C&E's Stonehouse - Park Life Traditional Cache

Welcome to our series – close enough to be a small walking trail round the village of Stonehouse but also suitable park and grab visits.

We have tried to choose significant locations around the village to show off some of its history.  Stonehouse is among the oldest parishes in Scotland and so it is very difficult to trace its origins. It was common to name towns after the first stone house built which was more often a church.  It has been known as a weaving community and has a strong agricultural heritage.  In August 1973 Stonehouse was designated to be the next ‘New Town’, projected to receive a population from Glasgow in excess of 35,000, with the likelihood of an increase up to 70,000. A similar project went ahead in East Kilbride but only the Murray Drive estate in Stonehouse went ahead and although it has expanded somewhat, it continues to be a semi rural village.

This cache is at the top of the park.  This is a magnetic micro located at the top end of the park – home to Clydesdale RUFC and near the basketball courts which replaced the tennis courts some years ago. 

When the Alexander Hamilton Memorial Park was opened on 25th May 1925, the newly purchased bandstand was the centrepiece of this popular Lanarkshire tourist attraction, entertaining audiences with bands from all over Scotland, including Stonehouse’s own Pipe Band (World Champions 1909) and Silver band (Scottish Champions 1919). The bandstand was temporarily altered to incorporate a tea room but was later reinstated to its original state due to attacks of vandalism, and has more recently entertained residents and visitors with bands from far and wide. The park itself was probably better known for the longest chute in Scotland, opened in 1933 by Councillor Thomas Wilson and later dismantled in 1967 for safety reasons. Sadly this park is only a shell of its former glory but the bandstand still stands majestically as a silent memory of its illustrious and historical past.

Despite the recent neglect of the park it still overlooks one of the most spectacular views of the Avon valley.  You will be able to see the remains of the railways viaduct built in 1905 which took trains to the station in the village.  Passenger services stopped in 1955.