WILSONTOWN, a village (manufacturing), in the
parish of Carnwath, Upper ward of the county of
Lanark, S^ miles (N. E. by N.) from Lanark; containing,
according to the census of 1841, 113 inhabitants.
This place owes its origin to the abundance of mineral
wealth in that district in which it is situated,
and to the establishment of iron-works in the year
1779 by Messrs. Wilson, of London, from whom it
derived its name. The existence of coal and ironstone
in the parish, which rendered it so peculiarly favourable
for the enterprise, induced these gentlemen to erect
works for the manufacture of pig-iron; and the success
with which the design was attended, led to the raising
of another furnace in 1/87. On the erection of a steamengine
to draw otf the water from the mines, a much
greater facility of access was afforded to an almost inexhaustible
field of coal, which mineral had been previously
obtained with difficulty; and the works were
consequently extended, and carried on with increased
activity. An additional furnace was erected, with blowing
engines of larger power; and in addition to the
making of pig-iron, great quantities of ballast for ships,
shots of from four to eighteen pounders, and pipes of
various kinds, were manufactured. In 1790 an extensive
forge for making blooms was erected, and the works were
progressively increasing in importance; but a misunderstanding
taking place the following year among
the partners, the establishment was totally suspended for
a considerable time, and lastly sold under an order oi
the court of session in 1798. Mr. John Wilson, the
senior partner in the firm, became the purchaser; and
the works were again brought into active operation, with
additions. A rolling and slitting mill was erected, and
also an additional blowing engine of greater power; new
hammers were set in motion in the forge; and the
weekly produce of the works, which previously had been
only about twenty tons, was now increased to forty tons,
of manufactured iron. The village grew up for the accommodation
of the persons employed in these extensive
works, which at that time, including carpenters, engineers,
and millwrights, afforded constant employment to
2000 persons, whose monthly receipts for wages exceeded
£3000. In 1808, however, from the great dejiression
in the price of iron, the works began to decline;
and in 1812 they were wholly abandoned, and the manufacturing
population of the district bereft of employment.
In this state the establishment continued till the year
1821, when the works were purchased by Mr. Uixon, of
the Calder iron-factory, by whose son, Mr. William
Dixon, the present proprietor, they were again brought
into operation. An act for the formation of a railway,
called the Wilsontown, Morningsidc, and Croftness railway,
was passed in June, 1841. The line extends from
the south terminus of tiie Wishaw and Coltness railway
to the turnpike-road from Whitburn to Wilsontown, and
was opened throughout, both for minerals and passengers,
in June, 1845. Acts of parliament for several
branches, including a branch of about nine miles to the
Caledonian railway, were passed in 1846, and in 1S49
an act transferring the line to the Edinburgh and Glasgow
railway company. The Caledonian railway has a
branch of nearly three miles to Wilsontown. There is
a chapel in the village, for the accommodation of the
people employed in the iron-works.