Wishaw

For the village in England, see Wishaw, Warwickshire.

Wishaw
Scots: Wishae
Main Street, Wishaw
Wishaw  Wishaw shown within North Lanarkshire
Population	28,565 (2001 census)
OS grid reference	NS795555
Council area	North Lanarkshire
Lieutenancy area	Lanarkshire
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WISHAW
Postcode district	ML2
Dialling code	01698
Police	Strathclyde
Fire	Strathclyde
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Motherwell and Wishaw
Scottish Parliament	Motherwell and Wishaw Central Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Wishaw ( listen or  listen ) is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Glasgow.

The main areas of Wishaw are: Cambusnethan, Coltness, Craigneuk, Gowkthrapple, Dimsdale, Greenhead, Wishawhill, Netherton, Pather and Waterloo. There are two adjoining villages, often included as part of the town for administrative purposes: Overtown and Newmains.

Wishaw has long lived in the shadow of its bigger and better known neighbour, Motherwell, with which it formed the joint large burgh in 1920, the Burgh of Motherwell and Wishaw, until its dissolution when Scottish local authorities were restructured in 1975. The Motherwell and Wishaw constituency is represented in the UK Parliament by Frank Roy MP. In the Scottish Parliament the constituency is represented by John Pentland.

History

It is not certain how the name Wishaw came about. The town is probably named after Wishaw House, built in the woods by the South Calder Water, which was likely built some time after the selling of Coltness, Wishaw, Watstein and Stain to Hamilton of Uddsten, the predecessor to Lord Belhaven. It was probably in these days that the estate was named, "wis" being Old Scotch for water, and "shaw" meaning forest or wood. Other theories exist; one such is that it may be derived from the Scots for "Wicket gate in the wood", and that it used to be called Wygateshaw. Alternatively, it may be from the Old English for "Willow Wood". Others believe the name was originally Viashaw, meaning way or road through the wood. Yet another theory is that the name derives from "Wee Shaw", meaning small wood.

The town itself is not very old, but settlement in the area dates back to the 12th century when St. Nethan established a kirk dedicated to St. Michael by a bend (Gaelic camus) in the Clyde near what is now Netherton. The area then became known as the parish of Cambusnethan, and remained so until the Reformation. The site of the original church remains as a ruined burial ground, including an impressive mausoleum to Lord Belhaven, although the church is in an irreparable state.

The village itself was laid out in 1794, named Cambusnethan, and later renamed Wishawtown. On September 4, 1855, the town was incorporated with the villages of Coltness and Stewarton to form the Burgh of Wishaw, with a population of approximately 5,000.

In November 1996, the world's worst recorded outbreak of E.coli 0157 occurred in the town, in which 21 people died and around 200 were infected.[1]

The Wishaw Press is the town's local newspaper, and has been serving the town for over 50 years.

Areas of Wishaw

In alphabetical order:

• Cambusnethan - Cambusnethan (or Cambie as people sometimes call it) is the northernmost area of the town, situated around the A722 (Cambusnethan Street). Many people live in houses, though there is a few blocks there.
• Coltness - Coltness lies 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of the town center. Coltness is divided by a large area of woodland. It is also the largest suburb of the town, with a population of 4,500 (2001).
• Craigneuk - Craigneuk lies west of the town center and is the nearest suburb to Motherwell.
• Gowkthrapple - Gowkthrapple (or Gowky) is a large suburb south of the town center, currently affected by a large regeneration project. Gowkthrapple is the only area of Wishaw where you can find high-rise flats.(excluding the town center itself).
• Dimsdale - Dimsdale lies southeast of the town center and is mainly composed of low-rise housing.
• Greenhead - Greenhead is a small suburb, made mostly of a few homes.
• Netherton - Netherton is a large industrial area of Wishaw, joined with the Muirhouse area of Motherwell.
• Pather - Pather is an old and vandalized area of the town, with the most vandalized place being two low-rise blocks.
• Town Center - The central area of Wishaw is its largest shopping area with many stores including a Lidl and a large Tesco.

The town center also contains the Anvil Block, a high-rise, but vandalized maisonette block.

• Waterloo - Waterloo is a small suburb of Wishaw, around a mile (1.6 km) southeast.
• Wishawhill - Wishawhill is a housing estate just northwest of the town center.

