Hamilton

Hamilton is a town on Clydeside in central Scotland. With a population of 55,000 in 2022, it's the fourth-largest town in Scotland and lies 12 miles southeast of Glasgow, at the confluence of the River Clyde with the Avon Water.

Understand

This town was called Cadzow (pronounced "Cadju") until the 15th century when it became the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, who over the following centuries often enlivened the place and sometimes improved it. Their embellishments, especially the palace facade and mausoleum, are today the reason to visit. Coal-mining was the main local industry: Hamilton was the county town of Lanarkshire and is now the base for South Lanarkshire Council, employing 16,000. It's separated by the Clyde and the M74 from nearby Motherwell, a former steel town.

This placename Hamilton is not directly related to the other Hamiltons in Ontario, Bermuda or New Zealand. Still less are the Dukes of Hamilton, now embodied by the 16th Duke Alexander Douglas Douglas-Hamilton (born 1978), to be confused with the unsuccessful Ontario hockey team of that name who became "Guelph Storm".

Get in

Most long-distance travel by public transport involves changing in Glasgow. From the airport (GLA ^IATA) take the bus to central Glasgow then train or bus as below.

By train

Trains run from Glasgow Central every 15 min, taking 25-30 min via Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Blantyre and Hamilton West to Hamilton Central. They run 6AM-11PM and originate in Dalmuir or Milngavie. Alternate trains continue to Motherwell (10 min), which is on the main line with direct fast trains from Edinburgh and north-east England, Carlisle and northwest England, the Midlands and London. Hourly local trains continue beyond Motherwell to Coatbridge, Cumbernauld and Lanark.

1 Hamilton Central is in town centre next to the bus station. It has a ticket office and machines, toilets and a waiting room. There is step-free access to both platforms.

2 Hamilton West is more convenient for the football ground and north end of town. It too has a ticket office and machines, toilets and a waiting room, and step-free access to both platforms.

By bus

First Glasgow Bus 267 runs from Glasgow Buchanan Station to Hamilton, taking an hour. It runs between 5AM and midnight, every 15 min M-Sa and 30 min Sunday. Bus 263 is a slightly slower route. Consider taking the faster X11 to Motherwell and changing. Night Bus N267 runs from Glasgow Garnet St and Central Station to Hamilton John St, towards 1AM and 3AM Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The hourly Stagecoach West Scotland X74 from Dumfries and Moffat calls at Hamilton on its way to Glasgow.

JMB Bus 41 runs M-Sa from Lanark every 15 min via Carluke, Wishaw and Motherwell.

First Glasgow Bus 201 runs daily every 10-20 min from Petersburn and Airdrie to Coatbridge, Belshill, Motherwell, Hamilton, Burnbank, East Kilbride and Hairmyres Hospital.

Hamilton Bus Station is next to Hamilton Central railway station.

By road

Most routes approach along M74, exit at jcn 6 and follow A723 into town. From Edinburgh follow M8 and cross by A725 onto M74.

Get around

Walk: Hamilton centre is compact and pedestrian-friendly, with traffic-free shopping malls. Further out, all areas have proper pavements, and the major junctions have pedestrian crossings.

By bus: see above for buses to Motherwell, Wishaw, East Kilbride, and southern suburbs of Glasgow.

Buses up the main spine of town (A724 Union Street) include 201, 205 and 250 (all for East Kilbride), 226 (for Hillhouse) and 230 (for Blantyre).

By train: Chatelherault has its own station, sometimes garbled as "Chattel Halt", with trains every 15 min from Glasgow and Hamilton on the branch line to Larkhall.

Blantyre station (for David Livingstone Birthplace) is on the line from Cumbernauld and Hamilton to Glasgow.

Taxi firms are Hastie Cars (☏ +44 1698 825000), Well-Man (☏ +44 1698 891313), Cadzow Cars (☏ +44 1698 891990) and Bridge Cars (☏ +44 1698 422288).

Car hire is available from Enterprise.

