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Statistical Accounts Parish of Dalziel 1836

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I Topography and Natural History.
Name and extent.- The parish of Dalziel is situated in the middle ward of Lanarkshire,
13 miles from Glasgow, 14 from Lanark, and 1 from the town of Hamilton.It is bounded on the east by the parish of Cambusnethan; on the west by the parish of Hamilton and the river Calder;on the south by the parish of Hamilton and the river Clyde; and on the north by the river Calder and the parish of Hamilton.

At the north west corner , four parishes meet, Bothwell, Shotts, Cambusnethan, and Dalziel, the two former lying on the north side of the river Calder, and the two latter on the south side of that river.
The origin of the meaning of the name has been differently explained. In the charters of the thirteenth, fourteenth & fifteenth centuries the name appears in the form of Dalyell.
Some have thought, therefore, that it was of Celtic origin and denotes White Meadow, this being the meaning of the word Dalgheal in that language, and it was so called on account of a white scurf, or a large white gowan (Chrysantheum Leucanthemum) which covered the ground before it was improved and cultivated. Others have supposed that it got its name from the Dalzells, afterwards Earls of Carnwath who formerly possessed the barony of Dalziel.But it is more likely that it had previously received its name, and that they adopted it as there surname. The books ofheraldry give the following account of the origin and meaning of the the word Dalziel; A favorite and near kinsman of King Kenneth II was taken by the Picts and hanged upon a gibbet.The King urged by grief of the disgraceful treatment of his friend, proffered a large reward for the rescue of the body, which as a forlorn hope, was for some time unavailing, until at length a valiant gentleman said to theKing in theold Scottish language, DAL ZEL I dare, and having successfully performed the exploit, took the gibbet and words for his arms and name, which to this day are borne by his posperity. The name is now written Dalziel or Dalzell.

Old and New Photographs of Motherwell

Stories Of Motherwell

The Auld Manse Cemetery

South Dalziel Church Motherwell

Dalziel Estate

Stastical Account
Dalziel Parish
1798

Statistical Account Parish of Dalziel
1836

Freedom

The Auld Manse Graveyard

The Covenanters Graveyard

The Covenanters Oak

The parish is a small one, containing only 2283 Scotch acres. It is about 4 miles long and 3 broad. Its figure is irregular, in consequence of a small part of the parish lying on the south of the Clyde; and two parts of the parish of Hamilton, the one extending nearly into the centre, and the other, in the north-west corner, on the river Calder, are entirely separated by this parish from that of Hamilton. There is a tradition that these portions of the parish of Hamilton formerly belonged to this parish, but no proper account is given of their disjunction. Why they have not been restored, if ever they formed a part of the original parish, is not known. But certainly the addition of these lands, and of Muirhouse, in the parish of Cambusnethan, which is situated three miles from the parish church, and little more than one from the church here, with the teinds parsonage and vicarage, would render this parish more compact, would improve the living, (one of the small ones,) and would be more convenient for the inhabitants, who in general are indebted to the minister of this parish for the means of religious instruction.

The Duchess of Hamilton Park

Me----- Cauld

Nurse

Topographical Appearances.�The land in general rises gradually from the rivers Clyde and Calder, interspersed with occasional inequalities, to a flat ridge in the centre of the parish; consequently there is always, with the exception of a few flat pieces of ground, a sufficient declivity to carry off the water, and snow does not lie so long as on some high grounds in the neighbourhood. The banks of the Clyde are in general low, except at the Roman camp opposite the Ross wood, where they are precipitous; those of the Calder are so in several places, and particularly on the farm of Ravenscraig, near Wishaw House, where they are quite precipitous, resembling the wall of a house. There are several glens of different sizes.
The principal one is that contiguous to Dalziel House, and which is about two miles in length. No part of the parish is more than 200 feet above the level of the sea.
Hydrography.�Before the Clyde reaches this parish, it has traversed a distance of 50 miles, and after running about 18 miles farther it reaches Glasgow. It is liable occasionally to great inundations, which have sometimes been productive of injurious consequences. In the harvest of 1807, the tenant of the haugh grounds upon the Clyde, lost, by the spate which occurred at that time, between L. 400 and L. 500, in crop and manure. This serious loss induced the proprietor to embank the river, and to alter the course of a burn, which has succeeded in preventing the land from being flooded. As the water, however, which covered the ground on such occasions was not running, but back-water, owing to a turn in the river, and the junction of the burn mentioned, doubts have been entertained by some whether the ground be as fertile as formerly.

Angela

Jimmy Gallacher
1942-2001

Other Poets

David Wingate Collier Poet

Old Scottish Words In Use Today

Parliamo Glasgow

Old Map of Scotland

Bits an' Bobs

The South Calder, (a name denoting wooded river,) which forms the principal boundary of this parish to the north, takes its rise in the parish of Shotts, is here about 6O feet broad, and from its source to its junction with the Clyde, at the south-west corner of the parish, may be estimated to be about 20 miles in length.
Besides these two rivers, there is a burn of considerable size called the Dalziel burn, which takes its rise in the parish of Cambusnethan, runs through the glen at Dalziel House, and joins the Clyde about two miles from its source.

From the nature of the soil, a hard clay, there are few springs of water near the surface. Those which have been discovered, have therefore been much valued, and in Popish times were honoured with the name of saints, such as St Patrick's, St Margaret's, St Catharine's, and the well of Our Lady. Some of these wells have been seriously injured by the draining of quarries near them, and one by a similar operation in regard to land has, to the great grief of those in the neighbourhood, been entirely destroyed. This well was of a mineral and supposed medicinal quality, and was considered by those who knew its value to be superior to every other, for the infusion of tea, and was therefore called the Tea-well. Those who had been in the practice of using it for that purpose think they have not got that beverage in perfection since it was dried up.

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