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Wishaw (; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency. It has the postal code of ML2 and the dialling code 01698.
The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. The town developed extensively during the Victorian era, in particular during the Second Industrial Revolution. New industry and factories were established, including those in steel and iron production, as well as manufacturing, textiles and the processing of coal. The towns population increased as a result and new homes were built resulting in a conurbation with neighbouring Motherwell and Newmains. As a result, Wishaw formed a joint large burgh with its neighbour Motherwell from 1920 until its dissolution when Scottish local authorities were restructured in 1975, and was then in Motherwell district within the Strathclyde region until 1996. The town suffered during deindustrialisation as businesses closed in the mid to late 20th century. In the 21st century, the town has a mixed economy with services industries and is a residential area within North Lanarkshire.
Cambusnethan, Coltness, Dimsdale, Greenhead, Pather, Waterloo and Wishawhill are considered Wishaw suburbs. Craigneuk and Netherton are considered so as well, though they are separated by the Argyle and West Coast Mainline train lines. The 'Wishaw area' however is sometimes taken to mean the entire ML2 postcode area which extends to the east and south and includes Morningside, Newmains, Overtown and several other nearby smaller towns.
In the 12th century, a Norman lord constructed a large manor near Gowkthrapple, as well as another small church. This was the beginning of the parish of Cambusnethan, which lasted up until 1930. In the 13th century, administrative control of the parish was ceded to Glasgow from the previous Kelso Abbey. Small fortresses and were built, and after the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Feudal baron was transferred by Robert the Bruce to local lords, however the title lay abandoned by the 20th century. The Somervilles of Cambusnethan were the principal aristocrats in the area, although sold their land to Sir James Steuart,later Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1653. Wishaw House is thought to date back to the 15th century, and appears on Timothy Pont map of Scotland from 1583, as Wisha. The settlements of Greenhead, Camnethan, Peddyr and Overtoun of Camnethan also appear.
The ruined church on Kirk Road, mere yards away from the current Cambusnethan church, is thought to date back to the 1600s or earlier.
In the mid 19th century, the Coltness estate in the town was developed under ownership of the Houldsworths family, following the building of the Coltness Iron Company in 1837. The Jacobean style Coltness House was demolished in 1970, along with much of the historic estate, although the Category B listed Gate House on Main Street and Kenilworth avenue survives and until the early 21st century was used as a public toilet. On 4 September 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. Four years later, in 1859, St.Ignatius Parish Church was established, and the church built on Young Street, where it remains to this day. In 1882, Groome recorded that there were 5 schools in Wishaw as well as others in nearby villages.
In 1905, the Category B listed Clyde Chambers were built as tenement flats, shops and offices on Main Street. During the mid 20th century, Wishaw had 5 cinemas, all since closed. These included the Classic Cinema at 57 Kirk Road which opened in 1920, closed in 1985 and was Category B listed in 2001. The largest cinema in Wishaw was next door, the Greens Playhouse which opened in 1940 with seating for 2,982 patrons. It closed in the 1970s, becoming a bingo club but then falling into disuse before being Category B listed in 2004.
In the mid to late 20th century, deindustrialisation caused many factories and businesses to cease operation. The Coltness Iron company wound up in 1950. The (now-defunct) local firm of R Y Pickering & Co Ltd (later Norbrit-Pickering) built railway rolling stock (especially wagons) and many tramcars for tram systems throughout the UK. One of its last tramcar orders was for 10 double-decker trams for Aberdeen Corporation Tramways in 1949. Wishaw and its nearby neighbour of Motherwell were once the centre of steel manufacture in Scotland, as both towns were located either side of the former Ravenscraig steelworks which closed in 1992.
In November 1996, the world's worst recorded outbreak of Escherichia coli occurred in the town, in which 21 people died and around 200 were infected.
North Lanarkshire Council suggest that the majority of the biggest employers in the town are supermarkets, with the exceptions of Royal Mail; which has its main Scottish distribution centre at Shieldmuir and the NHS as a result of University Hospital Wishaw. There are many service industry businesses located in the town's industrial areas, though none with more than a few hundred employees.
There are also many supermarkets in the area. Wishaw also has the " Caledonian Centre", a shopping complex in the northern suburb of Craigneuk consisting of other national store chains.
The first stage of the modern town centre regeneration programme was completed in 2004, with a new car park being constructed between the local library and health centre and with the formation of a taxi rank adjacent to the library also a water fountain was put on the ground of Wishaw Library which looks like the old one which used to stand near the former Wishaw Health Centre. A piece of eyesore land between Station Road and Alexander Street (the railway station and sports centre) was converted into a park and ride facility, as part of this programme. This has led to a decrease in railway parking and traffic next to the station. The facility was later increased in size as it was too small.
In late 2011, Kitchener Street was converted from a small neighbourhood to a main road, routing traffic away from the Main Street to Kenilworth Avenue, where a new roundabout was built. Lammermore Terrace, which was previously one-way, was converted into a two-way street. In 2014 work on a new modern housing estate called Ravenwood began on the site of the old Lammermoor Primary school, which was renamed Calderbridge and moved to a new building 600m away. The neighbourhood was finished in 2016 and now consists of around 50 houses.
