Cleland

Cleland is a small village located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The two nearest towns are Wishaw and Motherwell. The village has a strong mining heritage and is a typical example of a working class village in North Lanarkshire and the Glasgow Area. Due to its location, despite being at the heart of North Lanarkshire, the village is very much removed, geographically and culturally, from surrounding towns such as Wishaw, Motherwell and Shotts.

The name Cleland may be derived from the local soil, which is heavy clay. This clay was used in local brickworks. The last one, the Auchinlea brickworks, was closed in the 1970s.

History Of the Name

Cleland gets its name from the Cleland family whose ancestral home was nearby. The old family name of Cleland was Kneiland/ Kneeland, and Cleland is a softening/ corruption of this. Indeed, Cleland used to be pronounced like Knee-land as Clee-land, until it expanded and newcomers used the softer pronunciation.

There is a 1654 print of a map circa 1596 viewable at [1] which clearly shows Kneeland where Cleland now is. At [2] you can search for General Roy's 1755 map of the Lanarkshire area which clearly shows Cleland. And [3] is searchable on Cleland, providing a free view of Cleland and Omoa in 1864. Other maps of the area in 1899, 1913 and 1938 are purchasable.

Omoa is interesting in itself, as the local iron and coal works were the basis for Cleland's expansion. The village of Omoa was named after the battle at which a Scottish soldier, Colonel Dalrymple, distinguished himself, helping to capture both the Fort of San Fernando de Omoa and the port town of Omoa, in Honduras, South America. On returning to civilian life in Scotland, Colonel Dalrymple setup the Omoa Iron Works in 1797. The Iron Works closed in 1868, two years after the death of its penultimate Owner, Robert Stewart of Murdostoun (Murdostoun Castle being near Bellside in Cleland).

Between 1850 and 1930, the influx of miners from Ireland (usually North County Kilkenny, South Queen's County/ County Laois) established Omoa and Cleland' character.

Other snippets: the original Cleland Railway Station (now closed) was behind what is now Cleland Cross. The now Cleland Railway Station used to be called Omoa Station. Across from Omoa Station is the local hospital, which was originally a poorhouse. Cleland also had an Established chapel of ease (1877), a Free church, and St Mary's Roman Catholic church (1877) designed by Messrs Peyin, with a presbytery added in 1881.