Rutherglen

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Coordinates: 55°49′41″N 4°13′26″W / 55.828°N 4.224°W / 55.828; -4.224

Rutherglen
Scottish Gaelic: An Ruadh Ghleann
Scots: Ru'glen
Rutherglen  Rutherglen shown within Scotland
Population	25,000
OS grid reference	NS607617
Council area	South Lanarkshire
Lieutenancy area	Lanarkshire
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	GLASGOW
Postcode district	G73
Dialling code	0141
Police	Strathclyde
Fire	Strathclyde
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Scottish Parliament	Glasgow Rutherglen
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Rutherglen (pronounced: ruh-ther-glen) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Rutherglen comes from the Gaelic An Ruadh Ghleann, meaning "the red valley". In 1975, it lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow. In 1996 Rutherglen was reallocated to the South Lanarkshire council area.

Map of Rutherglen in 1923

Rutherglen remains the oldest royal burgh in Scotland, having received the status of Royal Burgh in 1126 by Royal Charter from King David I of Scotland who ruled from 1124 to 1153. The town is more than 500 years older than Glasgow. In the 14th century Walter Stewart, father of King Robert II, was granted Farme Castle. This was located close to Farme Cross in the east of Rutherglen, and stood until the 1960s. It was a centre of heavy industry, having a long coal mining tradition which died out by 1950. J&J White’s Chemical Works in Shawfield, which was in existence from 1820 to 1967, produced more than 70% of the UK’s Chromate products. Today there is a significant legacy of chromium waste in the area. Rutherglen, and most of the towns encircling the city, are now dormitory suburbs of Glasgow.

Clyde Football Club used to play in the area before moving to the former new town of Cumbernauld. The immediate area could be considered the cradle of Scottish football, with Hampden Park, the national stadium and home to Scotland's oldest football club Queen's Park F.C. being close by as well as Cathkin Park, the home of the defunct Third Lanark F.C. and not far to the north, Celtic Park, the home of Celtic F.C. - all of which (apart from Clyde's former ground) are located in the City of Glasgow. The local junior football team is Rutherglen Glencairn, who have recently moved into a new ground adjacent to their old stadium on Glasgow Road.

The local newspaper is the Rutherglen Reformer.

Governance

Rutherglen Town Hall

Rutherglen was a parliamentary burgh represented in the U.K. Parliament as a component of Glasgow Burghs constituency from 1708 to 1832, and as a component of Kilmarnock Burghs from 1832 to 1918. In 1918, the Rutherglen constituency was created, which became Rutherglen Glasgow in 1983.

In 1999, The Scottish Parliamentary constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen was created, with the same boundaries as the UK parliamentary constituency.

In 2005, Scottish constituencies for the UK parliament were mostly replaced with new constituencies, and Rutherglen is now within the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency. The Scottish Parliament constituencies remain unaltered.

Transport

Rutherglen Main Street is served by Rutherglen railway station and there are also numerous bus links into Glasgow City Centre.

Education

Schools in the Rutherglen area

Non-Denominational Schools

• Bankhead Primary School, Bankhead Road, Rutherglen, G73 2BQ

• Burgh Primary School, 41 King Street, Rutherglen, G73 1JY

• Burnside Primary School, Glenlui Avenue, Burnside, Rutherglen, G73 4JE

• Calderwood Primary School, Buchanan Drive, Rutherglen

• Spittal Primary School, Lochlea Road, Spittal, Rutherglen

• Rutherglen High School, Reid Street, Rutherglen, G73 3DF

• Stonelaw High School, 140 Calderwood Road, Rutherglen, G73 3BP

Roman Catholic Schools

• St Anthony's Primary School, Lochaber Drive, Rutherglen, G73 5HX

• St Columbkille's Primary School, Clincarthill Road, Rutherglen, G73 2LG

• St Mark's Primary School, Kirkriggs Avenue, Blairbeth, Rutherglen, G73 4LY

• Trinity High School, Glenside Drive, Eastfield, Rutherglen, G73 3LW

Notable people

Rutherglen was the birthplace of Archie Jackson, the Australian cricketer. Comedian/actor Robbie Coltrane was also born in Rutherglen, as was Marie Cassidy, State Pathologist for Ireland.

Scotland's oldest man until his passing on August 13, 2009, 109 year old Bob Taggart was a lifelong Rutherglen resident. For the final 20 days of his life, he was actually the oldest man in all of Britain following the death of Harry Patch, a former World War I veteran from Somerset in England who was 111 when he died. [1]

Midge Ure of the band Ultravox went to Stonelaw academy in Rutherglen. Alistair MacLean was a teacher at Gallowflat High in Hamilton road. Television script writer. Stan Laurel also lived in Rutherglen, attending Rutherglen Academy. Folk singer Matt McGinn was born in the Calton, but lived in Rutherglen for many years and wrote songs which mention Rutherglen like "Ru'glen Jean" and "Rosy Anna".

References

"Rutherglen Lore" by W. Ross Shearer, printed in 1922

External links

• Rutherglen Academy historic pictures
• Photos and information about Rutherglen