The defined "locality" of Wishaw had a population of 30,290 in 2016, the 26th largest such place in the country. Along with its neighbours of Hamilton, Bellshill and Motherwell it had been considered to form part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, which as of 2019 had a population of around 1,670,000 (around a third of Scotland's total); however, since 2016 Wishaw, Motherwell and Bellshill have been officially considered separate from the Glasgow 'settlement' due to small gaps in the chain of occupied postcodes used to determine a grouping, and instead form their own settlement which itself has the fifth largest population in Scotland at 124,000.
Wishaw lies on two rivers, the River Clyde running near Overton and Netherton and its tributary the South Calder Water, further north near Coltness and Newmains.
Primary schools in Wishaw include Calderbridge, St. Thomas', Thornlie, St. Aidan's, Cambusnethan, St. Ignatius' and Wishaw Academy (with both the latter two schools being a joint campus).
The town does not have a university or college at present, with the nearest college being Motherwell College, based in Ravenscraig, and the University of the West of Scotland (formerly Bell College of Technology) in Hamilton being the nearest university.
Also based in the town, on the site of the old town library in Kenilworth Avenue, is the Houldsworth Centre which houses a café, public toilet, Wishaw library and Wishaw Health Centre. The centre opened in April 2015 along with a multi-storey car park.
There are five Roman Catholic Churches: St. Ignatius of Loyola (Young Street), St. Aidan's (Coltness), St. Thomas' (Pather), St. Brigid's (Newmains) and St. Patrick's (Shieldmuir). St. Ignatius Church is the only Category A listed building in Wishaw Town Centre, as the Gothic-revivial style church was primarily designed by George Goldie, built in 1865. The town has a large Catholic population and strong Catholic links. These Catholics are mainly descended from the Irish Catholics who fled the Famine to settle in and around Glasgow, with many coming to Lanarkshire in particular. Today, the descendants of these immigrants constitute most of the Catholics in the town but there are also Catholics who are from other ethnicities, in particular those from the Italian diaspora and Polish diaspora communities in Scotland. Some Catholics are even ethnically Scottish.
The Motherwell and Wishaw constituency is represented in the UK Parliament by Pamela Nash MP (Labour). In the Scottish Parliament, the constituency is represented by Clare Adamson (SNP).
In addition to this, Wishaw is represented by seven regional MSPs from the Central Scotland electoral region.
Wishaw has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V, next to the town's hospital. This small park has two full-sized football pitches as well as a swing park and play area.
To the northwest of the town, there is a large golf course, the Wishaw Golf Club, founded in 1894 and the course designed in 1935 by James Braid.
The town's 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. Long jump pits and throwing cages are also issued within the track. There are also 5-a-side astroturf pitches for football, where many local games are held. Elsewhere, all-weather pitches and a children's play area behind Morrison's 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 large swimming pool complete with a large spectator grandstand, an underwater viewpoint and diving facilities (with boards at 1.5m, 3m and 5m). This was closed during the late 1990s to make way for a much smaller facility on the site of the town's 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.
University Hospital Wishaw also has a heat pool for specialist physio treatment.
A mainly half hourly Mon-Sat service & hourly late evening and all day on Sundays is provided by ScotRail which connects Wishaw to places such as:
Wishaw also has a second station, Shieldmuir railway station, serving the Craigneuk area of the town. There is also a few services to Edinburgh Waverley which run Mon-Sat. Some extra peak services are provided Mon-Fri to/from Carstairs and Anderston via Glasgow Central Low Level.
Trains on the West Coast Main Line pass through the town but no passenger service trains stop there, as the main Wishaw South railway station on the line closed in 1958.
Following a campaign by local politicians, the area is now well signposted from the nearby M8 and M74 motorways. This move 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 England approximately 75 miles (120 km) away.
Wishawhill is situated within walking distance from the major places in the town such as the Main Street, the large Tesco Extra superstore and Wishaw General Hospital. There is also the large golf course located to the north of the area. Virtually all of Wishawhill is low density residential housing and flats, with only a Community Center and the Wishaw Ex-Servicemen's Club being the non-residential buildings in the area. Due to its close proximity with Wishaw Main Street, there is only one local newsagent shop. The suburb also has a swing park and a football pitch.
The area used to be host to one Roman Catholic Primary School, St Matthew's, located on Pentland Road, until it was shut down in June 2010 due to councillors voting against their constituents' wishes. A look back on the campaign to save St Matthew's Primary, Wishaw Press, 30 June 2010 This happened despite a large campaign by local residents to keep the school open. It is now being demolished due to repeated vandalism. St Thomas's in Pather is now the nearest Roman Catholic school to Wishawhill.
The Argyle Line next to Campsie Road passes through the suburb, with passenger services located at Wishaw railway station a mile away. Buses such as First Glasgow travel through the area, providing services to towns such as Motherwell. The rectangular road that run through the whole of Wishawhill (Campsie Road, Pentland Road, Grampian Road and Heathery Road) links to all the streets.
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