The Airdrie Page

Original Coat of Arms

The original coat-of-arms consisted of a shield bearing a double-headed eagle. Above the shield, as a crest, was a cock and below the shield was the motto “Vigilantibus” (meaning “forever watchful”).

New Coat of Arms

A new coat of Arms was introduced 11th June 1930 by the Lord Lyon King of Arms after drawing attention to the Town Council that the original Coat of Arms was improper.

The Meaning of Airdrie : (Origin of the name)

Although still controversial, some say it derives from the Gaelic “ard ruith” meaning a level height or high pasture land. Others say it derives from Arderyth, the scene of the battle in 577AD between the armies of Aeddam, King of Kintyre, and Rydderych the Bountiful, King of Strathclyde. Possibly another suggestion could be that it was taken from the Gaelic “Airidh” meaning a sheiling or wayside town. As an aside, in 1695 the Scottish Parliament passed a special Act of Parliament authorising “Robert Hamilton of Airdrie” to hold four fairs yearly and a weekly market in the “town of Airdry”

At the end of the First World War, Airdrie was hard hit with many casualties from the war and also many inhabitants emigrated. The population only rose by 3% to around 26,000 by 1931. The depression years had made a great impact on the town and several well known manufacturers ceased to exist and few replaced them. It was reported that 50% of the registered population were unemployed. The Church groups tried to provide some comfort for the poor folk in the area and set up educational and work experience projects to help and by 1936 the Airdrie Churches Council had attracted national interest through their work culminating in a building in Graham Street being provided for them (Mutual Service Club). This is now Airdrie Community Centre. Read the rest of this entry »

The enormous growth in population was not due to high birthrate, but instead due to an influx of residents from the Highlands and predominantly Ireland. This followed the Potato famine of the mid 1840’s and also reflected the change from cottage industry to heavy industry in the area. Most of the Irish immigrant population were involved with mining and labouring. Read the rest of this entry »