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This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (May 2008) |
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It has been suggested that Geography of Cambuslang be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
| Cambuslang | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Camas Long | |
| Scots: Cambuslang | |
  Cambuslang shown within Scotland |
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| Population | 24,500 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Council area | South Lanarkshire |
| Lieutenancy area | Lanarkshire |
| Constituent country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | GLASGOW |
| Postcode district | G72 |
| Dialling code | 0141 |
| Police | Strathclyde |
| Fire | Strathclyde |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| European Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Rutherglen and Hamilton West |
| Scottish Parliament | Glasgow Rutherglen |
| Glasgow | |
| List of places: UK • Scotland | |
Cambuslang (Scottish Gaelic for Camas Long from camas - river bend, long - ship) is a suburban town on the south-eastern outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland located within the local authority area of South Lanarkshire. It is known as "the largest village in Scotland", with a population of around 24,500. The town is located just south of the River Clyde - about 6 miles south-east of the centre of Glasgow. It has a long history of coal mining, iron and steel making and ancillary engineering works, most recently Hoover. Small manufacturing businesses continue but most employment comes from the distribution or service industries.
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History
Cambuslang is an ancient part of Scotland where Iron Age remains loom over 21st century housing developments. The History of Cambuslang mirrors and gives life to the general History of Scotland. The Geography of Cambuslang explains a great deal of its history. It has been very prosperous over time, depending first upon its agricultural land, (supplying food, then wool, then linen ) then the mineral resources under its soil (limestone and coal, and, to some extent, iron). These were jealously guarded by, first of all, the Medieval Church, then the local aristocracy, particularly the Duke of Hamilton (previously Barons of Cadzow and Earls of Arran). Because of its relative prosperity, Cambuslang has been intimately concerned in the politics of the country (through the Hamilton connection) and of the Church, - (Bishop John Cameron of Glasgow , the Scottish King's first minister, and Cardinal Beaton, a later first minister, were both Rectors of Cambuslang). This importance continued following the Protestant Reformation. From then until the so-called Glorious Revolution a stream of Ministers of Cambuslang came, were expelled, or were re-instated, according to whether supporters of the King, Covenanters or Oliver Cromwell were in power. The extraordinary religious movements of the 18th century, including the Cambuslang Wark, was directly linked to similar great movements in North America. The Scottish Enlightenment was well-represented in the person of Rev Dr James Meek, the Minister. His troubles with his Parishioners foreshadowed the split in the Church of Scotland during the 19th century. The manufacturing industries that grew up from the agricultural and mineral resources attracted immigrants from all over Scotland and Ireland and other European countries. Cambuslang benefited at all times from its closeness to the burgeoning city of Glasgow, brought closer first of all, in the 18th century, by a Turnpike Road then, in the 19th century, by a railway, which opened up wider markets the rest of the world. In the 21st century, it continues to derive benefit from its closeness to Glasgow and to wider communication networks, particularly through access via the M74 motorway system. Its increasing (and increasingly diverse) population posed problems, over the centuries, of employment and housing as well as of schooling and health, not all of which have been solved. In this regard, it is fairly typical of most Scottish towns. Cambuslang F.C. were founder members of the Scottish Football League, who's most notable achievement was being the runners-up of the Scottish Cup in 1888. They folded, but a new team Cambuslang Rangers F.C. were established.
Governance
Westminster
Cambuslang is in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West Constituency for elections to the House of Commons at Westminster.
Tommy McAvoy retained the seat for the Labour Party. He has been a Government Whip since 1997.
Holyrood
Cambuslang is in the Glasgow Rutherglen Constituency for the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. James kelly retained the seat for Labour Party with 10237 votes, a majority of 18.1%. However, there was a swing of 6.5% from Labour to the Scottish National Party (SNP).
South Lanarkshire Council
The councilors elected for Cambuslang Wards in the 2007 local elections were:
WARD 13
- Councillor David Baillie (Liberal Democrats)
- Councillor Russell Clearie (Labour Party)
- Councillor Clare McColl (Scottish National Party)
WARD 14
- Councillor Walter Brogan (Labour Party)
- Councillor Pam Clearie (Labour Party)
- Councillor Richard Tullett (Labour Party)
Geography
Cambuslang is located on a lengthy bend on the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow. The town is accessible from the nearby M74; the nearby A724 links to Glasgow city centre and Hamilton; the town is also accessible by car from East Kilbride by the A725, A749 and then the B759. The town's railway station, Cambuslang, lies on the Argyle Line between North Glasgow and Lanark.
