Stonehouse is a rural village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on Avon Water in an area of natural beauty and historical interest, near to the Clyde Valley. It is on the A71 trunk road between Edinburgh and Kilmarnock, near the towns of Hamilton, Larkhall and Strathaven. The population of Stonehouse is around 5,500 as of .
History
The village's oldest structure are the ruins of St Ninian's Church, which date from the 17th century and stand in an ancient graveyard on the edge of the village. The old village centre has several rows of late 18th century and early 19th century weavers' cottages, some of which have double windows which were originally intended to maximize the amount of light coming in, for weavers working on their looms.
In 1973, Stonehouse was designated to become an addition to Scotland's new towns with the purpose of strengthening the output of public sector housing available to rehouse Glasgow's people from its unfit tenements, a modern urban design to alleviate overcrowding in and around Glasgow and to generate industrial development, similar to the towns of East Kilbride, Cumbernauld and Livingston. Stonehouse was added to the responsibilities of the East Kilbride Development Corporation. Following the West Central Scotland Plan of 1974 and the inception of Strathclyde Regional Council in 1975, regional planning strategy was refocused upon regeneration within Glasgow leading to the establishment of the GEAR project in Glasgow's East End. With the encouragement of the Regional Council, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Bruce Millan, agreed that Stonehouse's development would be halted in 1976 and de-designated in 1977 after just 96 houses had been constructed. When challenged by the Scottish Office to give evidence of the claimed interest of industries in moving to Stonehouse, the Development Corporation had been unable to demonstrate any significant interest.
Cot Castle
Cot (Kat) Castle might better be classified as a "keep" or a "tower house," more like a fortified house than castle per se. Compared to English keeps, both Scottish and Irish keeps were generally smaller, but could provide both comfort and security, during the period of border war that marked the reign of Edward I of England and those who followed him for three centuries. During the 14th and 15th centuries, keeps or tower houses were easier for the Scots to maintain against their wealthy foe to the south. Defense of Cot Castle would have been aided by the fact that it was built on the banks of the River Avon atop a cliff face. Little is known about the provenance of the castle, but it is thought to have changed hands frequently in a period when loss of a battle meant loss of one's property. However, it is known that it belonged to the Hamiltons in the year 1500.
In the 1937 Statistical Account of Stonehouse mention is made of Cot castle in the following extract:
"Among the documents discovered in 1887 in the Hamilton Chamberlain’s office, is a notarial instrument, narrating that in terms of a charter granted by himself, Alexander Hamilton of Catcastell, passed to the one-mark of Woodland and the half-merk land of Brownland, lying in the barony of Stanehouse and the sheriffdom of Lanark and there gave sasine of these lands with his own hands to James Wynzet, his heirs and assignees in usual form, 29th January 1511-12."
Cot Castle farm, which was built much later, lapsed into ruins and was abandoned altogether in the late 1970s. A railway station was also located here at more recent times.
Holy wells Four holy wells stood in Stonehouse in pagan times, but may eventually have been adapted to Christian use as baptismal fonts. Thomas Carlyle, 19th century philosopher and writer, said this of holy wells:
It is a curious thing that I remarked long ago and have often turned in my head that the old word for 'holy' in the German language—heilig—also means 'healthy.' And so Heilbronn means 'holy well' or 'healthy well.' We have in the Scotch 'hale,’ and I suppose our English word 'whole'—with a 'w'—all of one piece without any hole in it—is the same word. I find that you could not get any better definition of what 'holy' really is than 'healthy'—completely healthy"
Richard Naismith drew the connection between the pagan and Christian use of the well, saying, "It is easy to conceive how this well would be used to administer the rite of Christian baptism and, in those superstitious times, virtues would be attributed to the water of a healing character that would cause such wells to be regarded as holy, and pilgrims from the surrounding country would flock to try the healing properties of the famous wells." He locates the well "between the churchyard and the farm of Eastmains."
Site of Ringsdale Castle
Ringsdale Castle, like Cot, was not a castle per se, but a motte. Its remains can be seen on the raised motte at the summit of the Avon Gorge, overlooking the river. The name Ringsdale is believed to be derived from the word Rhyn, meaning promontory or hill, in the language of the ancient Britons. Glenavon Cottage, reputed to have a romantic air, though all that remains now is a small corner of its walls. In addition, a mill called Cloxy (Clocksy) Mill was marked on an 1838 map as appearing near Ringsdale. Its ruins on the banks of the Avon can still be seen, though there are no extant records of its origin.
Other castles In the area of Stonehouse, there are a number of castles on the outskirts of the parish: Allanton, Brocket, Plotcock, Glassford, and Darngaber motte.
The farm of Castlehill near Spittal seems also to have been named after a castle, which may have existed in early times, though no trace remains. It has been suggested that, given its location near the old military road that runs through the parish, it could have been established as a fort by the Romans.
