Summerlee Traditional Cache

A Brief History of Summerlee

Summerlee, the museum of Scottish industrial life - in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, is a VisitScotland '4 Star' visitor attraction and 'Best Working Attraction' award-winner

Summerlee was formerly one of Scotland's most important ironworks and the remains of its blast furnaces and other structures can be seen from the view pod and parapet at the north-east side of the main exhibition hall.

Opened in 1836, it used the newly discovered 'hot blast' process. This was a process, patented by James Beaumont Neilson (the younger brother of Summerlee's founder John Neilson), that blew the hot gases of the production process through the furnaces. This resulted in much more iron being produced for the same amount of coal.

This made the smelting process much more efficient and led to Coatbridge becoming known as the 'Iron Burgh' of Scotland by the 1850s. However, the rise of the steel industry in the later part of the 19th Century saw iron's decline.

Although heavy industry continued in Coatbridge for many years, strikes and economic depression in the 1920s saw Summerlee's furnaces go out for the last time in 1926. In the late 1930s, the site was demolished and the remains of the ironworks were covered over.

Post-war, light engineering companies operated on the site, the last being the Hydrocon Crane Company, whose engineering shed forms today's main exhibition hall - complete with overhead cranes.

The museum you see today was initially opened in 1987 and many attractions such as the tramway, mine, miners' cottages and playpark have been added since. Admission is free.