Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life

History

Summerlee was one of Scotland's most important ironworks during the 19th century. The site was opened in 1836 by John Neilson of Glasgow's Oakbank Engine Works.

Within three years, Summerlee had four furnaces in blast and by 1842 there was now six. The ironworks continued successfully until after World War I, when following a short period after the Armistice, increasingly scarce resources allied to industrial disputes at the mines, led to the furnaces being destroyed in 1929. Furthermore, the ironworks were demolished in 1938. However, the workshops continued to be used for the maintenance of colliery machinery until 1950.

During the 1960s, a new factory was built on the site to make hydraulic cranes. Following the closure of the crane works, and to preserve and display the industrial and social heritage of West Central Scotland, Summerlee Heritage Trust was established in 1985. The former industrial site was transformed by the group during the late 1980s. Many people helped clear the former site of the Iron Works, including the Gartsherrie Branch of the Monkland Canal, which that had lain derelict for 50 years, and had become silted up.

The area opened as a museum in 1988. Its official name was the Summerlee Heritage Trust, however the museum became known locally as ‘Summerlee Heritage Park’ or often just ‘The Heritage’. Exhibits such as a reconstructed mine, as well as examples of miners’ houses were built in 1989. At the same time, a boatshed that had originally being used for Monklands District Council's exhibit during the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival was relocated to Summerlee Museum.

In 2008, £10million was invested in the site to redevelop it for tourists. When the museum reopened in October 2008, it was renamed as Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life.

The Miners' Row

Built in 1991–1992, the miners' row, or "raw" shows typical workers' homes from the 1880s to the 1980s. In the row there is also a sweet shop selling old fashioned sweets and some of modern houses have gardens such as the 1940s house which has a wartime "dig for victory" garden with Anderson shelter. The row is used frequently as a location for filming.

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Summerlee Tramway

The Summerlee Transport Group (STG) was formed in 1988, in order to support the maintenance and operation of the tramway. The original tramway used to terminate only 300 yards from the entrance at the timber shed, before the extension of the Gartsherrie Branch canal bridge and thence towards the Miners' Cottages. As continued tradition, the cars continued to halt at the timber shed before continuing over the bridge and around the bend.

The tramway opened in 1988 and was the first operational tramway in Scotland for over a quarter of a century, following the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramway in 1962, and continued to be the only tramway in Scotland for twenty-six years until Edinburgh reopened its tramway in 2014, save from the Glasgow Garden Festival Tramway, which opened six weeks after the Summerlee Line.

Whilst the first two operational trams at Summerlee were continental cars - Brussels 9062 and Graz 225 - it has always been the intention to use traditional British cars, preferably with local connections, which is now being realized.

There were also two donor cars on site, which were never operational, purchased for their spare parts:

Oporto 150 was built in 1925 and remained in service there until 1992, when it was purchased by Summerlee for its truck and electrical equipment for Lanarkshire 53 during its restoration. The body was later scrapped.

Lisbon 400-474 was built in 1900-1901 and worked on the system until 1973. The truck was sold to Summerlee in 1995, re-sized and fitted to Glasgow 1017.

Railway rolling stock

Electric Multiple unit

Other transport

• A replica of the 1819 barge Vulcan, the first all-iron-hulled vessel, built for the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988. The replica is probably the last hand riveted boat built on the Clyde and was Summerlee Museum and Monklands District Council's entry into the Festival. In 2016, it was re-sited on the Monkland Canal, the Gartsherrie Cut runs through the site, following refurbishment with the aid of Scottish Waterways, Scottish Canals and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It rests on a cradle, slightly proud of the water and is fully accessible for visitors.

References

References

1. "The History of Summerlee Museum".
2. "Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life 2025".
3. "Summerlee Museum: the Story of 'The Heritage' – CultureNL Museums".
4. (27 June 2024). "Lanarkshire Industrial Heritage: The history of Summerlee Heritage Park in 8 pictures".
5. "About The Summerlee Transport Group". The Summerlee Transport Group.
6. (20 August 1998). "Agenda item no. 11".
7. Preserved Locomotives of British Railways 2023, p. 134.