Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow (17 miles or 27 kilometres) and Edinburgh (26 miles or 42 kilometres). The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de Shotts, though toponymists give the Anglo-Saxon scēots ("steep slopes") as the real source of the name. Shotts is the home of the world famous Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band, 16 time winners of World Pipe Band Championships.

History

Until 1457 Shotts was part of the Lanarkshire parish of Bothwell under the designation of "Bothwell-muir". Groome related that the pre-reformation church of Bertramshotts is mentioned in a Papal bull in 1476. The parish, one of the largest in Lowland Scotland at 10 miles long and 8 miles wide, was sometimes called Shotts but officially it was known as Bertram Shotts.

In 1830s the principal owners of the land were the Duke of Hamilton, Sir Thomas Inglis Cochrane of Murdoston MP, the Right Honourable Dowager Lady Torphichen, and Robert Carrick Buchanan Esquire of Drumpellier.

Shotts was known for its mining and ironworks. The Shotts Iron Company was first established in 1801 and provided employment for Shotts and the surrounding area for 150 years, and was eventually wound up in 1952. These were developed when transport by canal and railway became possible. By the late 1800s the ironworks had grown to the extent that the village slogan was "Shotts lights the world", as gas lamp standards made here were exported throughout the British Empire and beyond. In the years leading up to World War II there were 22 coal mines in the area, but Northfield Colliery, the last of these, closed in the 1960s.

Geography

Shotts is south of the M8 in North Lanarkshire between Wishaw and Harthill. Historically the Shotts Iron Works were between Calderhead, source of the South Calder Water, and Stane. Shotts parish was originally made up of five villages: Dykehead, Calderside, Stane, Springhill and Torbothie; all growing up around the old coach roads between Glasgow and Edinburgh that expanded and merged during the 18th and 19th centuries following the growth in mining.

Nearby is Kirk o' Shotts transmitting station.

Knowhoble Hill

Knowhoble Hill, lying beside Teilling Burn, was the site of a dwelling belonging to the Cleland (Clevland) family.

Churches

The town has a number of churches.

• Calderhead-Erskine Parish Church, a Church of Scotland congregation.
• St Patricks Catholic Church
• Shotts EU Congregational Church
• Shotts Salvation Army

A couple of miles north of Shotts is the Kirk O'Shotts Parish Church (although this covers the community of Salsburgh and other nearby communities).

Sport

Shotts has a number of sports facilitated in the local community. Shotts Golf Club, an 18-hole course founded in 1895, is to the North-East of the town. On the first Saturday in June each year, Shotts hosts its own Highland Games in Hannah Park.

Football Teams

• AFC Hartwood
• Shotts Bon Accord
• Shotts Vics
• Shotts YMCA
• Springhill AFC
• Dykehead F.C.
• Torbothie Rose
• Shotts Albion
• Shotts Thistle

Notable Footballers from Shotts

• Michelle Barr, Scotland women's international footballer.
• Hugh Dallas
• John McSeveney
• William McSeveney, footballer and Captain of Motherwell Football Club - Ancell Babes
• John Walker
• William Watson
• Willie Orr
• Alex King
• Sam Booth
• James McKee
• Philip Watson
• Cameron Duncan
• Willie Hannah
• Archibald Hastie
• Hugh May
• John May
• John Waugh
• Jocky Whiteford
• Willie Telfer
• Patrick Slavin
• Davie Russell
• Charlie Rennox
• John Prentice

HMP Shotts

HMP Shotts, a high security prison holding male prisoners with maximum security classification, is located between Shotts and Salsburgh. It opened in 1978 and provided a new source of employment after the closure of the mines.

Transport

The town is served by Shotts railway station, which is connected on the Shotts Line between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Schools within Shotts

• St.Patrick's Primary
• Stane Primary
• Dykehead Primary
• Calderhead High School

Theatre

The Henderson Theatre is a 147 seater black box theatre built in 1982 within the Shotts Community Education Centre. It is named after Archibald James Henderson, a coal miner who later became a member of the Scottish National Theatre Society and the Scottish National Players and formed several local drama groups: the YMCA Players, Shotts Labour Party Drama Team, Shotts Miners' Welfare Players, and Shotts Bertram Players. He was also active in Shotts Community Drama Association.

Music

Notable bands

• Octopus (Scottish band)
• Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band

Notable Shotts people

• Mick McGahey, Scottish miners' leader
• Matthew Baillie, anatomist
• William Grossart, Esq., Surgeon who wrote "Historic Notices and Domestic History of the Parish of Shotts" in 1880.
• Gavin Hamilton, Neoclassical history painter
• John Millar, Philosopher
• Margaret Herbison, Member of Parliament
• Andrew Keir, actor
• George MacBeth, writer
• Col Donald James MacKintosh FRSE, soldier and physician
• Catriona Shearer, newsreader, journalist and television presenter.
• Jim Rodger OBE, also known as 'Scoop' or 'the Jolly' - former pit worker and famous for being a football journalist and “Scottish footballs ‘Mr Fixit’”. Renowned for facilitating player transfers and helping managers into jobs. Described by Alex Ferguson as his “mentor”.
• Margaret McSeveney writer, playwright
• Janet Hamilton a nineteenth-century Scottish poet.
• James Meek, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1795 (1774-1810)
• Allan Lindsay, triple jumper at the 1948 Olympics
• Karen Whitefield, Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament between 1999-2011
• William Chambers, Milliner