Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire

Stonehouse is a rural village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on Avon Water in an area of natural beauty and historical interest, near to the Clyde Valley. It is on the A71 trunk road between Edinburgh and Kilmarnock, near the towns of Hamilton, Larkhall and Strathaven. The population of Stonehouse is around 7,500.

The village's oldest structure are the ruins of St Ninian's Church, which date from the 17th century and stand in an ancient graveyard on the edge of the village. The old village centre has several rows of late 18th century and early 19th century weavers' cottages, some of which have double windows which were originally intended to maximize the amount of light coming in, for weavers working on their looms. In 1973, Stonehouse was designated to become an addition to Scotland's new towns with the purpose of strengthening the output of public sector housing available to rehouse Glasgow's people from its unfit tenements, a modern urban design to alleviate overcrowding in and around Glasgow and to generate industrial development, similar to the towns of East Kilbride, Cumbernauld and Livingston. Stonehouse was added to the responsibilities of the East Kilbride Development Corporation. Following the West Central Scotland Plan of 1974 and the inception of Strathclyde Regional Council in 1975, regional planning strategy was refocused upon regeneration within Glasgow leading to the establishment of the GEAR project in Glasgow's East End. With the encouragement of the Regional Council, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Bruce Millan, agreed that Stonehouse's development would be halted in 1976 and de designated in 1977

Ringsdale Castle, like Cot, was not a castle per se, but a motte. Its remains can be seen on the raised motte at the summit of the Avon Gorge, overlooking the river. The name Ringsdale is believed to be derived from the word Rhyn, meaning promontory or hill, in the language of the ancient Britons. Glenavon Cottage, reputed to have a romantic air, though all that remains now is a small corner of its walls. In addition, a mill called Cloxy (Clocksy) Mill was marked on an 1838 map as appearing near Ringsdale. Its ruins on the banks of the Avon can still be seen, though there are no extant records of its origin.

In the area of Stonehouse, there are a number of castles on the outskirts of the parish: Allanton, Brocket, Plotcock, Glassford, and Darngaber motte.

Stonehouse has two primary schools in modern buildings: Stonehouse Primary and Newfield Primary. Both of these schools are within the catchment area of Larkhall Academy, but some children in the village attend Strathaven Academy. The local Catholic primary school is St. Patrick's Primary School in Strathaven.

Stonehouse is on the A71 trunk road, which stretches between Edinburgh and Kilmarnock. A by pass was constructed around the old village area, re joining the original route of the A71 near Stonehouse Hospital at the village's Newfield area. Stonehouse is close to the M74 motorway, with a junction at Canderside Toll about 1 mile (2 km) from the village, which provides a link to Glasgow and other Lanarkshire towns to the North and Dumfries and Galloway and England to the South.

Stonehouse has regular bus transport to the nearby towns of Larkhall, Hamilton, East Kilbride and Strathaven provided by the Stonehouse based Whitelaw's Coaches service 254. The bus runs half hourly on Monday to Saturday daytimes to Hamilton, with each second bus extending to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride. An hourly service runs on evenings and Sundays to Hamilton.

The railway was closed in 1965. There are two closed lines at Stonehouse, one to Dalserf and the other to Strathaven. There was a junction in Stonehouse where the Coalburn branch diverged from the line to Strathaven. Today, the nearest railway station for Stonehouse is at Larkhall. South Lanarkshire Council have recently undertaken a feasibility study in order to examine whether the railway from Larkhall could be extended towards Stonehouse; however the major obstacles are the viaduct which whilst the piers remain, the decking was removed in 1984. Also in the mid 1990s the A71 bypass was partially built over the trackbed of the former line.

The Alexander Hamilton Memorial Park was opened in 1925, gifted by Alexander Hamilton (from Stonehouse) who made his fortune in carpet manufacture. The distinctive bandstand came from the 1911 Scottish National Exhibition in Glasgow. The park and bandstand look over the Avon Valley. A long park chute was built into the hillside and was opened in 1933 by Councillor Thomas Wilson but was dismantled in 1967. Today the park has a floodlit athletics track, football pitch, multi surface games area as well as woodland walks and various play areas.

The Tileworks sports ground has a floodlit all weather playing surface designed for football or tennis. The facility also has indoor changing facilities and a full size grass pitch used previously by Stonehouse Violet F. C. and now used by Royal Albert F. C.

