Craigneuk
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Craigneuk is a suburb of
Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...
,
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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. The original village of Craigneuk was located in the area where Meadowhead Road meets the A721 at Craigneuk Street. It was originally part of
Dalziel Dalziel, Dalzell, Dezell, or Dalyell ( ) is a Scottish surname. Pronunciation The unintuitive spelling of the name is due to it being an anglicisation of Scottish Gaelic , meaning 'bright dale'. The sound now spelled with a or is historically ...
parish, along with the other rural weaving villages of Flemington,
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 ...
and Windmillhill. Craigneuk village was located close to the boundary with
Cambusnethan Cambusnethan is a historic parish in North Lanarkshire in Scotland. The largest settlement in the parish is Wishaw, and Cambusnethan now appears on maps as a village almost contiguous with Wishaw. The village is approximately long, straddling ...
parish. Mining of coal and iron ore in the 1840s lead to industrialisation and rapid population growth from rural Scotland and large numbers of migrants from Ireland. Nearby, in Cambusnethan parish the industrial communities of Shieldmuir and Berryhill were established on the road leading to
Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...
. In 1920, the joint Burgh of Motherwell and Wishaw was created and later abolished in the 1970s. In the late 1920s, the burgh council began a massive housing development program in the area to the east of Sheildmuir Street and Glasgow Road stretching from the village of Craigneuk to Berryhill. The entire area became known as Craigneuk. At the same time much of the area known as the "Berryhill Rows" was demolished to make way for the King George V Playing Fields. The Ravenscraig Steelworks was established in the area during the 1950s. It was the main employer until it was closed in 1992 and later demolished. Ravenscraig, a new residential and commercial area, is now emerging on this site to the north east of the original village. Wishaw General Hospital was established in 2001 on the site of the original Berryhill School. According to SIPs, the population of Craigneuk was 3,030 in 2000.


Industry

Despite the closure of most of its heavy industry, Craigneuk still retains the Lanarkshire Welding company, which supply heavy steel components for the construction business, and heavy goods vehicles can often be seen on John Street transporting heavy fabricated steel items.


Street names

Several of the street names to the west of Glasgow Road are named after towns made famous by sieges and battles in the
Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...
, such as Ladysmith Street, Mafeking Street and Kimberley Street.


Education

Craigneuk has one primary school, the non-denominational Berryhill Primary School. The original Berryhill Primary School was located on the land now occupied by Wishaw General Hospital, but the school was demolished due to mining subsidence and rebuilt in its current location on Hillcrest Avenue in the early 1970s. St. Matthews Roman Catholic Primary School in nearby Wishawhill closed in 2010. Another non denominational school, Craigneuk Public, closed in the 1960s and was used as an annexe of Cambuslang College before being converted to flats. Roman Catholic St Patricks primary, located next to the church, was closed in 1966 due to suffering from subsistence, and then demolished, with pupils going to St Matthews or St Brendans Primary in Muirhouse. There are no high schools located in Craigneuk, but it is in the catchment area for both
Dalziel High School Dalziel High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Overview James K. Scobbie, Rector from 1957 until 1974, greatly enhanced the school's performance during his tenure. Since then, the school ...
in Motherwell and Clyde Valley High School in Overtown. Roman Catholic high schools in the catchment area include Our Lady's High School in Motherwell and St. Aidan's High School in Wishaw. A new campus for Motherwell College was opened in August 2009 at nearby Ravenscraig. Nursery provision is also made at Berryhill Primary School for children of over 21/2 years of age, and at Craigneuk Nursery Centre for children aged 0–5 years. The same building houses an adult education centre, providing classes in computing, parenting, card making and crafts.


