Coalburn, South Lanarkshire
Description
Coalburn is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK.HistoryCoalburn is a small isolated village that lies on the Coal Burn, a tributary of the Douglas Water, 3 miles (5 km) south of Lesmahagow. Coalburn developed from the 1850s as a railway settlement associated with local coal mines. With the closure of the railway to passengers in 1965 and the last colliery and mineral traffic on the railway in 1968, the village population declined from a peak of nearly 2,300 to 1,267.One Stop ShopThe people of Coalburn have funded and renovated The Coalburn Miners Welfare by developing a Shop. The Coalburn One Stop Shop was opened just before Christmas 2003 with the help of funding from Rural Challenge, Leader.Local poolCoalburn Leisure Complex is a multi-purpose wet and dry sports and leisure centre, with health and fitness facilities which was opened in 1997.FameIn 1990 Coalburn was used as a location in the film The Big Man starring Liam Neeson, Joanne Whalley and Billy Connolly. Coalburn featured in Taggart in the 2008 episode called Crossing the Line.The opencast mine that opened in the village in the late 1980s became the biggest mine in Europe by the early 1990s.Coalburn's Miners Welfare was featured in BBC3 show "The World's Toughest Driving Tests" whilst the stars of the shows were at a nearby Opencast driving some heavy machinery.