Motherwell

Until today, I could have said I had never been to Motherwell, but now I can say I have.

I was here for a work meeting with North Lanarkshire Social Work, which was very productive.

At the start of the 20th century Motherwell was a town of 37,000 people and a wide variety of heavy industries such as munitions, trams and bridge components. By the 1930s most of Scotland’s steel production was in Motherwell, and owned by the Colville family. In 1959 the Colville family were persuaded by the government to begin work of a vast new steel works, which would become Ravenscraig. Within a few years, Ravenscraig was producing more than a million tonnes of steel per year. Following nationalisation of the steel industry, production at the plant was raised, with the Motherwell blast furnaces producing 3 million tonnes each year.

Alas, like many areas in Britain, heavy industry in Motherwell declined towards the end of the 20th century, resulting with the closure of Ravenscraig in 1992.

The town has worked hard over the last few years to reinvent its post-industrial self, and now has many thriving service industries.

Back to Edinburgh now.