Old Photograph East High Street Airdrie Scotland

Old photograph of shops, buildings, and people on East High Street in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. This 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. However, 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. Due to the fact it was 'independent', it had all the powers of a Royal Burgh. In 1824 it was decided to build the Town House, which was originally designed by Alexander Baird and is now a local landmark known as the town clock. In 1832 the Town House was used as a hospital due to the cholera outbreak of this year. By 1850, the population had grown to 12,418. The enormous growth in population was not due to high birthrate, but instead due to an influx of residents from the Highlands and predominantly Ireland. This followed the Highland potato famine of the mid 1840s and also reflected the change from cottage industry to heavy industry in the area. Most of the Irish immigrant population were involved with mining and labouring.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.