Coatbridge

The Monklands were farmed by Cistercian monks from Newbattle Abbey near Edinburgh; the monks also mined coal. The 1799 Statistical Account described the area in lyrical terms: an immense garden with extensive orchards, luxurious crops, and where rivers abounded with salmon. Then the Industrial Revolution arrived. Airdrie became a weaving and textile town, while Coatbridge grew on pig iron from locally mined ironstone. The population burgeoned as a workforce was drawn in, principally from Donegal, but living conditions were squalid and Coatbridge was a hell-hole of blast furnaces. The iron industry withered in the 20th century (relocating to Corby) as local ores were exhausted and Clydeside shipbuilding declined. In 2022 the population was 42,300.

Coatbridge is 9 miles east of Glasgow and two miles north of M8, exit at Eurocentral interchange.

By train:

Trains run every 10-15 min from Glasgow Queen Street to 1 Coatbridge Sunnyside, taking 20 min. These trains start from Balloch, Helensburgh or Milngavie, and most of them continue east through 2 Airdrie, Bathgate and Livingston north to Edinburgh.

An hourly train from Glasgow Central loops south through the burbs and commuter towns of Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Blantyre, Hamilton, Motherwell and Whifflet to 3 Coatbridge Central, taking 50 min, and continuing to Cumbernauld. Motherwell has fast trains from London Euston, the Midlands and North West England, including the overnight Caledonian Sleeper.

By bus:

Citylink Bus 902 runs hourly from Glasgow Buchanan Station, taking 30 min to Coatbridge and Airdrie, and continuing to Livingston, Broxburn, Edinburgh Airport and city centre.

First Glasgow Bus 201 runs every 10 min from Hairmyres Hospital via East Kilbride, Burnbank, Hamilton, Bellshill and Whifflet to Coatbridge, Airdrie and Petersburn.

Buses stop on South Circular Road by the shopping centre, there's isn't a station.