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Wishaw (Scots Wishae) 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.
The main areas of Wishaw are: Cambusnethan, Coltness, Craigneuk, Gowkthrapple, Greenhead, 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 Ex-First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell.
The town is bounded to the north by Motherwell, to the south by Carluke, to the east by Shotts and to the west by Larkhall.
[edit] History
The origin of the name is uncertain. One theory is that it derives from the Scots for "Wicket gate in the wood", and that it used to be called Wygateshaw. An alternative theory is that it 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 of Wishaw itself is not very old, but settlement in the area dates back to the 12th century with the establishment of a kirk dedicated to St. Nethan by a bend (Gaelic camus) in the Clyde. This became known as Cambusnethan, and was in use as a church until the Reformation. The site remains as a ruined burial ground, including an impressive mausoleum to Lord Belhaven, although the church is long gone.
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 20 people died and around 200 were infected.[1]
[edit] People
Wishaw's contributors to Scottish culture (popular or otherwise) include:
- John Higgins, world snooker champion
- Enrico Cocozza, underground film-maker
- John Cleland, motor racing champion
- The Jolt, 1970s pop group
- Freddy Bence and Harry Bence, musical directors and big-band leaders
- The Alexander Brothers, musicians and entertainers
- Gordon Reid, actor
- Marie McLaughlin, opera singer
- Joe Baker, footballer
- Paul Quinn, footballer
- Alan Fisher, journalist
- Alex Wilson, footballer
- John Gibson Lockhart, biographer and novelist
- Thomas Winning, archbishop and cardinal
- Tommy Gemmell, footballer
- Lee Miller, footballer
- Michael Moore, politician
- Roy Henderson, footballer
- Frank S. Walsh, Scientist
- Deborah Orr, Journalist and Columnist
[edit] Transport
Wishaw is comprehensively served by the bus companies First, McKindless, Irvines, Stuarts and Coakley. Main destinations that can be reached by bus from the town are:
The town also has two railway stations: Wishaw (historically Wishaw Central) railway station and Shieldmuir to the west of the town on the Lanark to Dalmuir line (Argyle Line). A half hourly service provided by First Scotrail connects Wishaw to places such as:
There is also has a twice daily service to Edinburgh Waverley.
The West Coast Main Line passes through the town at 115mph, but no passenger service trains stop there, as the main Wishaw South station on the line closed over 40 years ago.
Wishaw is also on the A71, Edinburgh, Livingston and Kilmarnock road as well as the A73 which links the town with the Borders regions. Also following a campaign by local politicians, the area is now well signposted from the nearby M8 and M74 motorways, a move which 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 75 miles away.
[edit] Shopping
The "Main Street" is the predominant shopping area in Wishaw. It is mainly made up of small independent retailers, although there are some major national stores such as WHSmith, Peacocks, Woolworths and Superdrug.
There are also many supermarkets in the area, with a new small format ASDA in the eastern suburb of Newmains opening in September 2007. A new Tesco Extra has also been opened adjacent to the railway station during November 2007. A 1993 built Morrisons (originally Safeway) exists on the eastern edge of the town centre and the original Safeway on Kirk Road, about 500m from the new store, is now a small market style mall and hosts various stalls and a café.
Wishaw also has the "Caledonian Centre", an out-of-town shopping complex in the northern suburb of Craigneuk consisting of other national store chains, such as Argos, Matalan and Homebase.
[edit] Sports and recreation
[edit] Leisure and Entertainments
The small modern cinema closed over five years ago and the site has been purchased by supermarket Aldi for a new supermarket development.
Wishaw also has a very large Mecca bingo hall in Kirk Road.
There is a local nightclub known as Baker Street now known as Maddie's Corner. Although, the Commercial Hotel has also recently opened an over 30s nightclub. Pubs include Wishaw Malt, Caledonian Bar, Harvies, Girdwoods, Sherlocks, Cross Keys, The West End and The Yard.
[edit] Sports Facilities
Wishaw has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V.
The towns 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.
Elsewhere, all-weather pitches and a children's play area behind Morrisons 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 full size swimming pool complete with a large spectator grandstand and full height diving facilities. This was closed during the late 90's to make way for a much smaller facility on the site of the towns 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.
[edit] External links
(Source: Wikipedia) |