Coatbridge’s Bones

Entering the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life was more like slipping into a time machine than stepping foot inside a museum. Not in pictures or preserved artefacts, but in the air I breathed, the soil I walked on, and the distant rumble of machinery that seemed to murmur, the industrial history of Coatbridge unfurled before me.

The low-lying sky seemed burdened by the recollection of smoke that had previously escaped from lofty chimneys. With every step I made, I regressed to a time when this town’s very essence was fire and steel. As the tramway chugged along, its iron wheels resonating with the music of bygone eras, I felt as though I was on the brink of a realm where the rhythms of labour and hardship intertwined with a subtle resolve.

As I strolled through the rebuilt streets, I could see the soot on the bricks that conveyed the tales of the people whose labour moulded the future, day by day. I could still hear the faraway roar of furnaces and the clang of hammers, as if the machines, even if they were motionless now, could not let go of their original intent. The crumbling tenement houses stood as quiet witnesses, having formerly provided refuge to people whose stories were ones of perseverance and optimism.

The museum housed more than just artefacts. I wasn’t just gazing at history; I was actually a part of it at that very time; it was a portal. For a little moment, I was able to sense the weight, rhythm, and unrelenting force of Coatbridge’s industrial history as it breathed anew.

As I stepped out of the museum, the weight of the present moment seemed to defy gravity, as if I needed to shake off the coal dust that had settled into my mind but there was comfort in that burden, a link to the history that is ever-present in Coatbridge’s bones.

Quite a fascinating glimpse into Scotland’s industrial past. You should visit too!