Larkhall sits in the rolling countryside of Avondale and
is situated to the south east of Hamilton with excellent access to the M74
motorway.
Opened in 2005, there is a rail link to Larkhall's two stations, with a
half-hourly service between Larkhall and Dalmuir via Hamilton, Glasgow and
Partick.
A redevelopment of the town centre was completed in 2007 with
streetscaping and road resurfacing. The town is also to benefit from a new
cycle route, connecting it to Hamilton, having been one of the successful
projects in a Sustrans lottery bid in 2007.
The Clyde Valley is just minutes away with its selection of garden
centres, tea rooms, country walks, parks and pony trekking. If it's
history you're after, Chatelherault Country Park is two miles away and the
kids can be entertained in its huge adventure playground, while
Craignethan Castle is six miles away.
Following the decline of the coal industry around Larkhall
in the 1940s a programme of diversification in both manufacturing and
services attraced new business to the area. Among today's large employers
are plastic manufacturers Rosti. Four new industrial nest units were
constructed in 2007 at a cost of £800k.
Housing in Larkhall ranges from public sector homes (with houses currently
available for let) and private flats to country cottages and family
villas. There are many established housing estates dating from the 1960s
as well as new builds of private and housing association accommodation in
Larkhall and its environs.
Larkhall has a selection of primary schools and once the multi-million
pound schools modernisation programme is complete the town will have a
brand new purpose-built secondary school on a site adjacent to the
existing Larkhall Academy and Leisure Centre.
For walkers, there are stunning pathways that join the
Clyde Walkway through the Avon Gorge at Morgan Glen and pleasant strolls
down to the park and the Applebank Inn at Millheugh. From there, there are
good paths all the way along the river to Chatelherault.
For golfers, Larkhall Golf Course is situated on the edge of town and for
the more adventurous there's the Larkhall outdoor kart circuit, Summerlee,
where many of today's motor sports greats started their careers, including
Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Le Mans winner Alan McNish.
Larkhall's name is thought to originate from the Gaelic "Laverockha"
meaning "lark on the hill" and maps from the 15th and 16th centuries show
place names with similar spellings in the area. In the early 14th century
the area was known as Machanshire and later Dalserf. Larkhall wasn't in
common use until the 18th century.
The main industry in Larkhall during the 17th and 18th centuries was
weaving and much of the old part of the town consists of weavers'
cottages. The Larkhall and Pleasance Building Society opened in 1814,
followed by the Larkhall Building Society in 1824, enabling so many
weavers to own their homes that Larkhall became known as "the town of
bonnet lairds".
Coalmining came to Larkhall around the end of the 18th
century as the town lay in the heart of the Lanarkshire coalfields and by
the 1920s most of its people were miners. As the coal industry declined,
others came in its wake including a brick works, fireclay works, chemical
works and several quarries and foundries.
Larkhall's railway was completed as far as Netherburn around 1856 with
Larkhall East Station upgraded to serve passengers in 1868. By 1905 the
railway was so popular that the new Central Larkhall Station was opened.
Unfortunately, both stations were closed under the Beeching cuts of the
1960s, although the Larkhall to Milngavie line was re-opened in 2005.
The area surrounding Larkhall includes several small
villages such as Netherburn, Ashgill and Dalserf. Dalserf was once a main
stopover on the road north and had five inns and a ferry across the Clyde.
By the 1820s Garrion Bridge had been built to take the traffic past the
village. The Old Parish Church in Dalserf was erected in 1655 and was
renovated in the 1970s.
Netherburn is a close knit community outside Larkhall with a lively
community hall. Ashgill was originally an area of miners' houses known as
Ashgillhead. It was rebuilt in the 1920s and renamed Ashgill.
Millheugh, down the steep Avon Gorge from Larkhall was a popular area for
fruit growing with crops such as apples, pears and plums. At one time, the
area adjacent to Millheugh, a popular local beauty spot, was known as the
bleachfields as it was once the site of a local dye works. The area also
boasts its own ghost, the Black Lady who is said to haunt the Applebank
Inn.
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