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Bellshill

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This article is about the town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. For other places of the same name, see Bellshill (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 55°51′40″N 4°02′48″W / 55.86114°N 4.04669°W / 55.86114; -4.04669

Bellshill

St Andrew s Church.jpg
St. Andrew's Church, Bellshill
Bellshill is located in Scotland
Bellshill

Bellshill shown within Scotland
Population (2001 Census)
OS grid reference NS730651
 - Edinburgh 33 mi (53 km) ENE
 - London 341 mi (549 km) SSE
Council area North Lanarkshire
Lieutenancy area Lanarkshire
Constituent country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BELLSHILL
Postcode district ML4
Dialling code 01698
Police Strathclyde
Fire Strathclyde
Ambulance Scottish
European Parliament Scotland
UK Parliament Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
List of places: UK • Scotland

Bellshill (pronounced Bells-hill) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, two miles north of Motherwell. Since 1996, it has been situated in the Greater Glasgow metropolitan area. The town has a population of 30,000 (2001).

The earliest record of settlement in the Bellshill area is a village called Belmill, recorded on a map by Timothy Pont published in 1654. The village consisted of a row of quarry workers' houses owned by Mr. Bell, who owned a stone quarry to the south of Belmill. After the quarry closed, the village disappeared and a settlement developed nearby called Crossgates. About 1810, this new settlement took on the name Bellshill and continued to grow absorbing nearby villages such as Black Moss and Sykehead.

After the mid-1800s, large coal and iron deposits were discovered nearby and a number of mines opened, the first being the Thankerton mine. This rapidly increased the size of the town, even bringing in immigrants from abroad particularly Lithuania so much so it is sometimes referenced as little Lithuania.[1]The rise in the migrant Lithuanian population led to the opening of The Scottish Lithuanian Recreation and Social Club within Calder Road in the Mossend area.

A number of railway stations were opened in the area, including Mossend, Fallside and Bell Cross.

The settlement is now served by Bellshill railway station.

In the 1870s, Bothwell Parochial Board built the two ward Bellshill Hospital. During World War I, the hospital specialised in infection diseases. In 1917, the hospital began to specialise as a maternity hospital, the first in the Lanarkshire area, with new dedicated maternity buildings being opened in 1958 and 1962. The hospital was also the first in the world to have an 'Obstetric Flying Squad'. The hospital was the birth place of many famous faces including politician Robin Cook, footballer Ally McCoist and singer Sheena Easton. The hospital closed down in 2001 and was demolished in 2003 to make way for new housing developments.

According to a report by the Halifax Building Society, in the first quarter of 2005 Bellshill was the UK's property hotspot with a 46% rise in house prices. This took the average property price to £105,698 (according to reports published April 2005).

The streetscape project which will see Bellshill town centre completely changed started in April 2007 and is scheduled to run for 75 weeks, once complete this will see an end to Bellshill Cross and Main Street will be a one way street.

Contents

[edit] Music

Bellshill is also known for its music, especially since the mid 1980s. Bands such as Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub put Bellshill on the map as an indie rock hot-spot in Scotland. The scene - known as the Bellshill Sound or the Bellshill Beat - was celebrated by influential DJ John Peel in the BBC television series Sounds Of The Suburbs. Bellshill continues to produce well respected and influential independent pop music, with members of current bands Mogwai and De Rosa hailing from the town.

[edit] Notable people from Bellshill

Bellshill was home to Lanarkshire's maternity hospital (now knocked down and replaced by houses and flats) and although the following people were born there, not all of them have lived in Bellshill. A high number of successful footballers have been born at Bellshill Maternity hospital.

In 1996, a television programme was made about the three world famous football managers who were born in Bellshill - Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Jock Stein. This programme featured interviews with several friends and former neighbours of each of the featured managers.

[edit] Sport

The town has a football team, Bellshill Athletic, that plays in the Scottish Junior Football West Premier League. However, this club only has a tiny fan base due to the towns residents being followers of Rangers, Celtic, Motherwell and Hamilton Academical.

Bellshill also has the Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex (Named after the late Manchester United legend who was born and brought up in the area) that opened in 1995. It has an Olympic standard swimming pool, with two large spectator seating areas either side, a large hall and health suite.

There is also a golf course next to nearby Strathclyde Park.

[edit] External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bellshill
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellshill"
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