Plains is a village outside the town of Airdrie

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire

Airdrie is a town within North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles east of Glasgow city centre. Airdrie forms part of a conurbation with its neighbour Coatbridge, in the former district known as the Monklands. As of 2006,...

, in North Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, about 14 miles east of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 city centre and 32 miles west of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. The nearest major towns are (Airdrie 2.5 miles) and (Coatbridge 5 miles). As global points of reference, San Francisco and Tashkent

Tashkent

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...

 are by Google Map, almost equidistant at 5030 miles due west and 5400 miles south east respectively.

Etymology

The origin of the name "Plains" is unknown. One suggestion is that the name derives (via the plural of Plain

Plain

In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...

) from the view afforded to the Cistercian Monks of Newbattle Abbey as they travelled to what is now the site of the village. These monks farmed the wider area for grain in what became known as Monklands

Monklands, Scotland

Monklands was formerly one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland....

. But the geography of the area runs contrary to this idea. Alternatively, the name may be a contraction of "The Plains of Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

" - a name given by a returning soldier from the Napoleonic wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. Either way, it is not uncommon for locals to refer to the village as "The Plains".

Somewhat mistakenly, locals (and predominantly Standard Grade

Standard Grade

Standard Grades are Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14 to 16 years, which are due to be fully replaced in 2014 when Scottish Qualifications Authority's Higher Still system becomes the main qualifications as part of the major shake up of Scotland's education system as...

 Spanish students), have referred to the village as Las Vegas; however, this is an incorrect translation of the Spanish, in which the literal translation of the Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 gambling town is The Meadows. For those who grew up in the new housing (to the North) of the late 1960s, this alternative translation would have equal merit looking from Craiglea Terrace, east towards The Quarry across the cattle fields. It is not clear however which of these two settlements was established first. Locals do concede, however, that within the two, gambling is probably more difficult in the village after the Ladbrokes bookies was closed some time in the 1990s.

There is no known association to any other place called Plains. But in 1976, newly elected US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 (of Plains, Georgia

Plains, Georgia

Plains is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 776 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Notable people:...

) received a congratulatory telegram from Plains newsagent - also J. Carter. Thus the family "the Carters of Plains" were featured in the Scottish national tabloid, The Daily Record

Daily Record (Scotland)

The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...

. There is no known connection between later American Presidents and the village.

Geography

The Plains is situated on the gentle south facing slope of the valley of the North Calder Water, and is a tributary of the River Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

. To the north of the settlement run a series of unclassified roads known to older residents as The Backies. Opencast mining in the 1970s and 1980s took away much of the natural beauty within this network of roads which since has further been eroded with the advent of a landfill site.

The Main Street (the A89) runs in a straight line for about 1 mile east to west. Almost all of the residential housing of the village lies on the northern side of Main St., forming a roughly square shape (1 mile each side). To the south of Main St., the valley drops more steeply down to the North Calder then steeply up the other side which is home to the parkland Easter Moffat golf course. This course is widely appreciated for the picturesque 18th hole which tees from the lower reaches of Annieshill to the charming clubhouse.

The Plains lies at around 500 ft above sea level. From nearby Airdriehill

Airdriehill

Airdriehill is a village in the Scottish council area of North Lanarkshire. It is located on a small hill northeast of the town of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire and west of the village of Plains, North Lanarkshire....

, there is a wide vista to the west across the urbanised lower Clyde valley. Beyond, on a clear day, it is possible to see Ben Lomond

Ben Lomond

Ben Lomond , , is a distinctive mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros...

 and the Isle of Arran

Isle of Arran

Arran or the Isle of Arran is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and with an area of is the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire and the 2001 census had a resident population of 5,058...

. Airdriehill was the source of endless excitement to village children in the 1970s with loud explosions cascading across the village as quarriers pursued the rich seam of hard rock available there. Graffiti

Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

, at the West site entrance, pointing to the existence of a nuclear bunker at this now exhausted site has never been substantiated.

To the south east of The Plains, the land rises to almost 1000 feet - the highest land in the narrow isthmus across central Scotland - Scotland's "Continental Divide

Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...

". Consequently, the area was chosen as the location for Scotland's first television transmitting stations. The Black Hill Transmitter

Black Hill Transmitter

The Black Hill transmitting station is a facility for FM and TV broadcasting at Black Hill , on Duntilland Road, Salsburgh, North Lanarkshire, Scotland which is near the town of Airdrie. It has a guyed mast 306.6 metres  tall, bringing the antennas to a height of 540 metres above sea level...

, at 1000 ft tall, is a very prominent local landmark. It began broadcasting independent Scottish Television

Scottish Television

Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...

 services in August, 1957. Nearby, but not so tall or prominent, is Kirk o'Shotts transmitter

Kirk o'Shotts transmitting station

The Kirk o'Shotts transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site at The Hirst which lies just outside the village of Salsburgh which is near the town of Shotts in North Lanarkshire central Scotland...

 mast which broadcast Scotland's first BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television signals in March, 1952. There is now a second transmitter (completed 2009) which will replace the older one which itself will be relocated within the Scottish transmitting network.

