Calderbank is a village outside the town of Airdrie,

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, Scotland. It lies east of the M73, on the west bank of the

North Calder Water The North Calder Water is a river in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It flows for from the Black Loch (in the Falkirk council area) via the Hillend Reservoir, Caldercruix, Plains, Airdrie, Calderbank, Carnbroe and Viewpark to the River Clyde at D ...

. The village lies east of

Glasgow city centre Glasgow city centre is the central business district of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bordered by the Saltmarket, High Street and Castle Street to the east, the River Clyde to the south, and the M8 motorway to the west and north. It is made up of t ...

and around west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. Other nearby towns include: Airdrie (),

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

(),

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

() and

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

(). It has a population of about () Welcome to Calderbank

The village has two small convenience shops; a post office; a fish and chip shop; Kebab shop; Ice Cream shop; a pub; bowls club and community centre. The village has a primary school for ages 4-11 years old. Primary school sign

The village also has a church, which has no churchyard. Calderbank Church

Etymology

The village's name is of a doubtful etymology. The first part of the name refers to the

, the small river that flows through the village: however the second element is unknown. Some sources suggest the second element is from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''benc'' " bench". A record of the name from 1182 as ''Celdrebec'' suggests this.

History

The village is famous for being the birthplace of the ''Vulcan'', the world's first iron boat, which sailed from Calderbanks Iron Works to the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

and plied the Scottish canals first with passengers and then with cargoes of iron and coal. The Vulcan is depicted on the ‘Welcome to Calderbank’ sign as you enter the village.

Iron from the Calderbanks works was used to build the Queen Mary cruise liner. The

Monkland Canal The Monkland Canal was a canal designed to bring coal from the mining areas of Monklands to Glasgow in Scotland. In the course of a long and difficult construction process, it was opened progressively as short sections were completed, from 177 ...

was extended to the west of the village in the late 18th century and was used as a route to transport coal to Port Dundas in Glasgow away. This part of the canal has been preserved between the village and Sikeside on the outskirts of Coatbridge. And other parts of the canal can be seen in Coatbridge town centre and Drumpelier country park, however much of the canal was covered in the 1950s and 1960s by the M8 motorway which actually runs with the meanders of what was the canal (yet under the motorway large pipes still run water which feed the Forth and Clyde canal today). Calderbank was the site of early Christian settlement, by monks from

Newbattle Abbey Newbattle Abbey was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently became a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by monks from Melrose ...

in the

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

. This gave the local area the name of Monklands. Many local residents of Calderbank fought in the First World War 1914-1918. They are commemorated on the village war memorial. Individuals include Helen McKenzie; a nurse and only female resident of Calderbank to be killed in the First World War. Her name is present on the war memorial in the village. Also included are Francis Murray and George Murray; aged 15 and 16 who lied about their age in order to serve their country in the First World War. Both names are present on the war memorial in the village. Calderbank memorial

Bibliography

Calderbank: an industrial and social history

References

External links

*
Calderbank
at

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...

Villages in North Lanarkshire Airdrie, North Lanarkshire {{NorthLanarkshire-geo-stub