Covenanter memorials During the 17th century, the Scottish Presbyterians called Covenanters refused to accept English episcopacy in church government, which eventually erupted into armed hostilities. The area around Stonehouse was affected when the Battle of Drumclog in South Lanarkshire was fought 1 June 1679, southwest of Stonehouse. James Thomson of Stonehouse Parish was among those who died as a result of wounds inflicted during that battle. He was buried in St. Ninian's churchyard, which, like other churchyards in the area, holds other Covenanter graves. On the 201st anniversary of the battle, in June 1880, approximately 2,000 people commemorated the Battle of Drumclog at St. Ninian's.
Another battle took place about northeast of Stonehouse at Sodom Hill. It is believed the conflict at Sodom Hill was "a skirmish between the Convenanters and "Clavers," that is, the troops under John Graham of Claverhouse, who had been appointed captain by King Charles II. Little is known of this conflict, but Robert K. Chalmers' song "In Praise of the Avon" included these lines:
Sodom Hill and Drumclog Field
Where weavers fought and wadna yield;
Where Scotland’s richts were firmly seal’d
Beside the winding Avon.
Three weeks later, the Covenanter cause came to an end in Lanarkshire at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, about north of Stonehouse. On 20 June 1903, the 224th anniversary of the battle, approximately 25,000 people assembled at the site for a dedication of a monument to commemorate the battle.
Schools
Stonehouse has two primary schools in modern buildings: Stonehouse Primary and Newfield Primary. Both of these schools are within the catchment area of Larkhall Academy, but some children in the village attend Strathaven Academy. The local Catholic primary school is St. Patrick's Primary School in Strathaven.
Transport
Roads
Stonehouse is on the A71 trunk road, which stretches between Edinburgh and Kilmarnock. A by-pass was constructed around the old village area, re-joining the original route of the A71 near Stonehouse Hospital at the village's Newfield area. Stonehouse is close to the M74 motorway, with a junction at Canderside Toll about from the village, which provides a link to Glasgow and other Lanarkshire towns to the North and Dumfries and Galloway and England to the South.
Buses
Stonehouse has regular bus transport to the nearby towns of Larkhall, Hamilton, East Kilbride and Strathaven provided by the Stonehouse-based Whitelaw's Coaches service 254. The bus runs half-hourly on Monday to Saturday daytimes to Hamilton, with each second bus extending to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride. An hourly service runs on evenings and Sundays to Hamilton.
Railways
The railway was closed in 1965. There are two closed lines at Stonehouse, one to Dalserf and the other to Strathaven. There was a junction in Stonehouse where the Coalburn branch diverged from the line to Strathaven. Today, the nearest railway station for Stonehouse is at Larkhall. South Lanarkshire Council have recently undertaken a feasibility study in order to examine whether the railway from Larkhall could be extended towards Stonehouse; however the major obstacles are the viaduct which whilst the piers remain, the decking was removed in 1984. Also in the mid-1990s the A71 bypass was partially built over the trackbed of the former line.
Sports
Alexander Hamilton Memorial Park
The Alexander Hamilton Memorial Park was opened in 1925, gifted by Alexander Hamilton (from Stonehouse) who made his fortune in carpet manufacture. The distinctive bandstand came from the 1911 Scottish National Exhibition in Glasgow. The park and bandstand look over the Avon Valley.
A long park chute was built into the hillside and was opened in 1933 by Councillor Thomas Wilson but was dismantled in 1967.
Today the park has a floodlit athletics track, football pitch, multi-surface games area as well as woodland walks and various play areas.
Tileworks Sports Ground
The Tileworks sports ground has a floodlit all weather playing surface designed for football or tennis. The facility also has indoor changing facilities and a full size grass pitch used previously by Stonehouse Violet F.C. and now used by Royal Albert F.C.
Stonehouse Bowling Club
The bowling club was first formed in 1857 at Loch Hall but later moved to its present location in Vicars Road
Buildings of interest in Stonehouse
Churches
The town has two main churches - St. Ninian's Church and Paterson United Free Church of Scotland. St. Ninian's Church was built in 1896, replacing the building in New Street which was built in 1772, at a time when the Old Parish Church lacked space. In 1929, after the Union of the Churches, this was renamed to St Ninian's Parish Church of Scotland.
The ruins of the original St Ninian's church are situated within its own cemetery off Manse Road. Religious worship and burial on the site is thought to date back to the 5th century. The oldest gravestone in the yard is a fragment of a medieval burial, dating to the 11th or 12th century. The oldest legible inscription is from 1663.
Paterson United Free Church of Scotland was renamed to honour H. A. Paterson, the church's minister who died in 1901, this church was originally called the United Presbyterian Church and was built in 1879. Prior to this was the church for the Associates Secession or Burgher denomination, which was built nearby in 1796 and existed until 1878.
Stonehouse Senior Citizens Hall
This hall started life as the Gas Office. It is situated in the village square at Stonehouse Cross and shared the building with Stonehouse Library.
The Stonehouse Library is now situated within the South Lanarkshire Lifestyles Centre on Strathaven Road.
Stonehouse Public Institute
The institute was formerly the Miners Welfare Hall. It was built in the early 1900s on New Street, close to the cross and is used for a variety of events and concerts. The smaller part of the building was also used as a radio studio, providing a local FM radio station for most of South Lanarkshire.
Stonehouse Public Hall