Landmarks
Cambuslang has an interesting range of Churches, Public Buildings, Schools, Industrial and Commercial buildings (see Buildings of Cambuslang). Its domestic buildings range from 19th century mansions, villas and tenements to modern flats and detached houses, along with sheltered and nursing homes.
Sites
Cambuslang Park spans 27 acres encompassing the contrast of open park land and the Borgie Glen, which is a steep tree lined ravine, containing a complex network of pathways. Not to mention a pond, sport pitches, woodland areas and the Bandstand, which is a natural amphitheatre, near where the famous Cambuslang Wark took place in the 18th Century.
Education
There is a range of schooling in Cambuslang, together with a College of Further Education with links to the University of Paisley (now the University of the West of Scotland).
Schools
Primary Schools in Cambuslang include- St.Charles' Primary School, West Coats Primary School, James Aiton Primary School and St Brides Primary School. Secondary schools in Cambuslang include- Cathkin High School and Trinity High School (Temporarily located in Holy Cross High School in Hamilton). There is also Uddingston Grammar School only one train stop down on the Motherwell via Bellshill line.
Colleges
Cambuslang College of the Building Trades was a specialist college established in the mid-20th century but it gradually expanded the trades and academic subjects taught. It became Cambuslang College of Further Education in the 1960s. It gradually expanded its provision at its East Kilbride Campus, but retained a substantial annex on Hamilton Road. It renamed itself South Lanarkshire College in 2000.
South Lanarkshire College has links with University of the West of Scotland, Hamilton Campus, a degree-awarding Higher Education Institution, three miles away in Hamilton, so that local students can progress through to degrees.
Early schools in Cambuslang
There has been a Parish school in Cambuslang at least since the Reformation, and probably before that. The schoolteacher was appointed and paid by the Heritors, though he also charged fees. Free Primary Education came with the Education (Scotland) Act (1871), though there had always been charitable provision.
The original Cambuslang Public School can be seen on Greenlees Road, where it is now Greenlees Care Home. It had been for some time the Cambuslang College of the Building Trades, which became part of Cambuslang College (now South Lanarkshire College). An even earlier school is now a Gospel Hall in Bushiehill Street.
The Cambuslang Subscription School of 1848 provided basic education to the children of miners and weavers in return for a few coppers. It was attractive to those who did not like the influence of the gentry and the Minister on the Parish School.
Transport
Notable people
People who have either been attracted to Cambuslang, or who have gone out from there to make a mark on the world are a saint, a king, a queen, a cardinal, a bishop, a lord, a famous manufacturer, a garden designer, at least three significant clergyman, a famous retailer, a miners' leader, a leader of the RAF, a physicist, several poets, at least one writer and two historians, a pop singer and a boxer
- Cadoc (c 497 - c 570) St Cadoc (or "Cadow" or "Cattwg") reputedly founded a monastery on the site of the present Old Parish Church in the later sixth century. He is the patron saint of Cambuslang, where there is a modern Primary School named after him. His feast day is the 25th of September. In medieval times, Cadoc was called on for help by (among others) deaf people and those suffering from cramp. He was a Celtic saint - previously, a Prince of Glamorgan - who brought succour to the native Christians against the invading Saxons. Cambuslang is at the northernmost reach of the Welsh speaking Brythons, so he may well have visited here in his wanderings, or in an effort to secure help against the Saxons. He had travelled to Ireland, to Brittany (to visit the Welsh speaking monks there), Rome (the centre of Western Christianity) and Jerusalem (from where he brought back two altar stones that had touched the Holy Sepulchre. The Europe he walked through was being battered by the barbarian invasions, so it is not improbable that he managed to reach Cambuslang. However, as no mention is made in the legends of an expedition this far north, it might have been a disciple, or a pilgrim returning from Glamorgan, with a relic, who established the church at Cambuslang. Cadoc was cut down, while serving Mass, by a Saxon raiding party at "Benevenna", most probably near Weedon in Northamptonshire. St Cadoc was prestigious enough in his lifetime for local chiefs in to have recourse to him to settle disputes. This reputation lasted well into the Middle Ages, where solemn bonds and oaths were sworn over his (or his followers') remains. Just before the Reformation, a wealthy Cambuslang notable expressed in his will a desire to be interred "with the ashes of St Cadoc", in the Parish Kirk.
- King Arthur There is some evidence from Welsh Chroniclers - using place name analysis - that the British King Arthur was a prince of the northern Welsh-speakers of Strathclyde and that he fought his last battle against the invading Saxons at Cambuslang.
- William de Cambuslang (died 1361) Bishop of Dunblane, (1347 - 1361)
- Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 - 1587) Mary is reputed to have crossed the Clyde at the "fliers ford" as she fled to England from the Battle of Langside, (1567). The ford is situated where the Kirkburn enters the river, below the bridge near the supermarket.