Shops

The Caledonian Centre on Glasgow Road has national store chains such as Argos,
Matalan Matalan Retail Ltd is a British clothing and homewares retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside, founded by John Hargreaves in 1985. In August 1988, its operations director at the time, Duncan Sullivan, transformed Matalan into an out-of-town wa ...
, Brantano,
Pets at Home Pets at Home Group PLC (sometimes shortened to Pets) is a British retailer selling pets (not limited to rabbits, rodents and fish), pet food, toys, bedding and medication. Founded in 1991, the company operates 453 stores across the UK, as wel ...
and
Homebase Homebase was a British Home improvement center, home improvement and garden centre retailer that operated across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GIB Group, GB-Inno ...
. Nearby, a
KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...
drive-thru restaurant is located on the site of the former
Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...
petrol station. There are a small number of independent shops and pubs along Shieldmuir Street and Craigneuk Street. On the residential streets, there is a Spar grocery store at the western end of Laurel Drive, and an independent newsagent on Hillcrest Avenue, known locally as Bell's, and another on Briarwood Road known as Feeney's. These names refer to previous owners, but have remained in common use.


Community life

The Craigneuk Community Centre was named the Jim Foley Community Centre in 1999 to honour the long serving local Councillor. It is the venue for many community activities including majorettes, exercise and slimming classes, services for the disabled and the Clyde Valley Community Church. Craigneuk War Memorial is located next to the community centre. The Craigneuk & Belhaven Parish Church (Church of Scotland) opened for worship on Craigneuk Street in 1897, and which united with the former Craigneuk Parish Church in 1976 which was subsequently used for a youth employment project in 1977 before being demolished, and St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on Shieldmuir Street in 1898 are major landmarks of the suburb. The two churches have held an ecumenical carol service at Christmas since 1976 featuring their own choirs and choirs from the local primary schools and also now hold an ecumenical service at the war memorial each Remembrance Sunday. Craigneuk and Belhaven Parish church also became linked to North Motherwell Parish Church in Motherwell in 2018. The Zakariyya Masjid, a mosque and education centre is located just off Craigneuk Street on Donnelly Way. King George V Playing Fields is a park next to Wishaw General Hospital which has a child's swing park and a games field. It is also used by the hospital as a helicopter landing pad. There are several areas of parkland in the suburb, including a swing park in a grassy area on Broompark Road. There was also originally a swing park in a small area behind Charles Street known locally as "the Ashey" (because of it once being surfaced with red shale - i.e. "ashes") This became a haunt of drinkers and has now been abandoned due to the dangers of many years of deposited broken glass. An amateur football team, Craigneuk Amateurs, formed in May 1995 by local Men Francis McCafferty and Scott Isaac. A new bike track was opened in 2018 near the grounds of the former St Matthews Primary school, aimed at children and teenagers interested in cycling and mountain biking. This pumptrack was designed and built by Velosolutions, leaders in the industry, and is now managed by a local enterprise called Socialtrack. Construction was managed by Central Scotland Green Network Trust on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council. The track has been so successful in supporting community regeneration amongst the young that the frequent incidents of anti-social behaviour on what was an abandoned area of land have stopped. Socialtrack announced it as the venue for the UK round of the 2019 Red Bull Pumptrack World Championships - a remarkable achievement for them and the community in so short a time.


Transport

The A721 between
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 ...
and
Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...
runs through Craigneuk. From Wishaw the suburb begins after driving under the railway bridge at Glasgow Road and from Motherwell under the railway bridge at Craigneuk Street. Bus services run along Glasgow Road and through some of the residential streets operated by First Glasgow and JMB coaches with a coach service to
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
operated run by Stuarts of
Carluke Carluke (; ) is a town that lies in the heart of the Lanarkshire countryside in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, northwest of Lanark and southeast of Wishaw. Carluke is largely a commuter town, with a variety of small stores and supermarkets a ...
. Shieldmuir Station has trains to Motherwell, Glasgow and
Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...
, and is an important mail hub. The station opened in 1990 to give Craigneuk residents a closer alternative to Wishaw Station.


References

*Robert Duncan ''Wishaw: Life and Labour in a Lanarkshire Industrial Community 1790-1914'', 1986, . *Robert Duncan ''Steelopolis: The Making of Motherwell c.1750-1939'', 1991, . *Alan B. Campbell ''The Lanarkshire Miners: A Social History of their Trade Unions, 1775-1874'',1979, . {{Authority control Areas of Wishaw