New Stevenston

New Stevenston
Lanarkshire
New Stevenston
Location
Grid reference:	NS763598
Location:	55°48’55"N, 3°58’34"W
Data
Post town:	Motherwell
Postcode:	ML1 4
Dialling code:	01698
Local Government
Council:	North Lanarkshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Motherwell and Wishaw

New Stevenston is a village of Lanarkshire, in the north of the county, between Motherwell and Bellshill. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Carfin, Holytown and Newarthill which have a combined population of around 20,000 across the four villages.

History

The settlement first formed as part of the parish of Holytown when substantial coal workings were being exploited during the 19th Century. The village prospered, and so when the Church of Scotland suffered the Disruption in 1843 the new Free Church was constructed in New Stevenston or Wrangholm to serve the mining community.

With the decline of coal mining, and the rise of the steel and heavy engineering industries the bulk of the population were employed until the serious industrial decline of the late 20th Century, culminating in the closure of the Ravenscraig steelworks.

Employment has shifted towards more diverse occupations and housing development has continued. There has been significant redevelopment since the late 1960s when the bulk of the late 19th century tenement flats were demolished.

Churches

The parish church, of the [Church of Scotland]], is Wrangholm Kirk. This is the successor to the Free Church built in the 1840s and is the longest continuously worshipping group in the village as well as the oldest place of worship. The congregation share a minister with the neighbouring parish of Holytown and are part of the Presbytery of Hamilton.

The longest serving minister here was the Rev Alexander Dale, from 1910 to 1944. It is suggested that Dale Drive (on the North side of the Legbrannock Burn) was named in his honour.

The coal mining past is still significant; the area has suffered widespread undermining, which was a serious limit to new construction until relatively recently. The church has cracked walls, garden depressions and tie bars as evidence for this.

• Church of Scotland: Wrangholm Kirk
• Christian Brethren: Assembly Hall
• Methodist: New Stevenston Methodist Church
• Roman Catholic: St John Bosco's, opened in 1959

About the village

New Stevenston is well supplied with shops and services for a village its size, including a Co-operative Store, pharmacy, Lidl supermarket and a general store.

There is also the New Stevenston Community Centre

Sport

• Football: New Stevenston F.C.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about New Stevenston)