The area was originally nothing more than a woodland by the
South Calder Water and part of the extensive estates of the Somervilles of Cambusnethan. Their lands, which stretched to the
River Clyde, were sold off to pay debts. The name
Coltness likely comes from
coal ness, due to the abundance of coal in the area, and a
ness being an archaic word for a
headland. Coltness was purchased by
Sir James Stewart, later Lord Provost of Edinburgh, in 1653; the 18th century economist
James Steuart (Denham) lived here. The estate remained in the hands of his son, General Sir James Steuart Denham; the trustees of the general's estate sold it in 1840 to the Houldsworths, a family of newly wealthy
industrialists, who lived in the imposing Coltness House until the 1950s. The village itself was incorporated into Wishaw in 1855. The Coltness Iron Works was the prominent feature of the village, and developed during the
Industrial Revolution, it was owned by the wealthy
industrialist Houldsworth family, founded in 1837 by Henry Houldsworth. The iron works took advantage of the newly opened Wishaw and Coltness railway, that connected the villages with
Coatbridge. It was a major employer in the area until the company folded in the
1950s, although the works themselves continued to be used as a minor
railway sweeper manufacturer until 2004. The mansion then became a residential school run by
Barnardo's until the late 1970s when it was used briefly as a
refugee resettlement centre for
Vietnamese boat people. The building lay empty for several years, was badly vandalised and severely damaged in a fire. It was eventually demolished in the early 1980s to make way for the Woodlandsgate estate built by Barratt Homes. The former stables of Coltness House were retained and converted to flats. ==East Coltness==