RUTHERGLEN (surveyed in
1858)
Introduction
Rutherglen is near the south bank of the River Clyde, south-west of
Glasgow, in Lanarkshire. It was made into a royal burgh by David I in 1126 and
was an important medieval trading town. A church and castle both dated from
this early period. In 1286 the River Clyde was bridged downstream at Glasgow;
from that time masted ships could not sail up to Rutherglen and gradually its
trade declined. From the late eighteenth century, industry began to grow again
around the town and by the mid-nineteenth century, there was a period of
vigorous growth.
The name Rutherglen means the place in the ‘red valley’. It is derived
from the Scottish Gaelic words ruadh
meaning ‘red’ and gleann meaning
‘glen’ or ‘valley’. It probably refers to the red colour of the soil in the
area.
The population in 1851 was 6,947, a rise of over two thousand from the 1831 census figure of 4,741.
The core of Rutherglen was centered on Main Street with properties on either side (sheets x.3.20 and x.4.16). As late as 1857 Wilson describes Rutherglen as having ‘ a mean straggling appearance resembling more a large sequestered village than a modern Lanarkshire town’. At that period the town was still separated from the river by an area of open ground known as the Green.
The railway lay between the town and the river (sheets x.3.15 and x.4.11).
Rutherglen
Castle (sheet x.4.11) had been a large thirteenth century courtyard castle; it
was abandoned in the early eighteenth century and, by the mid nineteenth
century, all the stone had been taken for reuse elsewhere. Farme Castle, which
was on the north side of the town between the town and the river had been built
in the sixteenth century but was later incorporated into a large mansion.
At
the time of the survey there was a fifteenth-century steeple in the middle of
the town, which was considered to have been part of the medieval parish church,
nothing else of which remained.
Trade and
Industry
By the period of the survey there were dye works, a chemical factory and cotton works in Rutherglen. However, one of the most influential stimuli to industrial growth was the opening of a shipbuilding yard by Thomas Seath in 1856. Seath also ran boats to provide a commuter service into Glasgow until the arrival of trams in the late nineteenth century.
Hinterland
There
were extensive coal seams in the hinterland of Rutherglen. The first local mine
was opened in 1776 and these mines were still being exploited in the nineteenth
century. There was also an abundance of iron, which was valuable for the
expanding industries.
Religious Life
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the parish of Rutherglen had a Church of Scotland parish church, built 1794, another Church of Scotland church built 1836 but not in use in 1857, a Free church, a United Presbyterian church built in 1836, and a Roman Catholic chapel built in 1853. There were also meeting places for Mormons and another group.
Education
In the mid-nineteenth century there were eight schools, including the burgh school, a Free church school and six private schools.
Groome, Francis H. (ed.), 1894-5. The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland; a survey of Scottish topography, statistical, biographical, and historical, 2nd ed., (London: William Mackenzie)
Mackay, George, 2000. Scottish Place Names (New Lanark: Lomond)
Smith, Robert, 2001. The Making of Scotland: a comprehensive guide to the growth of its cities, towns and villages (Edinburgh: Canongate)
Wilson, Rev. John Marius (ed.), 1857. The Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland or Dictionary of Scottish Topography (Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co.)
Edina Website – Online Statistical Accounts of Scotland - http://edina.ac.uk/statacc/