Third Lanark A.C.
Third Lanark Athletic Club were a professional Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, they were founder members of the Scottish Football Association in 1872 and the Scottish Football League in 1890, they played in the top division of the SFL for the majority of their existence, were league champions in 1903-04. They won the Scottish Cup twice, in 1889 and 1905. Third Lanark went out of business in 1967 as a result of mismanagement, six years after having finished in third place in the SFL, their former ground, Cathkin Park in Crosshill, is still standing and used for minor football. In 1996, an amateur football club called "Third Lanark" was founded with intentions of restoring the club name to senior football and returning to play at Cathkin Park. Third Lanark started as the football team of the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, part of the Volunteer Force; the team was formally founded on 12 December 1872 at a meeting of the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers in the Regimental Orderly Room in Howard Street, Glasgow.
The soldiers, inspired by the first international friendly which had taken place two weeks decided to form their own team. Several of the Scotland team in that match, made up of Queen's Park players, had been part of the regiment: including Billy Dickson, Billy MacKinnon and Joseph Taylor. In their early years, the club was successful in shooting competitions, with members winning the prestigious'Queen's Prize' (still contested today as an event within the Commonwealth Games. A meeting decided that the playing kit should be: "A cowl – one end blue, the other yellow, a scarlet guernsey. Blue trousers or knickerbockers with blue stockings." It was decided that all guernseys should have the number three on them, in the first AGM in March 1873 the constitution was amended to allow members of Queen's Park to become office bearers of Thirds. The players first used an old drill field on Victoria Road to train, they soon moved to Cathkin Park situated close to today's Govanhill Park. The club was a founder member of the Scottish Football League, in 1890.
The name was changed to Third Lanark AC in 1903. The club won the Scottish League championship in 1903–04, as well as the Scottish Cup in 1889 and 1905 and the Glasgow Cup in 1903, 1904, 1909 and 1963. In 1923, Third Lanark made a tour over South America, playing a total of eight friendly matches in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, including a game v. the Argentina national side on June 24. Third Lanark beat Rangers 1-0 to the Glasgow Charity Cup in 1954; the last day of the 1960–61 season saw Third Lanark reach a historic landmark. The club beat Hibernian 6–1 at Cathkin Park to reach 100 goals for the season, the win secured third place in Scotland's top division; the following season saw Thirds take part in European competition for the first and only time when they faced Rouen of France home and away in the Anglo-Franco-Scottish Friendship Cup. Rouen won 4–0 at Cathkin on 7 November 1961 and 2–1 in France on 9 May 1962. Third Lanark won their final senior trophy - the Glasgow Cup - on April 8 1963, beating Celtic 2-1 in the final at Hampden Park.
Only four years after that successful 1960–61 season, the club's decline began. The 1965–66 season found Thirds kicking off in the Second Division, having been relegated as a consequence of the club's most unsuccessful season with only three wins and a single draw from 34 matches in the league. There followed another two seasons of discontent. On January 8 1966, the Glasgow Herald announced in a front-page story that the Cathkin board were investigating the possibility of moving Third Lanark to the new town of East Kilbride and selling Cathkin Park for housing; that season, Third Lanark played 36 League matches, winning 12, drawing 8 and losing the other 16, thus gaining 32 points. 55 goals were scored and 65 conceded. Thirds' final position in that penultimate League season was fourteenth out of nineteen clubs. Third Lanark recorded their lowest-ever home League attendance of 297 spectators on Saturday 15 April 1967 for the visit of Clydebank. Third Lanark won 1–0; the last Third Lanark home game was against Queen of the South and was played at Cathkin Park on Tuesday 25 April 1967.
