Motherwell (, ) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, around south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120.Not including nearby villages Carfin, Cleland, Newarthill, Holytown and New Stevenston which are recorded separately. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarkshire, Motherwell is the headquarters for North Lanarkshire Council. Geographically the River Clyde separates Motherwell from Hamilton to the west whereas the South Calder Water separates Motherwell from Carfin to the north-east and New Stevenston and Bellshill towards the north.
Motherwell is also geographically attached to Wishaw and the two towns form a large urban area in North Lanarkshire, with both towns having similar populations and strong community ties.
History A Roman road through central Scotland ran along Motherwell's side of the River Clyde, crossing the South Calder Water near Bothwellhaugh. At this crossing a fort and bath house were erected, but the Roman presence in Scotland did not last much later than this. Motherwell's location in the Scottish Lowlands means that it would have been inhabited by the Britons. Motherwell's name reportedly comes from a well, the Lady Well, formerly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The site of this well is now marked by a plaque on Ladywell Road. The name "Moderwelt" appears on a map of Lanarkshire made by Timothy Pont some time between 1583 and 1611 and printed in the Netherlands in around 1652.
By the start of the 19th century, Motherwell was a small hamlet, a farming community of some 600 people living adjacently to the 16th century laird's manor, Jerviston house. The hamlet remained reasonably small, reaching 1,700 people by 1841, and centred on the crossroads between the main road following the Clyde, and the road connecting Edinburgh with Hamilton and the west.
Motherwell's fortunes changed dramatically in the second half of the 19th century. With the coming of the railway in 1848, came industry and money. By 1881 David Colville had opened both an iron and steel works; Motherwell had a new piped water supply; had been granted burgh status and had its population swelled to 13,800 people.
By the end of the 19th century, Motherwell Town Hall and Dalziel High School had been built, the local football club had been founded, and its stadium, Fir Park, had been constructed.
At the start of the 20th century, Motherwell stood a large and growing industrial centre, a town of 37,000 people and a wide variety of heavy industries such as munitions, trams and bridge components. By the 1930s most of Scotland's steel production was in Motherwell, and owned by the Colville family. In 1959 the Colville family were persuaded by the government to begin work of a vast new steel works, which would become Ravenscraig. Within a few years, Ravenscraig was producing more than a million tonnes of steel per year. Following nationalisation of the steel industry, production at the plant was raised, with the Motherwell blast furnaces producing 3 million tonnes each year.
40 locals from Lanarkshire travelled to become volunteers of the International Brigades to fight for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War memorial in Duchess Park in Motherwell commemorates them.
By the middle of the 1970s, Motherwell's steel industry employed more than 13,000 people.
The 1980s brought a catastrophic collapse in the industry of Motherwell. The steel strike of 1980 lost British Steel Corporation important contracts and markets, followed by the closure of important local customers such as the Linwood car factory and Bathgate truck factory, Ravenscraig employed only 3,200 people by the end of the 1980s. Ravenscraig closed on 24 June 1992, and was demolished in July 1996, bringing 400 years of Scottish iron production to an end. Today the Dalzell Plate Mill is all that remains of Motherwell's industrial heritage, rolling steel from Middlesbrough into steel plates of various sizes.
By the start of the 21st century, Motherwell had begun to transform itself with the service industry thriving, the large scale unemployment of the previous twenty years had been largely remedied. Through the expansion of both towns, Motherwell and Wishaw are now effectively one continuous urban area, although the towns remain distinct.
The town served as the location for the Orange Order's Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland between 2021 and 2023.
Culture Motherwell hosted the National Mòd in 1983.List of Mod's places for each year on Sabhal Mòr Ostaig website
Strathclyde Park previously hosted the major Scottish music festival, T in the Park, until 1996, when it was moved to a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire. The park also contains the ruins of a Roman bathhouse linked to the nearby site of Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort.
Economy Motherwell is the headquarters for both North Lanarkshire Council, which is one of Scotland's most populous local authority areas, and of Police Scotland "Q" division. These organisations cover an overall population of 327,000 people (59,000 in Motherwell and Wishaw) throughout the of North Lanarkshire.
Motherwell was noted as the steel production capital of Scotland, nicknamed Steelopolis,Robert Duncan (1992) "Steelopolis -The making of Motherwell c1750–1939" Motherwell District Council home of David Colville & Sons during the 19th and 20th centuries, with its skyline later dominated by the water tower and three cooling towers of their Ravenscraig steelworks which closed in 1992. The Ravenscraig plant had one of the longest continuous casting, hot rolling, steel production facilities in the world before it was decommissioned. The closure of Ravenscraig signalled the end of large scale steel making in Scotland, although the town's Dalzell steel plate works continues to be operated by Tata Steel Europe.
