Carluke | As described in F.H. Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)

Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Carluke

Carluke, a town and a parish of central Lanarkshire. The town stands on the right bank of Jock's Burn, ½ mile E of the Caledonian railway, 2¼ miles E of the Clyde, 5 ½ NNW of Lanark, and 19½ SE of Glasgow. Its site is a swell of tabular land, rising somewhat steeply from the picturesque ravine of Jock's Burn; has an elevation of between 600 and 700 feet above sea-level; and commands an extensive and brilliant view over nearly all the central portions of the basin of the Clyde. Dating from early times, the town was constituted a burgh of barony, under the name of Kirkstyle, in 1662, but declined so greatly that about the middle of last century it comprised only the parish church, the manse, and four cottages. It afterwards rose to a considerable village, inhabited chiefly by cotton-weavers; and, making a strong start in prosperity about the beginning of the present century, it rapidly assumed the appearance of a thriving town, acquired a new character and much importance from the commencement and progress of extensive mining operations in its neighbourhood, and is now a neat, well-built place, with numerous streets of substantial and comfortable houses. It is a centre of traffic for a considerable extent of surrounding country; is well supplied with shops in all the ordinary departments of retail trade; and has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, insurance, and telegraph departments, a railway station, branches of the National and British Linen Company's banks, a savings' bank, 14 insurance agencies, 5 hotels and inns, a gas-light company, agricultural and horticultural societies, a useful knowledge society, with library and museum, and several religions and charitable institutions. Cattle markets fall on the second Thursday of March, 21 May, and 31 Oct-; and a cattle show is held on the last Wednesday of July- Places of worship are the parish church (1799; 1000 sittings), a neat edifice with a square tower; a Free church; a U.P. church (1833; 770 sittings); a handsome new United Original Secession church (1880); a new Evangelical Union church (1881); and St Athanasius' Roman Catholic church (1867; 600 sittings). Three schools-Market Place, Girls', and Roman Catholic-with respective accommodation for 600,148, and 132 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 488,84, and 138, and grants of £443,4s. 9d., £72,16s., and £89,10s. Pop- (1841) 2090, (1861) 3111, (1871) 3423, (1881) 3792. The parish contains also the villages of Braidwood, Harestanes with Thornice, Law, Kilcadzow, and Roadmeetings with Yieldshields- Anciently called KirkForest, probably from its situation in Mauldslie Forest, it took the name of Carluke, seemingly about the beginning of the 14th century, from the dedication of its church to St Luke. It is bounded NW and N by Cambusnethan, E by Carstairs, S by Lanark, and SW by Lesmahagow and Dalserf. Its greatest length, from E to W, is 6¾ miles; its greatest breadth, from N to S, is 4¾ miles; and its area is 15,410 acres, of which 65 are water. The Clyde flows 4³/4 miles along all the Lesmahagow and Dalserf boundary, and four or five burns run west-south - westward through deep romantic ravines, locally called 'Gills.' The western tract along the Clyde is luxuriant haugh, sinking to less than 200 feet above sea-level; but thence the surface rises rapidly, in banks or acclivities, to 696 feet near Braidwood, 589 near Wellrigs, 675 near Strathavon, 549 near Greenknowne, 1049 near Kilcadzow, 847 near Bogside, and 1025 on King's Law, this being. a summit-point of the wild bleak moor, which, ascending gradually from the central plateau, extends to the eastern border. The rocks, over great part of the area, belong to the Carboniferous formation, and are rich in coal, limestone, and ironstone. Alluvial deposits and Devonian rocks are in the W; mosses, 12 feet deep, are in the NE; and trap rock forms a ridge, about 1 mile long, from Hillhead eastward to Bashaw- Clay, suitable for bricks and pottery, abounds; coal, limestone, ironstone, and sandstone are extensively worked; and agate, calcareous spar, heavy spar, iron pyrites, galena, and bitumen are found. Mineral springs, both ferruginous and sulphurous, occur in various places; petrifying springs are numerous; and ordinary springs are so general and copious as, in some parts, to be almost a nuisance. The soils are exceedingly diversified, according to position, to the substrata, and to both the natural and the artificial processes which have affected them; and those of prime or good loamy quality occur chiefly on the low grounds in the W. About 600 acres are under wood, about 110 are disposed in orchards, and about 400 are entirely waste. Chief antiquities are Hallbar or Braidwood Tower, Haugh Hill Mound, and traces of a Roman road, leading north-westward from Kilcadzow to Waterloo. The eminent engineer and antiquary, Major-Gen. Wm. Roy(1726-90), author of Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain, was born at Miltonhead, his father being factor and gardener to the Hamiltons of Hallcraig; another native was the self-taught sculptor, Rt. Forrest (1790-1852). The principal mansions are Mauldslie Castle, Milton Lockhart, Hallcraig, Kirton, Waygateshaw, Sandilandgate, Braidwood, and Orchard House; and 14 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 20 of between £100 and £500,38 of from £50 to £100, and 62 of from £20 to £50. Carluke is in the presbytery of Lanark and synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the living is worth £507. Established mission stations are at Castlehill, Law, and Hallcraig; and, besides those in the town, there are public schools at Braidwood, Kilcadzow, Law, and Yieldshields, which, with respective accommodation for 168,92,250, and 72 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 103,46,239, and 87, and grants of £87, £40,13s-, £201,12s-, and £63,0s- 6d. Valuation (1881) £48,910, 19s- Pop. (1801) 1756, (1831) 3288, (1861) 6176, (1871) 7066, (1881) 8552.—Ord. Sur., sh. 23,1865.

Linked entities:
Feature Description:	"a town and a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units:	Carluke ScoP Lanarkshire ScoCnty
Place:	Carluke

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.