It ended in a 3–3 draw and was the second-last fixture that Third Lanark played in the old Second Division. Jimmy Davidson scored one goal for Queens and Brian McMurdo two in the second half, including the last senior football goal at the Park; the final attendance at Cathkin Park was given as just 325 spectators. The final Thirds game was a humiliating defeat at Boghead Park when Dumbarton recorded a 5–1 score line, on Friday 28 April 1967 in front of 581 spectators; the Dumbarton goals came from Harry Kirk and Roy McCormack. The Thirds line-up in that final game at Boghead was: Bob Russell. Thirds' last manager was former Rangers captain Bobby Shearer, assisted by former Scotland international John McKenzie as trainer; this game ended Third Lanark's participation in senior foo
Glasgow
Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, the third most populous city in the United Kingdom, as of the 2017 estimated city population of 621,020. Part of Lanarkshire, the city now forms the Glasgow City council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Glasgow is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as "Glaswegians" or "Weegies", it is the fourth most visited city in the UK. Glasgow is known for the Glasgow patter, a distinct dialect of the Scots language, noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city. Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Scotland, tenth largest by tonnage in Britain. Expanding from the medieval bishopric and royal burgh, the establishment of the University of Glasgow in the fifteenth century, it became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. From the eighteenth century onwards, the city grew as one of Great Britain's main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America and the West Indies.
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the population and economy of Glasgow and the surrounding region expanded to become one of the world's pre-eminent centres of chemicals and engineering. Glasgow was the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, although many cities argue the title was theirs. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Glasgow's population grew reaching a peak of 1,127,825 people in 1938. Comprehensive urban renewal projects in the 1960s, resulting in large-scale relocation of people to designated new towns; the wider metropolitan area is home to over 1,800,000 people, equating to around 33% of Scotland's population. The city has one of the highest densities of any locality in Scotland at 4,023/km2. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the first European Championships in 2018; the origin of the name'Glasgow' is disputed. It is common to derive the toponym from the older Cumbric glas cau or a Middle Gaelic cognate, which would have meant green basin or green valley.
The settlement had an earlier Cumbric name, Cathures. It is recorded that the King of Strathclyde, Rhydderch Hael, welcomed Saint Kentigern, procured his consecration as bishop about 540. For some thirteen years Kentigern laboured in the region, building his church at the Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, making many converts. A large community became known as Glasgu; the area around Glasgow has hosted communities for millennia, with the River Clyde providing a natural location for fishing. The Romans built outposts in the area and, to keep Roman Britannia separate from the Celtic and Pictish Caledonia, constructed the Antonine Wall. Items from the wall like altars from Roman forts like Balmuildy can be found at the Hunterian Museum today. Glasgow itself was reputed to have been founded by the Christian missionary Saint Mungo in the 6th century, he established a church on the Molendinar Burn, where the present Glasgow Cathedral stands, in the following years Glasgow became a religious centre.
Glasgow grew over the following centuries. The Glasgow Fair began in the year 1190; the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the town's religious and educational status and landed wealth, its early trade was in agriculture and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe and the Mediterranean. Following the European Protestant Reformation and with the encouragement of the Convention of Royal Burghs, the 14 incorporated trade crafts federated as the Trades House in 1605 to match the power and influence in the town council of the earlier Merchants' Guilds who established their Merchants House in the same year. Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. Glasgow's substantial fortunes came from international trade and invention, starting in the 17th century with sugar, followed by tobacco, cotton and linen, products of the Atlantic triangular slave trade.
Daniel Defoe visited the city in the early 18th century and famously opined in his book A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, that Glasgow was "the cleanest and beautifullest, best built city in Britain, London excepted". At that time the city's population was about 12,000, the city was yet to undergo the massive expansionary changes to its economy and urban fabric, brought about by the Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. After the Acts of Union in 1707, Scotland gained further access to the vast markets of the new British Empire, Glasgow became p
Hampden Park
Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 51,866-capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland, it is the normal home venue of the Scotland national football team and amateur Scottish league club Queen's Park F. C. and hosts the latter stages of the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup competitions. It is used for music concerts and other sporting events, such as when it was reconfigured as an athletics stadium for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. There were two 19th century stadia called Hampden Park, built on different sites. A stadium on the present site was first opened on 31 October 1903. Hampden was the biggest stadium in the world when it was opened, with a capacity in excess of 100,000; this was increased further between 1927 and 1937, reaching a peak of 150,000. The record attendance of 149,415, for a Scotland v England match in 1937, is the European record for an international football match. Tighter safety regulations meant that the capacity was reduced to 81,000 in 1977.
