Gartcosh
| Gartcosh | |
| Lanarkshire | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Gartcosh from the air | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NS696679 |
| Location: | 55°53’13"N, 4°5’2"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Glasgow |
| Postcode: | G69 |
| Local Government | |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill |
Gartcosh is a village in the north of Lanarkshire, a few miles east of Glasgow, and about one mile north-west of Coatbridge.
In 2012 the population of Gartcosh was estimated at 2,130 people. Expansion of the village including 300 homes in the Heathfield Park estate and new developments elsewhere have increased the population.
History
The name Gartcosh might be derived perhaps from the Gaelic 'Gart' meaning 'field' and 'Cos' meaning 'hollow'. Alternatively "enclosure of the foot" has been suggested.[1] Several old documents show Gartcosh (spelled Gartcash), including maps by Pont, Forrest,[2] and William Roy.[3]
Though originally an agricultural village, Gartcosh is better known for its role in developing industry.[4] In the early 19th century there were a number of mines in the local area, and the first railway to service Gartcosh was used to transport coal to Glasgow. By 1837 there was a railway station, or to be more accurate a stopping place as there were no platforms or waiting rooms.
From the mid-19th century onwards, Gartcosh became prominent in industry with the opening of iron works[5] and fireclay works.
Gartcosh Fireclay Works was established by James Binnie in 1863. Although mostly concerned with firebrick manufacture, during the early years its output was much more varied, extending to garden vases and pedestals, garden edges, fountains, chimney cans, roof tiles, cattle troughs, sewage pipes and other products.[6] It was one of a group of such businesses in the area, with others at Cardowan, Garnkirk, Cumbernauld, Heathfield and Glenboig.[7] The fire clay works at Garcosh at the end of the 19th century was owned by the Glenboig Union Fireclay Company Limited.[8] Gartcosh Fireclay Works eventually closed down in the 1950s, when local supplies of fireclay were exhausted.
In 1865, William Gray & Co established the Woodneuk Iron Works. This was bought by Smith & McLeans in 1872 and subsequently Colville's steel mills. British Steel Corporation took ownership of the Colville's steel mill in Gartcosh in 1967 and operated until its closure in February 1986. The main steel mill building was demolished around 1994–95. The galvanising plant continued with other tenants and uses until the building was demolished in 2002.
Smith & McLeans had considerable trouble purchasing the land for the extension of the steelworks from the original land owners. Most of Gartcosh at the time was owned by two strict Presbyterian spinster sisters who were unswayed by the considerable financial offerings of the company. They eventually relented, on the condition that no public house, betting shop or Catholic church would ever be housed within the Gartcosh boundaries. This agreement still holds to this day.
For this reason, Chapman's public house is built immediately outside of the natural boundary of Gartcosh (a small burn running to Glenboig). In the 1960s, there was a successful application for licensed premises, under the label of Gartcosh Works Social Club. There has never been a licensed bookmakers in Gartcosh. The resident Roman Catholic population travel to the neighbouring towns.
Gartloch Hospital was opened as in 1896 and handed over to the Glasgow District Lunacy Board as an asylum for the poor people of Glasgow.[9]
Parish church
.jpg)
There is a Church of Scotland parish in Gartcosh.
The church hall is used for various community projects
The defunct Anglican church at the top of the hill on Lochend Road was demolished in 1997 for property development.
The village today
.jpg)
Gartcosh is now primarily a residential area. Since the end of heavy industry, new housing has sprung up in and around the old village, with plans for more.
Gartcosh Business Interchange is being developed on the site of the old strip mill and steel works. This project will provide over 1,800,000 square feet of business space.
Society and sport
- Boys Brigarde: 1st Gartcosh Boys' Brigade
- Football: Gartcosh United, founded in 1962
On film, television and other media
- The Big Mill (1963), a film showing steel being produced at Ravenscraig and Gartcosh[10]
- Make Way For Steel (1966), a film on the building of the steel works at Ravenscraig and Gartcosh[11]
- Inspector Rebus novels by Ian Rankin: Gartcosh is often mentioned as the location of a fictional police station.[12]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gartcosh) |
- Gartcosh at Gazetteer for Scotland
References
- ↑ Drummond, Peter, John (2014). An analysis of toponyms and toponymic patterns in eight parishes of the upper Kelvin basin. Glasgow: Glasgow University. p. 163. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5270/1/2014DrummondPhD.pdf#page=164. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
- ↑ "Old County Maps". http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=15&lat=55.8905&lon=-4.0849&layers=20&b=5&point=55.8903,-4.0835.
- ↑ "Roy's map of the Lowlands". http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=55.8898&lon=-4.0928&layers=4&b=3.
- ↑ "IN & AROUND GARTCOSH- Industries". https://sites.google.com/site/gartcoshlocalhistory/in-and-around-gartcosh--industries.
- ↑ Macdonald's Scottish directory and gazetteer. Edinburgh: W. MacDonald & Co. Ltd.. 1884. p. 241. https://archive.org/stream/macdonaldsscot189798edin#page/241/mode/1up/search/gartcosh. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William (1878). The ceramic art of Great Britain from pre-historic times down to the present day : being a history of the ancient and modern pottery and porcelain works of the Kingdom, and of their productions of every class. London: Virtue. p. 508. https://archive.org/stream/ceramicartofgrea02jewiuoft#page/508/mode/2up/search/gartcosh. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ Mort, Frederick (1910). Lanarkshire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 88. https://archive.org/stream/lanarkshire00mortuoft#page/88/mode/2up/search/gartcosh. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ Turner, John A. (1894). Brickmaking in the land o' Scots (Brick and Clay Record, Volume 11, Issue 4 ed.). Chicago: Windsor and Kenfield Pub. Co.. pp. 166–168. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112052628002;view=1up;seq=172. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ "Gartloch Hospital, Lunatic Asylums, Glasgow hospitals". http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/Asylums/Gartloch.htm.
- ↑ "The Big Mill at the Moving Image Archive". National Library of Scotland. http://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0387.
- ↑ "Make Way For Steel at the Moving Image Archive". National Library of Scotland. http://movingimage.nls.uk/film/2244.
- ↑ "Police Scotland chief had dinner with top crime writers to 'reassure' them over force changes" (in en). 18 August 2016. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14688741.ian-rankin-reveals-police-scotland-chief-dinner-crime-writers-reassure-force-changes/.