See

Hamilton Mausoleum

• 1 Hamilton Old Parish Church, 3 Strathmore Road ML3 6AQ, ☏ +44 1698 281905, office@hamiltonold.co.uk. M-F 8AM-6PM, Su only for 10:45AM service. This is a Church of Scotland parish church with an Italianate design by William Adam. It was built in 1734 when the 5th Duke of Hamilton demolished its predecessor to expand his park. The central cupola was added in 1841: this meant changing the seating plan, whereupon the 11th Duke fell out with the Burgh Magistrates over who got to sit where. The feud went all the way to the House of Lords, then the UK's supreme court; the Magistrates won. (updated Oct 2024)
• 2 Low Parks Museum (Cameronians Scottish Rifles Collection), 129 Muir Street ML3 6BJ, ☏ +44 1698 328232, lowparksmuseum@southlanarkshire.gov.uk. Tu-Sa 10AM-5PM. This traces the local history of South Lanarkshire, with displays on Hamilton Palace, early settlement, working life in agriculture, weaving, and coalmining; plus the history of local regiment the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Free. (updated Oct 2024)
• 3 Hamilton Mausoleum, Mausoleum Drive ML3 0DJ, ☏ +44 1698 452382. 24 hours. If colossal tombs can buy glory on earth and in the afterlife, then Alexander 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852) is even now hobnobbing with the pharoahs, and especially with Ozymandias. He built a humongous new palace, plus this massive family vault where he and his ancestors came to lie. It was only completed in 1858, five years after his death. In 1921 the area suffered flooding and subsidence from the River Clyde so the coffins were transferred to Bent Cemetery, leaving empty niches, while the palace collapsed. The chapel has a 36 metre-high dome with an oculus, like the Pantheon in Rome; there are magnificent bronze doors and a floor made of different marbles from around the world. Two huge lions guard the entrance to the burial crypt. Until 2014 this building held the world record for the longest reverberating echo, at 15 secs (ie how long it persists, not how long it takes to come back to you). But that's now surpassed by the 112 secs of some disused oil tanks in Invergordon, sic transit gloria mundi. Free. (updated Oct 2024)
• 4 Bent Cemetery is along Bent Road half a mile west of Hamilton Central station. As well as the Dukes, here lies the entertainer Sir Harry Lauder (1870-1950), who for ten years worked down the local coal mine - he was once pinned under a roof-fall, while his work mates were horribly crushed.

An unexpected visitor Towards midnight on 10 May 1941 a German officer parachuted into the fields some miles west of Hamilton and said he had an important message for the Duke. Douglas the 14th Duke was serving with the RAF in Edinburgh: when he came to interview the man, it turned out to be Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess. They'd never met but Hess admired the Duke as an aviator, and thought he might help negotiate a peace-deal. The astonished Duke responded in the same terms as an equally astonished Churchill (dripping in his bathrobe as he was told the news): that there could be no peace with Hitler, and that Britain would fight him to the end. It was clearly a dingbat solo mission with no mandate to negotiate, but Hess confirmed the Allies' belief that Hitler was about to do the very thing that he'd consistently declared Germany must never do: attack Russia and become embroiled on a war on two fronts. And that changed the tide of the war, even before the USA joined in. The 1946 Military Tribunal sentenced Hess to life imprisonment for his part in Nazism to 1941, and it proved to be a long life. He was held in Spandau prison, from 1966 the last remaining prisoner there, until in 1987 aged 93 he hung himself. The prison was quickly demolished to prevent it becoming a shrine, and a supermarket was built there, popular with British military families who called it "Hesco".

• 5 Chatelherault Country Park, Ferniegair ML3 7UE (footpath from Ferniegair, or via A72, or train to Chatelherault), ☏ +44 1698 426213. 24 hours. Extensive park ranged around the 1734 "hunting lodge" by William Adam, basically a huge folly to prettify the landscape. There are great views across to the Campsie Hills and Ben Lomond. The park has almost a square mile of open country and woods, ten miles of routed pathways and a playground, visitor centre and cafe. A grand arched bridge crosses the Avon Water gorge to 16th century Cadzow Castle, an unsafe ruin, so just admire it from the bridge. The name Chatelherault was from a duchy awarded to a 16th-century Hamilton who got Mary Queen of Scots married off (age 16) to the heir to the French throne (age 14). Within months the boy became King Francis II but died, another of history's "what if?" moments. As to the palace, the 19th-century 10th Duke's fortune couldn't match his building ambitions, so to raise money he leased more and more of the land to coal-mining. Harry Lauder and his successors burrowed away like socialist sappers till the palace was undermined and fell down. Free. (updated Oct 2024)
• 6 David Livingstone Birthplace, 165 Station Rd, Blantyre G72 9BY (4 miles north of Hamilton), ☏ +44 141 375-3105. Daily 11AM-3PM. This was the birthplace of the explorer and missionary David Livingstone (1813-1873). In youth he grubbed a living in the cotton mills to support his family, but was able to study and qualify in medicine. He intended to go to China as a missionary, but the Opium Wars made travel there unfeasible, and he turned to Africa hoping to combat the slave trade. Legitimate trade would help overturn it, to which end he sought the source of the Nile. This museum tells his story. In Hamilton there are plaques to his memory in St James' Church and at 117 Burnbank Road, where he lived in 1862; that house still stands. Adult £7.50, child £3, conc £6.45. (updated Oct 2024)

Do

Chatelherault

• 1 Hamilton Park Racecourse, Bothwell Road ML3 0DW, ☏ +44 1698 283806, Enquiries@hamilton-park.co.uk. This has flat racing from May to October. (updated Oct 2024)
• Football: 2 Hamilton Academical FC, Cadzow Ave ML3 0FT, ☏ +44 1698 368650. "The Accies" were promoted in 2024 so they play soccer in the Scottish Championship, the second tier. Their home ground New Douglas Park (capacity 6000, all-seater) is 200 yards north of Hamilton West Station, a mile northwest of town centre. (updated Oct 2024)
• Clyde FC share New Douglas Park. They were relegated in 2023 so they play in League Two, the fourth tier.
• Hamilton Water Palace is a swimming pool on Almada St. Many of its facilities are closed.
• Climbing: Hang On Climbing is within New Cross Shopping Centre.
• Vue Cinema is east side of town by the Holiday Inn Express.
• Hamilton Ice Rink is off Muir St, 100 yards north of the museum.
• Golf: Hamilton GC is south of town at Chatelherault, white tees 6140 yards, par 70, visitor round £60.