The town has two main churches St. Ninian's Church and Paterson United Free Church of Scotland. St. Ninian's Church was built in 1896, replacing the building in New Street which was built in 1772, at a time when the Old Parish Church lacked space. In 1929, after the Union of the Churches, this was renamed to St Ninian's Parish Church of Scotland. The ruins of the original St Ninian’s church are situated within its own cemetery off Manse Road. Religious worship and burial on the site is thought to date back to the 5th century. The oldest gravestone in the yard is a fragment of a medieval burial, dating to the 11th or 12th century. The oldest legible inscription is from 1663. Paterson United Free Church of Scotland was renamed to honour H. A. Paterson, the church's minister who died in 1901, this church was originally called the United Presbyterian Church and was built in 1879. Prior to this was the church for the Associates Secession or Burgher denomination, which was built nearby in 1796 and existed until 1878.

This hall started life as the Gas Office. It is situated in the village square at Stonehouse Cross and shared the building with Stonehouse Library. The Stonehouse Library is now situated within the South Lanarkshire Lifestyles Centre on Strathaven Road.

The institute was formerly the Miners Welfare Hall. It was built in the early 1900s on New Street, close to the cross and is used for a variety of events and concerts. The smaller part of the building was also used as a radio studio, providing a local FM radio station for most of South Lanarkshire.

This hall was built in the late 19th century at Trongate, close to Stonehouse Cross.

The old public buildings were replaced by a new community centre at the edge of town, opened in 2011. It now features a library, café, and learning centre, with rooms that can be booked out for learning and education sessions, as well as local keep fit and parenting classes.

Opened in Argyle Street in January 1937 by John Edward Sheeran. The former cinema, now a store, was extensively furnished directly from the White Star cruise liner RMS Homeric. Sheeran bought some of the ship's opulent furnishings at a scrap auction in 1935 and adapted them for installation inside the 750 seat picture house. The remaining fittings include several doors, a mahogany staircase, a heavy chandelier, and panelled walls from the first class restaurant.

Stonehouse cemetery, which contains the town's war memorial (details above), has the Commonwealth war graves of 8 British service personnel of the World Wars. Other cemeteries in the village include St. Ninian's Church Cemetery and Glebe Cemetery.

Stonehouse War Memorial is situated in the middle of Stonehouse Cemetery and lists those who died in both World Wars. WWI soldiers names are on the side that faces the cemetery gates and WWII names are on the opposite side. The memorial is in the form of a cross on a long shaft which stands on a four tiered octagonal plinth. There is no decoration on either the plinth or cross.

Linthaugh Bridge crosses the Avon water at the bottom of Linthaugh Brae. The bridge was built in 1772. Another notable bridge is Stonehouse Viaduct.

Two rivers pass through the area Avon Water and Cander Water. Nearby hills include Grossyet Knowe and Sodom Hill.

This reserve is a remnant of a large area of raised bog and is maintained by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. The site is rich with all types of wildlife that can be found in this type of habitat. However, there are no footpaths and access across it is difficult.

Stonehouse Hospital opened in 1896 and provided care for sufferers of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases and was said to be "the best isolation hospital in Scotland". The old Victorian hospital building was demolished and a new hospital opened in May 2004.

Starting operations from late August 2009, the CFR group for Stonehouse is one of many groups operating in Scotland. The purpose of the group is to provide supplementary emergency medical cover within the area, specifically to allow rapid attendance at instances of things like Cardiac Arrest, Central Chest Pain, Sudden Adult Collapse or Breathing Difficulties. Due to the rural location of the Avondale area, it can sometimes take an ambulance upwards of 10 minutes to attend an incident. In the event of a Cardiac Arrest, ideally you would want a Defib. unit on scene within 5 minutes, preferably sooner. Members of the group are fully trained in the use of Defibrillators, supplemental Oxygen use, Airway management, and various other aspects of Basic Life Support. Community First Responder

The scheme is completely staffed by unpaid volunteers who are dispatched by the Scottish Ambulance Service to appropriate medical emergencies within the areas covered. At the current time, the Stonehouse scheme also covers: Larkhall, Strathaven, Ashgill, Glassford, Sandford, & anywhere in between. In some circumstances, cover can also be extended to Blackwood/Kirkmuirhill/Boghead (Usually only if the fellow CFR scheme in Lesmahagow area is not on call). At the time of writing (1 September 2010), the first year stats. for the group are over 3500 hours of cover and attendance at over 220 emergency incidents. There are currently 10 members of the group, but new volunteers are always welcome.