People

Notable people from Wishaw include:

• Paul Higgins, actor and writer
• John Higgins, world snooker champion
• Enrico Cocozza, underground film-maker
• John Cleland, motor racing champion
• Sir Samuel Curran, physicist, inventor of the scintillation counter, and founder of Strathclyde University
• The Jolt, 1970s pop group
• The Alexander Brothers, musicians and entertainers
• Gordon Reid, actor
• Anne Sharp, opera singer
• Marie McLaughlin, opera singer
• Colin Cramb, footballer
• Joe Baker, footballer
• Stan McEwan, footballer
• Paul Quinn, footballer
• Derek Holmes, footballer
• Tommy Gemmell, footballer
• Andrew Barrowman, footballer
• Lee Miller, footballer
• Roy Henderson, footballer
• Alex Wilson, footballer
• Alan Fisher, journalist
• John Gibson Lockhart, biographer and novelist
• Thomas Winning, archbishop and cardinal
• Michael Moore, politician
• Frank S. Walsh, scientist
• Deborah Orr, journalist and columnist
• Bill Scott, rugby player
• Alison Turriff, musician

Transport

Bus

The town has a comprehensive bus network operated by First. Other smaller providers include: Irvine's, Stuart's, Henderson Travel, Coakley and Whitelaw's. Destinations that can be reached by bus from the town include:

• Lanark
• Carluke
• Larkhall
• Motherwell
• Hamilton
• Bellshill
• Blantyre
• Glasgow
• Shotts
• Livingston
• Coatbridge
• Holytown

Historically, bus services in the Wishaw area were operated by a local company, Hutchison's. Their distinctive blue and yellow buses finally gave way in 2007 to a friendly takeover by one time rival First.

Despite initially closing the Hutchison depot in Overtown upon the takeover, and moving all staff and vehicles to Blantyre, First have since launched new services in the Wishaw area, that has required the re-opening of the depot and indeed a major recruitment campaign.

Wishaw was formerly served by an intensive network of services provided by McKindless. This company was wound up in 2010 following a tax investigation. This had the potential to leave many parts of Lanarkshire without a decent public transport link as McKindless had forced many other operators to abandon routes to places such as Lanark and Shotts. However, SPT and Irvine's and First stepped in to replace most services almost straight away.

Railway

The town has a railway station on the Argyle Line (running from Lanark and Carstairs to Milngavie and Dalmuir). A half hourly service provided by First ScotRail connects Wishaw to places such as:

• Motherwell
• Carluke
• Hamilton
• Cambuslang
• Bellshill
• Uddingston
• Glasgow Central

Wishaw also has a second station, Shieldmuir railway station, serving the Craigneuk area of the town. There is also a twice daily service to Edinburgh Waverley.

The West Coast Main Line passes through the town at 115 mph, but no passenger service trains stop there, as the main Wishaw South railway station on the line closed over 40 years ago.

Roads

Wishaw is on the A71, Edinburgh, Livingston and Kilmarnock road which links the town to the M74 as well as the A73 which links the town with the Borders regions and the M8.

Following a campaign by local politicians, the area is now well signposted from the nearby M8 and M74 motorways. This move was considered necessary as although the town is not considered a principal destination from either of these roads and therefore not included as standard on the signage, it is now the home to the main hospital for an area stretching right down the M74 corridor almost to the English border approximately 75 miles (120 km) away.

Airport

The nearest airport to Wishaw is Glasgow Airport at 20 miles (32 km) distant, though at 26 miles (42 km) Edinburgh Airport is not much further. Connections to both airports are only via the cities they serve as no direct public transport links are available.

Industry

Former industrial employers in the area include many steelworks such as British Steel, Clyde Alloy, Bone Connell & Baxter, though most of these are now defunct due to the decline of the steel industry. Wishaw and its nearby neighbour of Motherwell were once the centre of steel manufacture in Scotland, as both towns were located either side of the former Ravenscraig steelworks.

As a result of its history as a steel manufacturing and mining community, Wishaw was also home to mining and industrial equipment manufacturers such as Anderson Boyes (now part of Long-Airdox) and Svedala, but both these businesses have since gone through changes leading to their movement away from these businesses and the Wishaw area.

The (now defunct) local firm of R Y Pickering & Co Ltd (later Norbrit-Pickering) built railway rolling stock (especially wagons) and many tramcars for tram systems throughout the UK. One of its last tramcar orders was for 10 double-decker trams for Aberdeen Corporation Tramways in 1949.

These days, North Lanarkshire Council suggest that the majority of the biggest employers in the town are supermarkets, with the exceptions of Royal Mail, which has its main Scottish distribution centre at Shieldmuir and the NHS as a result of Wishaw General Hospital. There are many service industry businesses located in the town's industrial areas, though none with more than a few hundred employees.