- David Beaton (1494 - 1546) was Rector of Cambuslang from 1520. (see above). He was appointed to this post by his Uncle, James Beaton, the Archbishop of Glasgow, and was a prebendary, which means he lived off the tithes and never lived there, leaving the work of a parish priest to a Vicar.
- William Hamilton of Gilbertfield (1665 to 1751) Lt William Hamilton wrote a metrical abridgement, in 18th century Scots, of Blind Harry 's life of Sir William Wallace, lived in Westburn and Gilbertfield – whose 17th century castle remains, though in ruins. He corresponded with Allan Ramsay and his poetry was praised in an epistle by Robert Burns - where he referred to him as "Gilbertfield".
- David Dale (1739 - 1806) was a Scottish industrialist and philanthropist. His efforts to establish a cotton-spinning factory at Flemington failed but was very successful as co-founder of the New Lanark Mills in 1786. Dale owned the estate of Rosebank in Cambuslang, which he used as a summer retreat from his townhouse (reputedly still standing) in Charlotte Street Glasgow and to where he retired and lived until his death. The estate was sold after his death to the Caledonian Railway Company, which divided it in two (to accommodate the new railway). The half to the north of the railway line (which included Rosebank House) eventually became Rosebank Industrial Estate (including the Rosebank Dyeworks. The southern half was sold to Thomas Gray Buchanan, a Glasgow merchant, related to the Buchanan who established Buchanan Street in Glasgow, who established a country retreat at Wellshott House (still standing) but his son Michael sold off the lands to build suburban villas in the 1860s'.
- Rev Dr James Meek (1739 - 1810) was Minister of Cambuslang from 1774 until his death. He had been Dean of the Chapel at Glasgow University, when the Rector was Edmund Burke and the professors included the philosopher Thomas Reid. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1795. He wrote the entry for Cambuslang in the First Statistical Account of Scotland. The cool, objective account in his report of the Cambuslang Wark remains the prime historical source for that event. He kept a detailed "Journal and Register of the Weather..." for each day over 29 years, with remarks on weather and events throughout Britain and the world. This Journal is still quoted in modern histories of the weather. He is buried in the Old Parish Church kirkyard, just inside the gate.
- Claudius Buchanan (1766 - 1815) ' was born in Cambuslang to the schoolmaster. His maternal grandfather had been converted at the Cambuslang Wark. He died in Hertfordshire in 1815. His studies at Cambridge were supported by John Newton, the anti-slavery campaigner. His books and publications seeking to strengthen the Christian presence in India resulted in the setting up of an educational and ecclessiastical structure. Jane Austen, in one of her letters, professed to have loved these books. He was honoured for his missionary work by Glasgow and Oxford Universities and he seems to have made enough money in India to fund several prizes to promote missionary activity back home.
- John Claudius Loudon (1783 - 1843) was a famous gardener (or rather "horticultural writer, dendrologist and designer") was born in Cambuslang to a respectable farming family. He wrote the Encyclopaedia of Gardening 1822, invented a flexibible iron-bar sash which made possible such monumental greenhouses as the Palm House at Kew Gardens and the Crystal Palace. He also laid down the prototypical semi-detached house (in Porchester Terrace, London), to satisfy the needs of the emergent (and aspirant) middle classes.
- Sir Thomas Lipton (1850 - 1931) was of tea fame and lived in the Johnstone Villa (named after his mother's family) in Cambuslang and one of the (detached) villas in Wellshot – now the North Street Health Centre – was occupied by an aunt. He often drove in style in a carriage-and-four to Glasgow.
- Jimmy Jackson was a Scottish-Australian Footballer
- Dr David Forbes Martyn (1906 - 1970) was born in Cambuslang on 22 June 1906, the son of a local doctor. He was educated at Alan Glen's School then the Royal College of Science, London. (Bsc in 1926; PhD in 1929; and DSc in 19360.He was a physicist and radiographer who moved to Australia in 1927 to take up one of the first posts in radio research there. He contributed to the development of coastal and air defence RADAR for Australia during World War II. He was elected FRS of London in 1950.
- Air Vice-Marshal John B Wallace (1907 - ) Air Vice-Marshal John B Wallace came from Cambuslang. He was Deputy Director-General of Medical Services, Royal Air Force from 1961 to 1966.
- Robin Jenkins(1912 - 2005) most famous novel is the Cone Gatherers, much studied in Scottish schools.
