A place of renewal

AT the time of the reform of local government in Scotland in 1975 the large burgh of Motherwell and Wishaw was the most populous in the country.

Until the coming of railways in the 1830s and 40s, however, these were insignificant places: it was the railways which made them.

The first railway in the area was the Wishaw and Coltness, opened in 1844. This was essentially a local mineral line, and was intended to link the coal and ironstone fields in the vicinity of Coltness with (via the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway ) the iron works of the Coatbridge area.

In the mid-1840s, however, the construction of strategic railways throughout Great Britain began in earnest.

The Wishaw and Coltness was absorbed by the Caledonian Railway to become part of its main line route from Carlisle and the south to Glasgow, and within a few years to northern and eastern Scotland.

In 1855 a direct line from Motherwell to Glasgow, the Clydesdale Junction, was opened, and the town of Motherwell grew round the junction of that line with the former Wishaw and Coltness. Within a few years the convenience of rail communication led Motherwell to become a magnet for industrial growth.

David Colville and Sons established the Dalzell malleable-iron (later steel) works and a number of engineering works followed, making such products as cranes, bridges and other structural steel work, and sugar machinery. There were also several coal mines in the area.

Before the Reformation in 1560 there was a small mediaeval church in the grounds of Dalziel House, but in 1789 this was replaced by a new church at Windmillhill, a hamlet in what is now Windmillhill Street.

The windmill was probably a late-17th century one built to grind grain.

The new church seems to have been built to serve the surrounding agricultural area as well as the little village.

Within what is now Motherwell there was another small settlement of weavers’ cottages close to what is now Motherwell Cross.

The railway-induced growth of the town was such that by 1870 the 18th century church was too small (though it was later extended and served as Motherwell South Parish Church for many years).

A new Dalziel Parish Church, the subject of this essay, was therefore built, close to what had become the centre of the burgeoning town. The new building, in the then-fashionable Gothic Revival style was designed by David Thomson, and has a fine spire, a notable landmark in the town. In 1896-97 east and west transepts and a chancel were added to designs by Thomson and Menzies, who also built the church hall. A second hall was added in 1963. The church has a fine pipe organ, and some good stained glass windows.

By the end of the 19th century the population of the town had grown to the point where another central Church of Scotland was needed, and accordingly St Andrew’s was built to the north of Dalziel church, in 1902-03. It was designed by Alexander Cullen of Hamilton.

In 1996 its congregation was united with that of Dalziel North, under the present name of that charge. The St Andrew’s building is now owned by the Calvary Christian Fellowship.

Since the Union, Dalziel St Andrew’s has completely renovated its church and suite of halls, as the base for a very lively congregation with extensive outreach to the town. Sunday services are now streamed to reach people unable or unwilling to attend the church.

During the last forty years Motherwell has lost most of its traditional heavy industries – steelmaking and heavy engineering – and with them the associated atmospheric pollution. The vigour of the congregation of Dalziel St Andrew’s in moving confidently into the twentieth century is testimony to the power of the Spirit in this place of renewal.

This article appears in the May 2017 Issue of Life and Work

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