Education

At present there are three high schools in the area: Clyde Valley High School in Overtown, Coltness High School and St. Aidan's High School, both in Coltness. Historically, Wishaw had four high schools, with Wishaw High being the fourth situated on Dryburgh Road, but this was closed and demolished to make way for a new housing estate.

Primary schools in Wishaw include Calderbridge (Lammermoor and Coltness) St. Thomas',St. Aidan's, Cambusnethan, St. Ignatius' and Wishaw Academy (with both the latter two schools being a joint campus). All of the St. Matthew's pupils were moved into St. Thomas' in 2010, due to the former being closed and demolished.

The town does not have a university or college at present, with the nearest college being Motherwell College, based in Ravenscraig, and the University of the West of Scotland (formerly Bell College of Technology) in Hamilton being the nearest university.

Volunteering

Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (previously known in Wishaw as Volunteer Centre) is the development agency for third sector organisations in North Lanarkshire. From April 2010, VANL replaces the two third sector support bodies in the area (CVS North Lanarkshire and Volunteer Centre North Lanarkshire) to form a single interface for voluntary and community organisations, their staff and volunteers.

The evolution of VANL marks a landmark in the development of the infrastructure for volunteering and voluntary sector development in the area. For the first time, a single organisation will be the point of contact for information, advice and support on voluntary action, and will represent the sector in strategic dialogue with community planning partners.

Operating from offices in Airdrie and Wishaw, VANL is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status (Scottish Charity no. SC041224; Company no. 369302), and is a membership organisation open to third sector organisations across the local authority area.

Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire hosts a range of projects that support staff, volunteers, service users and organisations in the region's third sector.

• Cafe Tryst
• Employability Programmes
• Infobase North Lanarkshire
• MV Awards
• North Lanarkshire Connections
• North Lanarkshire Handyperson Service
• Partnership 4 Change
• Social Car Rental Scheme
• SVA Thematic Networks
• Volunteer Drivers

VANL provides scheduled and bespoke training for staff and volunteers at third sector organisations in a wide variety of areas, including finance, funding & sustainability, governance, ICT, employability and personal development.

http://www.voluntaryactionnorthlanarkshire.org.uk/

Wishaw Computer Club

Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire developed a working group for those interested in helping each other to improve their I.T. skills in a relaxed and safe environment. Participation is free of charge and all training materials are provided. North Lanarkshire Connections is a project that VANL delivers in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council Social Work Department, Bazooka Arts and LEAF. Main involvement in the project involves developing and promoting ‘Time Bank’ volunteering to support vulnerable people in the North Lanarkshire area. As a part of the North Lanarkshire Connections Project has been developed a working group for those interested in helping each other to improve their I.T. skills in a relaxed and safe environment. Participation is free of charge and all training materials are provided. Why not come along and participate by sharing your skills and learning from others.

http://wishawcomputerclub.btck.co.uk/

Life Coaching Club

North Lanarkshire Connections Project has also developed another working group, this time for those interested in helping each other to improve their confidence and help out with stress. Life Coaching Club aim to be fun and help you to help yourself and each other deal with the stress and self-esteem issues that many of us face in day to day life.

Life Coaching Club Members are registered within North Lanarkshire Connections Project and they represent following community groups:

• Volunteers (looking to gain their confidence, socialise and support other people)
• Learning Facilitators (who gain their experience through working with Club Members)
• Unemployed people interested in Volunteering (looking to develop their confidence and lean towards employment)
• Vulnerable adults and people with learning difficulties (interested in Timebank and looking to gain their confidence)
• People who are looking for short-term help with their stress (they often discover incredible world of volunteering)
• Other community members, who are actively looking for volunteering opportunities

http://www.lifecoachingclub.btck.co.uk/

Timebank Radio

Timebank Radio project is a fresh new internet radio station, where new and emerging talent can practice their skills on a global scale and get constructive feedback on their performance. There will also be plenty of opportunities to use your IT skills in our web team. It will give you the opportunity to experience what it is like to work in radio and what roles are available, and most importantly, it will give you opportunity to meet people! If you are thinking of pursuing a career as a presenter, voice-over artist or producer, being involved with such a project would also give you the chance to produce a demo (and may let you have your own show!). But it's also a great experience in its own right!