The stadium has been renovated since with the most recent work being completed in 1999. The stadium houses the offices of the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Professional Football League. Hampden has hosted prestigious sporting events, including three European Cup / Champions League finals, two Cup Winners' Cup finals and a UEFA Cup final. Hampden is a UEFA category four stadium and it is served by the nearby Mount Florida and King's Park railway stations. Queen's Park, the oldest club in Scottish football, have played at a venue called Hampden Park since October 1873; the first Hampden Park was overlooked by a nearby terrace named after Englishman John Hampden, who fought for the roundheads in the English Civil War. Queen's Park played at the first Hampden Park for 10 years beginning with a Scottish Cup tie on 25 October 1873; the ground hosted the first Scottish Cup Final, in 1874, a Scotland v England match in 1878. The club moved to the second Hampden Park, 150 yards from the original, because the Cathcart District Railway planned a new line through the site of the ground's western terrace.
A lawn bowling club at the junction of Queen's Drive and Cathcart Road marks the site of the first Hampden. The second Hampden Park opened in October 1884, it became a regular home to the Scottish Cup Final, but Celtic Park shared some of the big matches including the Scotland v England fixture in 1894. In the late 1890s, Queen's Park requested more land for development of the second Hampden Park; this was refused by the landlords. Henry Erskine Gordon agreed to sell 12 acres of land off Somerville Drive to Queen's Park in November 1899. James Miller designed twin grandstands along the south side of the ground with a pavilion wedged in between; the natural slopes were shaped to form banks of terracing, designed by Archibald Leitch. Construction of the new ground took over three years to complete. In response, the terraces at Hampden were set in the earthwork and innovative techniques were used to control spectators. Third Lanark A. C. renamed it Cathkin Park. The club rebuilt the ground from scratch due to a failure to agree a fee for the whole stadium.
Third Lanark went out of business in 1967 and Cathkin Park is now a public park with much of the original terracing still evident. Hampden Park was the biggest stadium in the world from its opening in 1903 until it was surpassed by the Maracanã in 1950. Along with Celtic Park and Ibrox, the city of Glasgow possessed the three largest football stadia in the world at the time Hampden opened. In the stadium's first match, on 31 October 1903, Queen's Park defeated Celtic 1–0 in the Scottish league; the first Scottish Cup Final played at the ground was an Old Firm match in 1904, attracting a record Scottish crowd of 64,672. The first Scotland v England match at the ground was played in April 1906 with 102,741 people in attendance, which established Hampden as the primary home of the Scotland team. Attendances continued to increase during the remainder of the 1900s, as 121,452 saw the 1908 Scotland v England match; the two Old Firm matches played for the 1909 Scottish Cup Final attracted a total of 131,000.
After the second match there was a riot because there was confusion over what would happen next when the second match ended in a draw. The fans believed that the replay would be played to a conclusion and demanded that a period of extra time be played; the Scottish Cup trophy was withheld. In response to the riot, the Scottish Football Association decided not to use Hampden as the Scottish Cup Final venue until after the First World War. Queen's Park conducted extensive ground improvements after the 1909 riot. A new world record of 127,307 were in attendance to see Scotland play England in 1912. A fire in 1914 destroyed the pavilion, replaced by a four-storey structure with a press box on the roof; the Scottish Cup Final returned to Hampden in 1920, when a large crowd of 95,000 saw Kilmarnock win the cup against Albion Rovers. Record crowds attended the 1925 Scottish Cup Final, a 5–0 win for Celtic against Rangers, the 1927 Scotland v England match, England's first win in the stadium. Hampden became the sole venue of the Scottish Cup Final after 1925 except in the 1990s when it was being renovated.
