Strathclyde Park
Encyclopedia
Country park
A country park is an area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.-History:In the United Kingdom the term 'Country Park' has a special meaning. There are over 400 Country Parks in England alone . Most Country Parks were designated in the 1970s, under the...
located in Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
, 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...
.
The park covers some 4 km², centred on the artificial Strathclyde Loch. It is located next to 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....
between Hamilton
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...
and Motherwell. Strathclyde Park forms what used to be known as the Low parks of the now demolished Hamilton Palace
Hamilton Palace
Hamilton Palace was a large country house located north-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it was built in 1695 and subsequently much enlarged. The house was demolished in 1921 due to ground subsidence despite inadequate evidence for that...
and still includes buildings associated with the palace. When the loch was created in the early 1970s it involved the flooding of the old mining village of Bothwellhaugh
Bothwellhaugh
Bothwellhaugh was a Scottish coal mining village occupied from the mid 1880s until the 1960s, when it was abandoned. The village was based next to the towns of Motherwell and Hamilton in Lanarkshire, about ten miles south-east of Glasgow, now within Strathclyde Country Park.There were two coal...
. The park offers many amenities and attractions such as coarse angling, woodland walks, watersports, and a camping and caravaning site. One of Scotland's theme parks, M&Ds
M&Ds
M&Ds is an amusement park located in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bordering on Strathclyde Park, the park contains five rollercoasters and two water rides among others as well as an arcade, theatre, ten-pin bowling and indoor reptile house, Amazonia....
, is located in the park. Until 1996, the music festival T in the Park
T in the Park
T in the Park is a major British music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire...
was held here.
Although the focus of the park is on recreation, a variety of habitats are present, including wetlands and native woodland.
Rowing
Major events held at the loch include the rowing events for the 1986 Commonwealth Games1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...
, the 1996 Junior World Rowing Championships
Junior World Rowing Championships
The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31st December of the year in which he reaches the age of 18. After that date, he shall be classified as an Under 23 rower...
(and the World Rowing Championships
World Rowing Championships
The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962...
for non-Olympic events), the 2005 World Rowing Masters Regatta and the 2006 Commonwealth Rowing Championships
Commonwealth Rowing Championships
The Commonwealth Rowing Championships are held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games since rowing is no longer included in the Commonwealth Games programme ....
. In 2007 the World Rowing Under 23 Championships were held within the park from 26 to 29 July.
The loch also hosts the British Rowing Championships once every four years, which are normally held in Holme Pierrepont
Holme Pierrepont
Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet located south of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the Gamston ward of the Rushcliffe local authority in the East Midlands region....
, Nottingham, and also every four years hosts the Home International Regatta.
The park is home to Strathclyde Park Rowing Club and to the National Rowing Academy whose Boathouse Gym is open to the public.
Major events
The watersports events of the 2005 GlasgowGlasgow
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...
Special Olympics
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....
and the 2006 Scottish Triathlon Championships were staged at the park.
The park is an official venue for the 2011 International Children's Games
International Children's Games
The International Children's Games is an International Olympic Committee-sanctioned event held every year where children from cities around the world and between the ages of 12 and 15 participate in a variety of sports.-History:...
and the 2014 Commonwealth Games
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 20th Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be held in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The winning city was announced by the Commonwealth Games Federation on 9 November 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Games will run over 11 days of competition from 24 July to 3 August 2014...
, and will host the triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
events in both games.
The west side of the park is bounded by the River Clyde, which was diverted when the loch was built in 1975. The original course can be seen between the east loch shore and the island. Across the Clyde is the M74 motorway
M74 motorway
The A74 and M74 motorways form a major motorway in Scotland. Following an extension opened on 28 June 2011, it connects the M8 motorway west of Glasgow to the English border at Gretna, creating an alternative route for traffic moving from the south to the west of the city...
, which creates a significant level of noise. The east side of the park is quieter, with woodland and paths leading up the slopes to Motherwell.
The remains of Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort
Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort
Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort, known as Clotagenium to the Romans is the remains of a Roman legionary fort in North Lanarkshire near Glasgow....
and a Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
bath house can be seen in the park, where the South Calder Water
South Calder Water
The South Calder Water is a river in Scotland. It runs west from the high plateau between Shotts and Fauldhouse, which also produces the River Almond, which flows east into the River Forth.The river is known locally as "The Cawder".-Route:...
flows into the loch. There is an arched Roman bridge across the South Calder nearby. The site of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge
Battle of Bothwell Bridge
The Battle of Bothwell Bridge, or Bothwell Brig, took place on 22 June 1679. It was fought between government troops and militant Presbyterian Covenanters, and signalled the end of their brief rebellion...
(1679) is to the north west of the park.
In 2009 the park was used to host the first ever Great Scottish Swim
Great Swim
Billed as "the UK's biggest mass participation open water swimming series", the Great Swim was started in 2008 with a one mile Great North Swim in Windermere...
, a mass participation open water swim event. The event was due to be held there again in 2010 but was cancelled due to poisonous blue-green algae in the loch. It is scheduled to take place in September 2011.