History

The village was founded in the mid 19th century along what is now the A89 Airdrie to Bathgate

Bathgate

Bathgate is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the M8 motorway west of Livingston. Nearby towns are Blackburn, Armadale, Whitburn, Livingston, and Linlithgow. Edinburgh Airport is away...

 road. The population of the village in 1860 is recorded at just over 200. Much of the original growth of the village was in keeping with the expansion of the coal mining industry in North Lanarkshire, most notably the Ardenrigg Coal Co Ltd. This coal mining activity dwindled in the second half of the 20th century. However, Scotland's largest open cast coal mine is currently in operation at Drumshangie Moss, a few miles north-west of The Plains. There has recently been controversy regarding the impact of this mine on the site of the Stanrigg Mining Disaster where, in July 1918, a collapse led to the deaths of 19 local mine workers.

Late 20th century expansion of the village has been to the north of the A89 road in separate developments of local government or Council house

Council house

A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...

s, consisting of blocks of terraced house

Terraced house

In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

s. Originally planned as affordable, rented accommodations for the predominantly working class

Working class

Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...

 population, a large percentage have become owner occupied in recent years. At the beginning of the 21st century, a new development of relatively large, detached houses was established in the north-east corner of the village.

There is no significant single employer within the village. During the last decades of the 20th Century the main employers were the Geest Company and Beechams

Beecham (pharmaceutical company)

Beecham was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Beecham, after having merged with SmithKline Beckman, merged with GlaxoWellcome to become GlaxoSmithKline .-History:...

.

Geest occupied a site in the middle of the village, South towards the railway, and was involved in the receipt and packaging of fruit for distribution throughout the country. This led to the local description of the facility as the "Banana Factory". Children of employees and outsiders, when enquiring as to what went on within the unit, were told that "they bent bananas!" The site is now a timber yard managed by a company called Rowan Timber.

The Beecham

Beecham (pharmaceutical company)

Beecham was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Beecham, after having merged with SmithKline Beckman, merged with GlaxoWellcome to become GlaxoSmithKline .-History:...

 site was a warehouse and distribution facility employing a number of local drivers and located adjacent to Geest Bananas. Such were the distinctive markings and colourings (red and yellow) of the trucks they used, it was a common site to see "Looki Vans" parked outside the drivers' homes. "Looki" being of course a reference to one of the main products distributed from and marketed on the vans - Lucozade

Lucozade

Lucozade is an umbrella name for a 6 series of energy and sports drinks, produced by GlaxoSmithKline in Gloucestershire. The former company became part of Beecham and, after the mergers of SmithKline and Beecham in 2000, GlaxoSmithKline....

. The warehouse was recently demolished and the site is to be developed for additional housing.

Plains Today

Today, The Plains is a largely working class settlement with local people commuting for employment throughout urban central Scotland. There has been recent housing developments that have expanded the village. These tend to be more up-market dwellings although the developers have struggled to fully populate the estates which have been built.
Today children go to the new school built by Balfour Beatty. The two schools are St. Davids and Plains Primary. St davids is a catholic school and Plains Primary is non-denominational.
There has been a new swing park added to Plains.

Being Irish in Scotland

In keeping with the religious and cultural segregation of most of North Lanarkshire, The Plains is predominantly Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 with many people perceiving to be the descendants of immigrant Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 workers from the 19th century. As elsewhere in the West of Scotland, a sectarian tension persists between (descendants of Irish) Catholic and (descendants of Scottish) Protestant and remained on display in this form for years thereafter. All the same, many other slogans of a more serious nature are also known to have remained for some time longer

The Plains was not entirely an Irish enclave: at least until the 198, as well as many Scottish Protestant families who lived there. Historians of the Scottish mining industry often noted that, (compared to Wales for instance) the Scottish mining work-force was multinational, and The Plains demonstrated this.

Organised Religion

Christian worship takes place at the Elim Gospel Hall and at Plains Evangelical Church. What is now Plains Evangelical Church, a thriving non-denominational independent church was begun by Mr Robert McCracken in 1900.

St David's Catholic church remains the venue where most religious Plainsmen choose to worship.

Education

There are two state schools: St David's Primary (Catholic) and Plains Primary (Non-denominational). St David's had a school roll of 155 (2006-2007. In the same year Plains Primary looked after 71 pupils. Both schools are accommodated in a shared campus built on the former football pitches on the west side of Bruce Street. These football pitches were the former site of 'pit bings'(huge mounds of earth and stone waste from coal workings) that were only removed as the result of community pressure in the 1960's.

Points of Interest

Running parallel and around 100 metres south of Main Street is National Cycle Route 75, a Sustrans

Sustrans

Sustrans is a British charity to promote sustainable transport. The charity is currently working on a number of practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport, to give people the choice of "travelling in ways that benefit their health and the environment"...

 long distance cycle path. This was constructed along the bed of a former industrial railway line which ultimately linked Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 2010 re-establishment of a commuter railway along this line is almost complete. On May 10 2007, the bill to allow this was passed by the Scottish Parliament. The line opened in December 2010 however as there is no stop at Plains meaning that the benefit to the local community has yet to be demonstrated.

The Sustrans path passes near to Plains Countryside Park - a local picnic area overlooking the North Calder stream. In the mid to late 20th century, this was the site of the annual Plains summer gala - a day of parades, children's sports events and entertainment - a tradition typical of villages in the area. In Plains the custom is now defunct although it continues in many neighbouring communities to the east such as Harthill, Whitburn

Whitburn, West Lothian

Whitburn is a small town in West Lothian, Scotland located halfway between Scotlands's two largest cities being about east of Glasgow and west of Edinburgh...

 and Armadale

Armadale

-Places in Australia:*Armadale, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne*Armadale, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth*City of Armadale*Electoral district of Armadale*Armidale, New South Wales -Rail in Australia:...

. Recently a new committee has been formed to resurrect this tradition for 2012.