Queen's Park purchased more land in 1923 to bring the total to 33 acres. 25,000 places were added to the terraces and rigid crush barriers were installed in 1927. World record crowds attended Scotland matches against England in 1931 and 1933. In 1933, who had
Monklands (district)
Monklands was, between 1975 and 1996, one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland. The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from: The burghs of Coatbridge and Airdrie Most of the Lanarkshire landward Ninth District The electoral district of Shottskirk from the Lanarkshire landward Seventh DistrictThe district administrative headauarters were based in Coatbridge, the largest conurbation. Apart from the two burghs, the area included the following settlements: Bargeddie Calderbank Caldercruix Chapelhall Glenboig Glenmavis Greengairs Plains SalsburghThe district was abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. Act 1994; the area of the district was combined with those of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth and Motherwell districts and part of Strathkelvin to become North Lanarkshire unitary council area. The name of "Monklands" originated in the grant of lands in the area to the monks of the Cistercian Abbey of Newbattle, Midlothian in 1162. From the seventeenth century the area was formed into the two parishes of New Monkland and Old Monkland.
Although the council is gone, the area is informally referred to as Monklands. Indeed, the local hospital is Monklands District General Hospital. Football matches between the two senior teams in the area and Albion Rovers, are referred to as Monklands Derbies. Monklandsgate Subdivisions of Scotland New or East Monkland from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Old Monkland from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Coatbridge Museum Airdrie Museum
Airdrieonians F.C.
Airdrieonians Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football team based in Airdrie who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club following the liquidation of the original club; the club's official name was changed in 2013 with the approval of the SFA to the traditional name of Airdrieonians. As with the earlier team of the same name, this is colloquially shortened to "Airdrie"; the club have won two trophies in their short history – the Scottish Second Division in 2003–04 and the Challenge Cup in 2008–09. Once described as "the luckiest team in the Scottish League", the club have benefited in league division placements due to other club's misfortunes on three occasions; the club was formed in 2002 as Airdrie United, following the bankruptcy of the original Airdrieonians. Airdrieonians had finished runners-up in the Scottish First Division in the 2001–02 season but went out of business with debts approaching £3 million.
The collapse of "The Diamonds", as they were known due to their distinctive kits, created a vacancy in the Scottish Football League. Accountant and Airdrieonians fan Jim Ballantyne attempted, with the help of others, to gain entry with a club called "Airdrie United" who were to be a reincarnation of Airdrieonians, their application however was rejected as the English Northern Premier League side Gretna were preferred by league members over the new Airdrie United. Airdrie United went on to complete a buy-out of the ailing Second Division side Clydebank and with SFL approval the club was relocated to Airdrie, the strips were transformed to resemble that of Airdrieonians, the name was changed to Airdrie United. While this means that the club is therefore a continuation of Clydebank it is universally accepted as a reincarnation of Airdrieonians, with Clydebank having been reformed by supporters' groups and entering into the West Region Junior League. Managed by Sandy Stewart, Airdrie United's first match took place at New Broomfield against Forfar Athletic in August 2002, with captain Stephen Docherty scoring the only goal of the game with Airdrie United winning 1–0.
Their debut season saw the club only narrowly fail to achieve promotion by one point due to a late injury-time goal from Brechin City which saw them promoted instead. The club reached the second round of the Challenge Cup, the third round of the Scottish Cup and the third round of the Scottish League Cup having beaten Premier League side Kilmarnock in the second round. During the rest of Stewart's tenure the club reached the final of the Challenge Cup in 2003, won the Second Division title in 2003–04 season. Having started poorly Airdrie went on a run that saw them unbeaten in the last 18 games of that season, including the final game of the league campaign which saw a crowd of over 5,700 at New Broomfield to watch Airdrie defeat Morton 2–0 and lift the League Championship trophy, the club having been confirmed champions the previous week following their 1–0 victory away to Alloa Athletic at Recreation Park. In November 2006, Stewart was sacked and replaced by former Airdrieonians player and Airdrie United coach Kenny Black, his first management post.
