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Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located 16 miles (25 kilometres) from Glasgow and has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de Shotts, though Toponymy give the Anglo-Saxons scēots ("steep slopes") as the real source of the name.Mackay, George (2002). Scottish Place Names Shotts is the home of the world famous Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band, 16-time winners of World Pipe Band Championships.
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 Coal 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 lighting 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.
In 1956 Cummins opened a factory in Shotts, occupying a former textile mill. It was referred to as the Wren's Nest and was their first manufacturing facility outside of the United States, specialising in high-speed diesel engines and a new type of engine used in railway passenger trains. The factory was expanded again in 1980 in a rationalist/ functionalist design by ABK Architects so distinctive that it was Category A listed. In its Statement of Special Interest Historic Environment Scotland state that is it is "considered to be one of most significant and important examples of large industrial buildings in later 20th century Britain". The factory closed in 1996 with the loss of 700 jobs.
Between 1964 and 1980 Timpo Toys employed around a thousand people at its factory in Torbothie Road in the production of plastic toys and figurines such as cowboys, indians and soldiers. In the late 70s turnover began to decline and by December 1980 the Factory had closed.
Shotts has also been home to a number of large food producters:
Started in 1897, when Pietro Campopiano moved from Montecasino near Rome to Shotts and opened a cafe, Camp Brothers became of the largest independent ice-cream makers in Scotland. Five generations of the family had run the firm until 2003 when it went into receivership.
In the 1930s the Bell family established a bakery in Shotts and Wishaw along with catering vans. In the 1950s they began developing a wholesale business producing pre-prepared puff pastry, and over the next few decades they became well known for their range of Scotch pie, , . The company also acquired Kirriemuir Gingerbread Ltd. By the 1990s the business had outgrown its Dykehead premises and built a second larger baking facility and headquarters on Torbothie Road, the Hawthorn Bakery, which remains open to this day. Bells products can still be found in most supermarkets and they are reported to make 16 million pies a year.
Run by the Davidson brothers Davidsons Animal Feeds also occupy a site on Gray Street behind the former iron works and have been operating since the 1980s making food for cows and sheep. It now claims to be the largest manufacture of feed in Scotland.
Nearby is Kirk o' Shotts transmitting station.
A couple of miles north of Shotts is the Shottskirk Parish Church (although this covers the community of Salsburgh and other nearby communities).
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