Old Photograph Main Street Bellshill Scotland

Old photograph of shops, cars and people on Main Street in Bellshill, Glasgow, Scotland. In the late 1700s the parish of Bothwell, which encompasses modern Bellshill, was a centre of hand loom weaving with 113 weavers recorded. Only 53 colliers were listed. A hundred or so years later, these occupations had changed places in degree of importance to the area economy. With the introduction of new machinery in the middle of the 19th century, many cottage weavers lost their livelihood. Demand for coal to feed British industry meant that by the 1870s 20 deep pits were in operation in the area. The first mine to open, and the last to close in 1953, was the Thankerton mine. Others followed swiftly and rapidly increased the size of the town, even attracting a steady stream of immigrants from abroad, particularly Lithuania, so much so that the town is sometimes referred to as Little Lithuania. The rise in the migrant Lithuanian population led to the opening of The Scottish Lithuanian Recreation and Social Club within Calder Road in the Mossend area.





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