- Sir Ian McGregor, malariologist (1922 - 2007) led British research in tropical medicine at the MRC Laboratories in the Gambia. See [1]
- Mick McGahey, (1925 - 1999) was a Scottish Miners leader who had worked in the mines of Cambuslang. There is a significant memorial (in the form of mine workings) to him at the east end of Main Street.
- Duncan Munro Glen, (1933 - ) as well as being a prolific poet and historian, is Emeritus Professor of Visual Communication at Nottingham Trent University. Through his editorship of the magazine Arkos, he has been a vigorous promoter of Scots literature, becoming a friend and early champion of, among others, Hugh MacDiarmid and Ian Hamilton Finlay. He was born and brought up in Westburn, Cambuslang. Among his 150-odd publications he has produced the definitive modern history of Cambuslang, along with a collection of Cambuslang poets. His own poetry deals with friends and fellow poets, relatives, Scots history and the history and landscape of Cambuslang. His poetry has been translated into Italian. He was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Paisley.
- John Fallon (1940 - ) was goalkeeper for Glasgow Celtic and one of the Lisbon Lions .
- The Rt Rev David Lunan (1944 - ) was brought up in Cambuslang. Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2008.
- Mike Watson (1949 - ) Lord Watson was a Labour life peer, Lord Watson of Invergowrie – who was given a 16 month prison sentence in 2005 for wilful fire-raising. Though born in Cambuslang in 1949, Watson moved early to Invergowrie near Dundee.
- Robert Crawford (1959 - ), Scottish poet and Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at St Andrews University was born in Bellshill and raised in Cambuslang. He was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, Glasgow University and Oxford University. While there, he wrote a poem called "Cambuslang" (in Oxford Poetry Vol V No 1 (Winter 1989), also in his first collection A Scottish Assembly (London: Chatto & Windus, 1990)) See also [2]
- Midge Ure (1953 - ) James "Midge" Ure is a pop-singer, formerly performing with Slik and Ultravox and a leading campaigner against world hunger - including Band Aid and Live 8. He was born James Ure in Cambuslang on 10 October 1953 and was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Dundee Abertay University in October 2005.
- Brendan O'Hare (1970 - ) is a musician, formerly performing with Teenage Fanclub and Mogwai
- Scott Harrison (1977 - ), the World Boxing Organisation featherweight champion for 2002, was born in Bellshill on 19 August 1977 and brought up in Cambuslang.
References
Bibliography
- Glen, Duncan A nation in a parish: A new historical prospect of Scotland from the parish of Cambuslang AKROS Publications Kirkcaldy (1995) ISBN 0-86142-120-5
- Glen, Duncan Munro New History of Cambuslang AKROS Publications Kirkcaldy (1998) ISBN 0-86142-098-5
- Groome, Francis H. (1903). Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, ISBN 1-85506-572-X.
- Magnusson, Magnus (1990). Chambers Biographical Dictionary W & R Chambers Ltd ISBN 0-550-16040-X
- Williamson, Elizabeth; Riches, Anne; Higgs, Malcolm (1990). The Buildings of Scotland - Glasgow. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-300-09674-7.
- Wilson, James Alexander OBE, MD A History of Cambuslang: a clydesdale parish. Jackson Wylie & Co Glasgow (1929)
External links
- [3] Friends of Cambuslang Park
- [4] Views of Old Cambuslang
- [5] Historical perspective for Cambuslang, from the Gazetteer for Scotland
- [6] History of Clydebridge Steelworks and Clyde Iron Works
- [7] The Statistical Accounts of Scotland
- [8] for an extract on Cambuslang from Rambles Round Glasgow by Hugh MacLelland
- [9] for an account of Claudius Buchanan
- [10] for pictures and histories of Wellshott House, Rosebank House and other country houses round Glasgow.
- [11] for Jane Austen's letter mentioning Buchanan
- [12] Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers are Scotland's top road running and cross country club.
See also
Settlements in South LanarkshirePrincipal Towns (Over 10,000) Other towns and villages Abington • Ashgill • Auchengray • Auchenheath • Biggar • Blackwood • Bothwell • Braidwood • Carnwath • Carstairs • Cartland • Chapelton • Coalburn • Cobbinshaw • Coulter • Crawford • Crawfordjohn • Dalserf • Dolphinton • Douglas • Elsrickle • Forth • Glassford • Kilncadzow • Kirkfieldbank • Kirkmuirhill • Lanark • Law • Leadhills • Lesmahagow • Newbigging • Nerston • Pettinain • Quothquan • Ravenstruther • Rigside • Sandford • Stonehouse • Strathaven • Symington • Tarbrax • Thankerton • Uddingston • Wiston • Woolfords • YieldshieldsPlaces of interest