http://timebankradio.btck.co.uk/

Guitar Club

The aim of the Club is to combat social isolation in an informal setting by learning and sharing knowledge about playing guitar. Through the North Lanarkshire Connection Project, we are hoping to encourage players of all standards to realise their potential and to promote the guitar in the wider community. If you have good musical skills, you could become a Volunteer Guitar Tutor without the need for qualifications. As a Volunteer Guitar Tutor for the North Lanarkshire Connections Timebank Project, you may have the opportunity to promote volunteering and also the Guitar Club. If you are interested in joining our Guitar Club as a member, you can get involved whether you are a beginner or even have a little experience - all are welcome! The Guitar Club is for anyone who has an interest in guitar music. We are a friendly club for guitar players who enjoy making music together and sharing their talents with a friendly audience.

http://wishawguitarclub.btck.co.uk/

Health establishments

Main article: Wishaw General Hospital

Wishaw has a general hospital in the Craigneuk area. It serves nearby settlements such as Motherwell, Newmains and Shotts. It is one of three acute hospitals in Lanarkshire, the others being Monklands Hospital in Airdrie and Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride.

Also based in the town, directly across from the town library in Kenilworth Avenue, is Wishaw Health Centre.

Shopping

Wishaw countryside

Main Street is the predominant shopping area in Wishaw. It is partly made up of major national stores such as W H Smith, Peacock's, Poundland, Iceland and Superdrug.

The Main Street shopping area also features small independent retailers. There are also many supermarkets in the area, with a new small format ASDA in the eastern suburb of Newmains that opened on October 2007. A Tesco Extra superstore was also opened during November 2007, and is adjacent to the railway station, replacing the smaller Metro store on Main Street, about 160 yards from the new store. A 1991 built Morrisons (originally Safeway) exists on the eastern edge of the town centre and the original Safeway on Kirk Road (previously a William Low supermaket), about 320 yards from the new store, was a small market style mall and hosted various stalls and a café, however this mall closed on March 2009 and has been converted back to its supermarket form into B & M Bargains discount store. All three supermarkets mentioned have petrol stations situated right next to them.

There is also an Aldi superstore in Glasgow Road that opened on September 2008, with the original store 160 yards away being converted into Sports Direct.

Wishaw also has the "Caledonian Centre", a shopping complex in the northern suburb of Craigneuk consisting of other national store chains such as Argos, Matalan, JJB Sports and Homebase.

Improvements

There are a number of retail blocks vacant in Glasgow Road, adjacent to Aldi and McDonald's restaurant on the site of the old modern cinema, although one of the blocks has been converted into a Home Bargains store. The former Tesco store by the Commercial Hotel on Main Street has been demolished and has been acquired by a local district housing association.

The first stage of the modern town centre regeneration programme was completed in 2004, with a new car park being constructed between the local library and health centre and with the formation of a taxi rank adjacent to the library. In 2011, a small car-park located behind farmfoods was built.

Recently a piece of eyesore land between Station Road and Alexander Street (the railway station and sports centre) has been converted into a park and ride facility, as part of this programme. This has led to a decrease in railway parking and traffic next to the station. The facility was later increased in size as it was too small.

In late 2011, Kitchener Street has been converted from a small neighborhood to a main road, routing traffic away from the Main Street to Kenilworth Avenue, where a new roundabout has been built. Lammermore terrace, which was previously one-way, has now been converted into a two-way street. Also the Lidl store on Roberts Street has been renewed.

Churches

Wishaw has many churches in it of various kinds and denominations. There are several Church of Scotland congregations - serving principally the town centre are South Wishaw Parish Church and Wishaw Old Parish Church, and serving the outlying parts of Wishaw are - Cambusnethan North Church, Cambusnethan Old and Morningside Parish Church, Craigneuk and Belhaven Church, Coltness Memorial Church (Newmains) and St. Mark's Church (Coltness). The Church of Scotland "charges" have been reduced in recent years through the union of Thornlie and Chalmers Churches to form South Wishaw Parish Church, and the linkage of Wishaw Old Parish Church with that of Craigneuk and Belhaven Church who now share one minister.

The town also has a United Free Church, an Episcopal Church dedicated to St. Andrew, a Baptist church (both in Belhaven Terrace), a Gospel Hall (Ebenezer Gospel Hall), a Methodist church (now known as Netherton Methodist Church), a Christian Outreach Centre and 5 Catholic churches of the Roman Rite: St. Ignatius of Loyola (Young Street), St. Aidan's (Coltness), St. Thomas' (Caledonian Road), St. Brigid's (Newmains) and St. Patrick's (Shieldmuir).