Under Kenny Black the club suffered four successive play-off defeats: In the 2006–07 season as relegation play-off finalists. In the 2007–08 season as promotion play-off finalists; however the enforced relegation of Gretna to the Third Division, after being put into administration, prompted a restructuring of the leagues, Airdrie were promoted to the First Division as the losing play-off finalists. In the 2008–09 season as relegation play-off finalists. Again Airdrie were given a reprieve as the continued uncertainty over the future of Livingston meant that the West Lothian club were relegated to the Third division, so Airdrie were reinstated to the First Division as losing play-off finalists. In the 2009–10 season as relegation play-off semi-finalists. Unlike the previous two seasons there was no reprieve; the club won the Challenge Cup in 2008, defeating Ross County 3–2 on penalties after a 2–2 draw, after this success manager Kenny Black signed a long term contract. After big financial cutbacks saw all players released in May 2010, it was announced the club would be operating on a part-time basis.
In June manager Kenny Black was relieved with Jimmy Boyle appointed interim manager. Boyle was appointed manager on a permanent basis in September 2010, with the contract running until the end of season 2011–2012, extended for 2 years from 2012; the club's decision to focus on developing youth was vindicated in January 2011, as Celtic signed teenager Tony Watt for a sum of £80,000 plus add-ons. The first league game between Airdrie United and local rivals Albion Rovers took place at New Broomfield on 10 September 2011, with Airdrie winning 4–0. After another play-off defeat by 6–2 on aggregate to Dumbarton in the promotion play-off final at the end of 2011–12 season Airdrie were lucky again as the liquidation of Scottish Premier League side Rangers and the decision by Scottish Football League clubs that Rangers should play in the Scottish Third Division, meant that an additional team from each tier of Scottish football was promoted for the 2012–13 season; as Airdrie were runners up in the previous season's Second Division promotion play-offs, they were promoted to the Scottish First Division.
A season in the First Division came to an end in May 2013, with the club finishing
Kit (association football)
In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sport's Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, prohibit the use of anything, dangerous to either the player or another participant. Individual competitions may stipulate further restrictions, such as regulating the size of logos displayed on shirts and stating that, in the event of a match between teams with identical or similar colours, the away team must change to different coloured attire. Footballers wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. A team of players wore numbers from 1 to 11, corresponding to their playing positions, but at the professional level this has been superseded by squad numbering, whereby each player in a squad is allocated a fixed number for the duration of a season. Professional clubs usually display players' surnames or nicknames on their shirts, above their squad numbers. Football kit has evolved since the early days of the sport when players wore thick cotton shirts and heavy rigid leather boots.
In the twentieth century, boots became lighter and softer, shorts were worn at a shorter length, advances in clothing manufacture and printing allowed shirts to be made in lighter synthetic fibres with colourful and complex designs. With the rise of advertising in the 20th century, sponsors' logos began to appear on shirts, replica strips were made available for fans to purchase, generating significant amounts of revenue for clubs; the Laws of the Game set out the basic equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4: The Players' Equipment. Five separate items are specified: shirt, socks and shin pads. Goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify. Shirts must have sleeves, goalkeepers must wear shirts which are distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts must be the same colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, "provide a reasonable degree of protection".
The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player "must not use equipment or wear anything, dangerous to himself or another player". It is normal for individual competitions to specify that all outfield players on a team must wear the same colours, though the Law states only "The two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and the referee and the assistant referees". In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour; because of this requirement a team's second-choice is referred to as its "away kit" or "away colours", although it is not unknown at international level, for teams to opt to wear their away colours when not required to by a clash of colours, or to wear them at home. The England national team sometimes plays in red shirts when it is not required, as this was the strip worn when the team won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. In some cases both teams have been forced to wear their second choice away kits.
