Old Photograph Graham Street Airdrie Scotland

Old photograph of shops, buildings, horses and carts and people on Graham Street in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. This Scottish town is located approximately 12 miles East of Glasgow city centre. A significant event in Airdrie's history was the 1695 passing of a special Act of Parliament in the Scottish Parliament allowing Robert Hamilton of Airdrie to hold four fairs yearly and a weekly market in the town of " Airdry ". This helped develop Airdrie from a " farm town " into a thriving " market town ". Airdrie really came to prominence through its weaving industry. Airdrie Weavers Society was founded in 1781 and flax was being grown in sixteen farms in and around the burgh. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, coal mining was in progress and around thirty colliers were employed. Weaving continued to flourish making up a substantial part of the population of over 2,500 around the turn of the 19th century. Given its large number of weavers, its geographic location, and a large number of unemployed soldiers following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Airdrie became a major centre of support for the Radical War of 1820. The rapid pace of population growth continued and by 1821 there were 4,862 inhabitants. At this time the number of houses being built increased dramatically and in 1821, by a private Act of Parliament, Airdrie became a free and independent Burgh of Barony.



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