Sports, restaurants and recreation

Leisure and entertainments

Wishaw has a very large Mecca Bingo hall in Kirk Road. In recent years the town has turned into a good nightspot when it comes to pubs and clubs that are on offer. The Commercial Hotel has an over-25s nightclub known as 30s Soul Suite, and as well as this, the hotel is also a restaurant, bar and hotel, with rooms and accommodation for overnight stay. The other nightclub in Wishaw, the Attic nightclub (formerly Wishaw Cinema, Bar Zico, Play nightclub and Cotton Club and Shuffles nightclub), in Kirk Road next to the Mecca Bingo, is a nightclub as well as being a dance and music arena, and is also located above the Koi Chinese buffet restaurant. Pubs include The Corner, Girdwood's, Sherlock's, the Cross Keys, the Waverley, the West End and the Yard.

Eating establishments

As well as the Commercial and the Koi, the town is home to a Wetherspoon's restaurant, known as the Wishaw Malt, directly opposite the Mecca bingo. As well as this, there is the Corner Bar and Restaurant situated at Wishaw Cross on Caledonian Road. There is an Indian buffet restaurant, known as the Pink Turban, located in the Waterloo suburb. Wishaw has a McDonald's restaurant and a KFC restaurant (both located on Glasgow road), and also two national sandwich chains, Subway and Greggs. The town is also host to a modern Scottish restaurant called Artisan, and also has a large number of independent takeaway restaurants and cafes, most of which are located in the main street.

Sports facilities

Wishaw doesn't have a professional football team in the town, as many of the town's residents are followers of Rangers, Celtic and near-neighbours Motherwell. It does have a junior football team, Wishaw, who play their home games at the newly-established Beltane Park, near to the town's sports centre. It's also home to a large juvenile football club called Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers who have 260 registered kids playing football in age groups from Under 6's to Under 21's.

Wishaw has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V, next to the town's hospital. This small park has two full-sized football pitches as well as a swingpark and play-area.

To the northwest of the town, there is a large golf course.

The town's municipal sports centre also includes two small swimming pools, badminton and martial arts facilities and gymnastic equipment. A full length running track is also on site along with a full-sized football pitch. There are also 5-aside astroturf pitches for football, and construction of a skatepark is planned. There may also be many more developments and refurbishments as the 2011 International Children's Games based in Lanarkshire and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow draw nearer, as the centre may well be used as a pre-games training facility.

Elsewhere, all-weather pitches and a children's play area behind Morrison's have been closed for a new shared campus primary school by St.Ignatius Primary and Wishaw Academy Primary. The local council has made no announcement on whether these facilities will be replaced.

The town previously had a large swimming pool complete with a large spectator grandstand, an underwater viewpoint and diving facilities (with boards at 1.5m, 3m and 5m). This was closed during the late 1990s to make way for a much smaller facility on the site of the town's sports centre. The reason given for this decision was the cost of maintaining such a facility for a town as small as Wishaw. Over the years it had played host to many regional swimming events and also benefited from being within walking distance of the two main secondary schools in the area as well as a host of primary schools.

Wishaw General Hospital also has a specialist heat pool for specialist physio treatment.

Town park

Wishaw also has a town park named after Lord Belhaven, Belhaven Park. It has swings, a paddling pool and plenty of benches. There is also plenty of open spaces and pathways. On March 2011, the parks play-area underwent a significant upgrade, and was moved to another area of the park.

Main article: Be in Belhaven

On August 2, 2008, Wishaws first music festival was held in the park. This was followed up by the same event on 15 August 2009, and again on 7 August 2010, with a fourth scheduled for 13 August 2011.

Geography and climate

Wishaw lies within a very populated area in North Lanarkshire, which itself is the 4th largest local authority in Scotland (based on population).

The town is located in the relatively level Central Belt area of Scotland. While there are valleys and high moors within this area, there are no hills or summits over 1,640 feet.

The climate is temperate maritime, which leads to mild but wet winters and dry humid summers. Snow is not a regular occurrence during winter months, though rain is very regular. In the summer the area benefits from unobstructed warm southwesterly winds.

External links

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Wishaw". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Towns Main Website
• Census 2001 statistics for Wishaw
• History and Photographs of Wishaw Iron & Steel Works 1859 - 1930
• Website of the local Newspaper, the Wishaw Press
• Facts about Wishaw on Lanarkshire.com
• Website of Wishaw Juniors, the towns football team