The largest part of North Lanarkshire, being the approximately two-thirds of the council area lying generally south of the
Luggie Water, was in the
historic county of
Lanarkshire. Lanarkshire had existed as a shire from around the time of King
David I, who ruled Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The county took its name from the original county town at
Lanark, now in
South Lanarkshire, which had been the site of the first
Parliament of Scotland under
Kenneth II in 978. The northern parts of what is now North Lanarkshire were in the counties of
Dunbartonshire and
Stirlingshire prior to 1975, with
Cumbernauld and the area generally north of Luggie Water and south of the
River Kelvin being in Dunbartonshire, and
Kilsyth and the area north of the Kelvin being in Stirlingshire. Prior to the 1975 reforms there were five
burghs in the area now covered by North Lanarkshire: •
Airdrie •
Coatbridge •
Cumbernauld (burgh status given in 1968 following growth of the new town) •
Kilsyth •
Motherwell and
Wishaw (formerly two separate burghs prior to merging in 1920) The population of the area which would become North Lanarkshire grew quickly during the
Industrial Revolution. In the 18th century the area's towns, including Motherwell, were active in textile production. The discovery of coal and iron ore deposits in the 19th century, as well as the building of the Glasgow to Edinburgh railway, transformed the region. The towns of Motherwell, Coatbridge and Wishaw became centres of the iron and steel industry. These industries began to decline in the second half of the 20th century, while a growth occurred in the financial and technology sectors, as well as a growth in logistics services related to the heavy goods traffic in the area. The
new town of
Cumbernauld expanded rapidly after
World War II, and is now the largest town in North Lanarkshire. The growth of the
Greater Glasgow metropolitan area into the south-western part of North Lanarkshire has also led to a large number of residential areas for commuters. This was the latest in a series of reforms, notably including the creation of Lanarkshire County Council in 1890 under the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, and the abolition of the county councils and creation of
Strathclyde Regional Council and lower-tier district councils in 1975 under the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The 1996 reform abolished Strathclyde, and established North Lanarkshire as a merger of the districts of
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth,
Monklands,
Motherwell and the
Chryston area from
Strathkelvin district (the rest of which went to
East Dunbartonshire). For
lieutenancy purposes, North Lanarkshire straddles the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire lieutenancies, with the area generally north of Luggie Water (including Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) coming under the
Dunbartonshire lieutenancy and the remainder coming under the
Lanarkshire lieutenancy. ==Geography==