Junior Football Association competitions, Blantyre Victoria F.C.. Known as the Vics, they won the Scottish Junior Cup (the highest achievement in junior football) in 1950, 1970 and 1982; their home ground is called Castle Park. There is another football club in the town, Blantyre Celtic F.C.. The original club went out of existence in the early 1990s however, in 2010, they reformed as an amateur team.

Speedway

The town of Blantyre has long had links with speedway racing. In the pioneer days a group of riders who appeared at White City in Glasgow were known as "The Blantyre Crowd". They operated their own track at Airbles Road in Motherwell in 1930 and this was known as Paragon Speedway. The Blantyre Crowd also operated a more professional version on the same site in 1932. The greatest ever Scottish rider, Ken McKinlay came from Blantyre as did Tommy Miller who had a somewhat meteoric rise to stardom in 1950. Speedway was staged at the Greyhound Stadium as the home of the Glasgow Tigers in the late 1970s/early 1980s before the new road forced a move to Craighead Park which closed down at the end of the 1986 season.

Skateboarding

Recently, Blantyre Skate Park has received a lot of business as the youth company Radworx has been operating within it as well as some other skate parks. The skate park contains a 4 ft (1.2 m) spine section as well as an 8 ft (2.4 m) halfpipe, alongside a 6 ft (1.8 m) counterpart. There is a 2 ft (0.6 m) mini-bowl and a credible street section which contains two fun boxes as well as a 5-set.

Schools

• Primary schools
  • St. Blane's
  • St. Joseph's
  • High Blantyre Primary
  • David Livingstone Primary
  • Auchinraith Primary
• High school
  • Calderside Academy

Institutions

Blantyre contains many amenities, including:

• Blantyre Leisure Centre – sports centre with swimming pool
• Blantyre Asda
• Stonefield Park – with a purpose-built skate-park
• Victoria Nursing Home (for the elderly)
• David Livingstone Centre – museum built in the birthplace and former home of David Livingstone
• Five churches
  • St. Joseph's (R.C.)
  • David Livingstone Memorial Church (C.o.S.)
  • St. Andrew's (C.o.S.)
  • Saint John Ogilvie (R.C.)
  • Blantyre Old Parish Church (C.o.S.)
• David Dale House – South Lanarkshire Council facility named after another famous Lanarkshire dweller, famous for his connection with New Lanark
• Blantyre Credit Union
• Terminal One – Fully equipped Youth Centre with state of the Art Multimedia equipment, Recording Studio and Rehearsal Room, Community Internet Cafe, Mobile youth facilities including 3 x DIGIBUS's and mobile climbing wall and lots more.
• Priory Parks

Youth

In August 1983, a democratic non party political pressure group was formed in Blantyre called Blantyre Youth Council, which aimed to represent young people's views in the town and actively engage young people in campaigning for better facilities. The youth council contributed over the next few years to developing youth involvement in the local volunteer centre and community council. BYC set up a youth enquiry service for young people and a Claimants Union which advised young people and adults. The youth council conducted a series of public meetings for youth throughout the town and conducted a survey amongst the town's youth which demonstrated a need for more and cheaper facilities for young people. The full-time Youth Enquiry Service Base was in the Elizabeth Scott Centre (now Terminal One). In 1984, as part of their "Working with young People" policy, Strathclyde Regional Council created Blantyre Youth Development Team against initial opposition from Blantyre Youth Council who saw no need for an officer/adult led organisation in a town with an active and successful youth council. Blantyre Youth Council eventually agreed to disband however and support the youth development team on the principle that it was to be youth led. At an early meeting, the youth development team unanimously agreed to support a motion calling for the organisation to concentrate its energies on creating a youth centre in the town. The YDT gained charity status in 1997 and created the Terminal One youth centre. It provides services to the young people of Blantyre and North Hamilton including music tuition, multimedia artistic tuition, recording studios, youth clubs, excursions and self-development programmes. It is funded by South Lanarkshire Council, the Scottish Arts Council and the Blantyre/North Hamilton SIP.

David Livingstone

File:Livingstone-Lion sculpture, Blantyre.JPG

Livingstone's famous encounter with the lion at Mabotsa is the subject of a bronze sculpture in the grounds of the David Livingstone Centre. It was designed by Ray Harryhausen who was married to one of Livingstone's descendants from the American branch of the family.

Blantyre's most famous son is the 19th century missionary and explorer David Livingstone. He is acknowledged as the first European to see the "Mosi-oa-Tunya" (Tokaleya and Tonga: "the Smoke that Thunders") which he named in English the Victoria Falls after the then British sovereign Queen Victoria. His birthplace and childhood home is now a museum at the end of Station Road, on the banks of the River Clyde. The Centre includes a museum dating from 1929 (now run by the National Trust for Scotland), a playpark, a cafe, a shop, an African Garden and several workshop studios. An adventure assault course also existed there before a young man died in 1995.

Mandala (the largest city and commercial centre of Malawi, one of the territories Livingstone explored) is more commonly named Blantyre in recognition of the link created by Livingstone during the colonial era.

Notable people

• Philip Murray, American trade union leader.
• Ryan Fletcher, actor.
• Stuart Christie, anarchist who was to stand trial in Spain for plotting to blow up Francisco Franco.
• Martin Bulloch, drummer of the Scottish group Mogwai.
• Tommy Miller, speedway rider.
• Ken McKinlay, speedway rider.
• Ian Stewart, former Labour MP for Eccles.
• John Cooney, Leinster rugby union player.
• Steven Smith, footballer (Rangers, Portland Timbers, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock)

See also

• List of places in South Lanarkshire

External links

• Google Map of Blantyre and surrounds