In the past decade, Motherwell has to an extent recovered from the high unemployment and economic decline brought about by this collapse of heavy industry. A number of call centres and business parks such as Strathclyde Business Park have since set up in the region. Large employers include William Grant & Sons whisky distillers and the heavy equipment manufacturer Volvo Construction Equipment/Rokbak.
Motherwell has been a Fairtrade Town since January 2007.
Transport
Railway
The town has two stations, a main railway station (known simply as Motherwell), and . The main station runs on the West Coast Main Line from Glasgow to London and on the East Coast Main Line via Edinburgh and Newcastle, and is located next to Motherwell Shopping Centre. National train operators; Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express, pass through the main station, but not all stop there. The station is also served by ScotRail who provide direct services to Carstairs, Coatbridge Central, Cumbernauld, Dalmuir, Edinburgh, Lanark, Milngavie and North Berwick. The smaller station in the Airbles suburb of Motherwell only runs on the line to via low level and ; however, it is closer to the Civic Centre and Fir Park stadium than the main-line station. That station is served by ScotRail.
Formerly, Motherwell, Wishaw and Hamilton were served by the Lanarkshire Tramways (closed 1931), which were connected to the very large Glasgow electric tramway system (closed 1962) at both Cambuslang and Uddingston. At its maximum extent, the 200-mile system extended to Balloch, Milngavie, Airdrie, Larkhall, Clarkston, Barrhead, Kilbarchan and Renfrew, besides providing a dense network of lines offering pollution-free electric transport in the city centre.
The (now defunct) firm of Hurst Nelson was a major railway rolling stock manufacturer based in the town. The company built trains for the London Underground, and tramcars, as well as vehicles for main line railways.
Roads Motherwell is very accessible by car, as it is right next to the M74 motorway beside the River Clyde. This road leads to Cumbria on the Anglo-Scottish border, where it becomes the M6. It is also about drive from the M8 motorway that links the two largest cities of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh; the nearby A725 road, a dual carriageway with grade-separated junctions, connects the two motorways. Within the town, the primary routes are the A721 (roughly east-west between Wishaw and Bellshill) and the A723 (roughly north-south between Carfin / Newarthill and Hamilton), with a bypass formed by the B754 Airbles Road skirting the south of the town centre.
Bus There are a number of different bus companies that travel through the town to various different locations. Bus operators serving Motherwell include First (Routes X11, X43, 201, 209, 211, 240, N240, 243, 242, 291, 293, and 266), JMB Travel (Routes 5, X5, 41, 41A, 42, and 42A), Stuarts Coaches (Route 240X, 366, and 367), Whitelaws Coaches (Route 253), ARG Travel (Route 92 and 245), and PVT Transfer (Route 355).
Places that can be accessed by bus from Motherwell include: Wishaw Hamilton Bellshill East Kilbride Coatbridge Airdrie Glasgow Carluke Lanark Larkhall Law Shotts
The three acute hospitals in Lanarkshire can also be reached by bus from Motherwell:
University Hospital Wishaw University Hospital Hairmyres University Hospital Monklands
Nearest airports Since the M74 Extension has been completed, access to Glasgow Airport has become easier. The airport is approximately away from Motherwell. Edinburgh Airport is further away, at , and can be reached by the M8.
Places of interest
As well as the town's Country Park, The North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, formerly the Motherwell Heritage Centre on High Road, situated next to the town's railway station, is a building that displays the history of Motherwell from the Roman era. The building also has a viewing tower on the fifth floor, giving visitors a good view of the town and other parts of Lanarkshire, as well as of mountains as far back as Ben Lomond.
Motherwell Civic Centre is the headquarters of North Lanarkshire Council (since 1996, previously the offices of Motherwell District Council within the Strathclyde region since 1975). A number of pantomimes and musicals have taken place in the concert hall and theatre within the complex. As well as this, top-level snooker (the Scottish Masters event) was also held there.
The Dalzell House is a building that is situated to the south of the town, right on the banks of the River Clyde. This house is protected as a Category-A listed building.
One of the main attractions in Motherwell is the M & D's Amusement Park, which is situated next to Strathclyde Loch in Strathclyde Park.
Motherwell Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Good Aid, popularly known as Motherwell Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral which is the Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell. It is the seat of the Bishop of Motherwell and its current bishop is Joseph Toal. The cathedral is open to the public most days. It is used as a venue for performances of the Motherwell Diocesan Choir.
Education
Primary schools
The following primary schools are located in Motherwell:
Cathedral Primary School Glencairn Primary School Knowetop Primary School Ladywell Primary School Logans Primary School Muirhouse Primary School Muir Street Primary School St. Bernadette's Primary School St Brendan's Primary School Firpark Primary School
Secondary schools
Dalziel High School is located on Crawford Street near Duchess park, serving areas including North Motherwell, The Globe, Greenacres, Airbles and North Lodge. and has a school roll of around 1,000 pupils. Notable alumni of Dalziel include former Motherwell, Wigan and Rangers player Lee McCulloch and international television journalist, Alan Fisher.