Many professional clubs have a "third kit", ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the same basic colour scheme for several decades, the colours themselves form an integral part of a club's culture. Teams representing countries in international competition wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation; these are based on the colours of the country's national flag, although there are exceptions—the Italian national team, for example, wear blue as it was the colour of the House of Savoy, the Australian team like most Australian sporting teams wear the Australian National Colours of green and gold, neither of which appear on the flag, the Dutch national team wear orange, the colour of the Dutch Royal House. Shirts are made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Most professional clubs have sponsors' logos on the front of their shirts, which can generate significant levels of income, some offer sponsors the chance to place their logos on the back of their shirts.
Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed. Competitions such as the Premier League may require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. A player's number is printed on the back of the shirt, although international teams also place numbers on the front, professional teams print a player's surname above their number; the captain of each team is required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify them as the captain to the referee and supporters. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be made either of
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire called the County of Lanark is a historic county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire was the most populous county in Scotland and, in earlier times, had greater boundaries, including neighbouring Renfrewshire until 1402. In modern times, it is bounded to the north by Stirlingshire and a detached portion of Dunbartonshire, to the northeast by Stirlingshire, West Lothian, to the east by Peeblesshire, to the southeast and south by Dumfriesshire, to the southwest by Dumfriesshire and Ayrshire and to the west by Ayrshire and Dunbartonshire. Lanarkshire was divided between two administrative areas. In the mid-18th century it was divided again into three wards: the upper and lower wards with their administrative centres at Lanark and Glasgow and remained this way until the Local Government Act of 1889. Other significant settlements include Coatbridge, East Kilbride, Airdrie, Cambuslang, Rutherglen and Carluke. In 1975, the county council was abolished and the area absorbed into the larger Strathclyde region, which itself was divided into new Council Areas in 1996.
The old area of Lanarkshire is now occupied by the council areas of: East Dunbartonshire Glasgow City Council North Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire have a joint board for valuation and electoral registration. There is a joint health board, which does not cover Rutherglen and the surrounding area in South Lanarkshire. Without the northern portion of North Lanarkshire, this is a Lieutenancy area. Lanarkshire was granted a coat of arms by the Lord Lyon on 24 December 1886; the arms is: Party per chevron gules and argent, two cinquefoils pierced in chief ermine, in base a man's heart counter-changed. The cinquefoils come from the arms of the Clan Hamilton, the heart from the arms of the Clan Douglas, the two main local families; the crest is a demi-eagle displayed with sable beaked gules. The motto is VIGILANTIA. From the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth century Lanarkshire profited from its rich seams of coal in places such as Glenboig; as the coal industry developed around Glasgow in the 1700s the price of coal to the city rose under the control of a cartel of coal owners.
The solution was to carve out a canal to take advantage of the good coal deposits of the Monklands area. By 1793, the Monklands canal was completed and the Lanarkshire coal industry thrived; the resulting boom lasted for over 100 years but reached its peak by the second decade of the twentieth century and two world wars failed to halt the contraction. Output in the county continued to fall and the National Coal Board concentrated investment in Ayrshire and the Lothians. By 1970 there were only four collieries left in Lanarkshire and the closure of Cardowan in 1983 brought the long decline to an end. Lanarkshire hosted the International Children's Games in August 2011. A total of 1,300 competitors and coaches, along with administrators and delegates, representing 77 cities from 33 countries worldwide attended. North Medwin River South Medwin River River Clyde River Avon South Calder Water Digitised historic and modern maps of Lanarkshire are available from National Library of Scotland including: Glasgow and the county of Lanark manuscript map drawn by Scottish cartographer Timothy Pont sometime between 1583 and 1596 The nether ward of Clyds-dail and Glasco from the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland by Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu published in 1654 A mape of the west of Scotland containing Clydsdail, Ranfrew, Shyre of Ayre, & Galloway manuscript map drawn by the Scottish surveyor and map maker John Adair in about 1685 Map of the town of Glasgow & country seven miles around by Scottish cartographer Thomas Richardson published in 1795 Ainslie's Map of the Southern Part of Scotland by Scottish cartographer John Ainslie published in 1821 North and south of Lanarkshire from John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland published in 1882