Douglas Water, South Lanarkshire

Douglas Water is a small village in Lanarkshire, Scotland.[1][2] Named after the Douglas Water, the river which flows through the village, local mining operations provided employment to local people, and the village was bolstered by the Coltness Iron and Coal Company establishing an operation nearby. Three haulage companies that operated from the village also provided a source of employment.

There was for many years a junior football team that played in the village, known as Douglas Water Thistle, but they became defunct some time ago. Several of their players have gone on to enjoy careers as professional footballers.

There was also a train station servicing Douglas Water, but it stopped being a working station around the time of the Beeching cuts. The station platform still exists.

When the last coal mine in the village closed in 1967 the village lost much of its population, as people left for other areas in search of employment. This was the beginning of the decline for Douglas Water as after then the local amenities, football club, train station and much of the other services in the village closed. The village today is a shadow of its former self, with many streets lying totally empty where the houses that once stood there having long since been demolished.

Douglas Water was the site for the performance of a play called "The Disinherited" by local people in the 1930s that had been written by the socialist writer and activist, Edward Hunter.

References
  1. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 71 Lanark & Upper Nithsdale (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2014. ISBN 9780319229712.
  2. "Ordnance Survey: 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer" (csv (download)). www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.

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