Coltness is the largest suburb of the town of
WishawWishaw is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles south-east of Glasgow....
,
North LanarkshireNorth Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the north east of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The 2001 census indicated a population of almost 4,500.
Lying to the north east of the town centre, Coltness is an area of mainly local authority built housing, divided into the two distinct areas of East and West Coltness. The two areas have their own unique identities and are separated by an area of woodland, with a deep gorge running through it.
The larger of the two areas of Coltness, is the eastern half.
Coltness is the largest suburb of the town of
WishawWishaw is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles south-east of Glasgow....
,
North LanarkshireNorth Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the north east of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The 2001 census indicated a population of almost 4,500.
Lying to the north east of the town centre, Coltness is an area of mainly local authority built housing, divided into the two distinct areas of East and West Coltness. The two areas have their own unique identities and are separated by an area of woodland, with a deep gorge running through it.
East Coltness
The larger of the two areas of Coltness, is the eastern half. Following the path of the Coltness Road from its boundary with
CambusnethanCambusnethan is a large suburb on the eastern edge of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire in Scotland. It is approximately 1.5 miles long, straddling both sides of the A722 on a hill overlooking Wishaw.-Transport:...
, it proceeds almost level for approximately 1.5 miles before descending the steep South Calder Water valley where it meets the main artery of West Coltness, North Dryburgh Road. The housing estate of Branchalwood, built in the 1960s, contains detached and semi-detached bungalows and marks the boundary of East Coltness.
East Coltness has several bus services, with the local First Glasgow service number 241 running every 7 minutes from the suburb to Motherwell, as well as other operators services to
HamiltonHamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area...
(9),
ClelandCleland is a small village near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland - see . The two nearest towns are Wishaw and Motherwell. The village has a strong mining heritage and is a typical example of a working class village in North Lanarkshire and the Glasgow Area...
(9, 241, 248) and
CoatbridgeCoatbridge is a Lanarkshire town set in the central Lowlands of Scotland. It was awarded the trophy for the Best Small City in Scotland in September 2009 in the Beautiful Scotland environmental and horticultural competition. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...
(248). There is also a once daily return express service in the peak hours to
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
operated by First Glasgow (X11).
Most schools in Coltness are in the eastern half, with the exception of St. Aidans RC High School, which straddles the woodland separating the two areas. Other schools include two non-denominational primary schools, Lammermoor and Coltness, a non-denominational secondary school, Coltness High and an RC primary school, St. Aidans Primary. Two churches are located in the eastern half, St. Marks Church of Scotland, and St. Aidans RC Church.
Commerce in the suburb is mainly located in the eastern side, with convenience stores located in housing areas, as well as hairdressers and takeaway foods. A petrol station, tool hire company, supermarket and public house are located on Coltness Road
West Coltness
This part of Coltness sits lower in the South Calder valley than its eastern counterparts. Following the path of North Dryburgh Road from its junction with
WishawWishaw is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles south-east of Glasgow....
Main Street in the town centre for almost 2 miles along a hilly and winding course until it meets Coltness Road near the bridge over South Calder Water valley.
This quieter side of the suburb has little in the way of commercial facilities and public transport, but has recently become a rat run for motorists travelling to the M8 wishing to avoid the town centre.
Origins
Designed in the 1950s by the then Motherwell and Wishaw Burgh Council to alleviate an acute housing shortage in the area, Coltness is just one of Wishaw's post-war planned housing developments, known locally as "schemes". The other areas of
GowkthrappleGowkthrapple is a small suburb of Wishaw, Scotland. Gowkthrapple can be entered off of the Castlehill Road which runs the length of the estate.- Structures :...
,
PatherPather is a small suburb of Wishaw, Scotland and was initially built as a council estate.Pather can be entered from Caledonian Road through either Lomond Drive or Tarbert Avenue.-Street names:...
, West Crindledyke, Wishawhill and
Greenhead-Placenames:*Greenhead, North Lanarkshire, Scotland*Greenhead, Northumberland, England*Greenhead, Scottish Borders, Scotland*Greenhead, Staffordshire, England*Greenhead College, a sixth form college in Huddersfield, England...
, were all designed according to very different templates.
Coltness was designed as mix of both "back and front door" housing stock and low density flatted accommodation, with lots of open green space. It was built on land which had previously been marshy woodland with some minor mining operations.
Evidence of mining operations are still visible, including a small slag heap in a woodland just off Kilmeny Crescent and abandoned shafts in the woodland to the east of the suburb. None of this appears to have been taken into consideration when the current housing was built and some larger building are now suffering from minor structural problems.
History of Coltness Estate and Coltness House
The area was originally part of the extensive estates of the Sommervilles of Cambusnethan. Their lands, which stretched to the
River ClydeThe River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
were sold off to pay debts. Coltness was eventually purchased by Sir Walter Stewart in 1653. The 18th century economist
James Denham-SteuartSir James Denham-Steuart, 7th Baronet was a British economist.-Life:He was the only son of Sir James Steuart, Solicitor General for Scotland under Queen Anne and George I, and was born in Edinburgh...
lived out his last years here. The estate remained with the Stewarts of Allanton and Coltness until 1840 when trustees sold it to the Houldsworths, a family of newly wealthy industrialists who lived in the imposing Coltness House until the 1950s. The mansion then became a residential school run by
Barnardo'sBarnardo's is a British charity founded by the Irish Doctor Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable child young people. As of 2007, it spends over £195 million each year on 394 projects aimed at helping these same groups...
until the late 1970s when it was used briefly as a
refugeeUnder the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality,...
resettlement centre for Vietnamese
Boat PeopleBoat people is a term that usually refers to illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate en masse in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made, rendering them unseaworthy and unsafe...
. The building lay empty for several years, was badly vandalised and severely damaged in a fire. It was eventually demolished in the early 1980s to make way for the Woodlandsgate estate built by Barratt Homes. The former stables of Coltness House were retained and converted to flats.
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