Strathclyde Park is a council-run course north near the mausoleum and racecourse.

Bothwell Castle GC is 10 miles north in Uddingston.

• Funfair and theme park is the other side of M74 in nearby Motherwell.

Buy

• Shopping centres are a block north of Central station. The mall on the west side of Quarry St is New Cross Centre, that on the east side is Regent Centre.

Eat

Oculus in the mausoleum

• 1 Eataliano, 55 Almada Street ML3 0HQ, ☏ +44 1698 200200. W-M noon-9PM. Italian licensed cafe with good food, service and price. (updated Oct 2024)
• Leonardo's, 4 Barrack Street ML3 0DG (100 yards east of Eataliano), ☏ +44 1698 284379. Tu-Sa noon-10PM, Su noon-8PM. Good range of Italian cuisine, with vegetarian and GF options. (updated Oct 2024)
• Gusti D'Italia, 13 Townhead Street ML3 7BQ (50 yards north of Premier Inn), ☏ +44 1698 423950, info@gustiditalia.co.uk. Daily noon-10PM. Friendly Italian restaurant, scores well on food and service. (updated Oct 2024)
• 2 Pietruccio's, 30 Campbell Street ML3 6AS, ☏ +44 1698 540665. F-Su 5-10:30PM. Small Italian restaurant, great food and atmosphere. (updated Oct 2024)
• 3 Bombay Cottage, 4 Lower Auchingramont Road ML3 6HW, ☏ +44 1698 286957. Daily noon-10PM. Consistently good Indian fare. (updated Oct 2024)
• Equi's, 9-11 Burnbank Road ML3 9AA (south side of west station), ☏ +44 1698 537708. M-Th noon-2PM, 4-10PM, F-Su noon 10PM. Takeaway for Italian ice cream and fish & chips. (updated Oct 2024)
• 4 Carrigan's, 3 Birkhall Road ML3 8BG, ☏ +44 1698 285990. Daily noon-8PM. Steak house and other traditional meat. Also with branches in Blantyre and East Kilbride. (updated Oct 2024)

Drink

Harry Lauder worked in the local mines

• Butterburn Bar, 44 Gateside Street ML3 7JQ, ☏ +44 1698 283357. M-W 1-11PM, Th-Sa 11AM-midnight, Su 12:30-midnight. Friendly trad pub with good food. (updated Oct 2024)
• Peacock and Ivy, 1 Burnbank Road ML3 9AA (100 yards south of west station), ☏ +44 1698 304600. Su-Th noon-11PM, F Sa noon-1AM. Dog-friendly pub with range of food and live music. (updated Oct 2024)
• Academical Vaults are just north of Peacock & Ivy.

Sleep

• 1 Holiday Inn Express Hamilton, Keith St ML3 7BL (by jcn 6 of M74), ☏ +44 871 902 1634. Clean well-run chain hotel. B&B double £120. (updated Oct 2024)
• Premier Inn, Townhead St ML3 7BQ (100 m SW of Holiday Inn), ☏ +44 333 003 8101. Reliable chain hotel. B&B double £140. (updated Oct 2024)
• Holiday Inn Express Strathclyde Park is at the next M74 junction north, see Motherwell#Sleep.
• Days Inn at the M74 service area would be nice if they cleaned it.
• 2 Clydesdale Hotel, 12 Clydesdale St ML3 0DP, ☏ +44 1698 891897, info@clydesdalehotel.com. Friendly budget hotel close to west railway station, two nights minimum stay. Double (room only) £65. (updated Oct 2024)
• Villa Hotel on Burnbank Rd next to west station is sort-of a tandoori with rooms.
• 3 The Avonbridge, Carlisle Road ML3 7DB, ☏ +44 1698 420525, reception@theavonbridge.co.uk. Mid-range hotel, some decor is tired. Pizzeria next door. B&B double £90. (updated Oct 2024)
• 4 Hampton by Hilton, Bothwell Road ML3 0DW, ☏ +44 1698 478555. Clean efficient hotel north edge of town, dog-friendly. B&B double £80. (updated Oct 2024)

Connect

As of Oct 2024, Hamilton and its approach roads have 4G from O2 and Vodafone, and 5G from EE and Three.

Go next

• Motherwell almost next door has a cathedral and country park.
• East Kilbride is a drab "New Town" yet has the Museum of Rural Life.
• New Lanark is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a beautifully preserved 18th century mill complex and model town.
• Glasgow and Edinburgh both rank as must-see and are easily reached by train or by road.

Routes through Hamilton

Glasgow ←	NW  SE	→ Lesmahagow → Manchester
END ←	NW  SE	→ Lanark