A Short History of the Parish

By the middle of the nineteenth century, Uddingston, like most of the other villages and towns in Lanarkshire, was beginning to show the effects of industrialisation. Many of the traditional handcrafts had disappeared and workers, who had formerly been employed in weaving or agriculture, were now to be found in smithies or foundries. Besides providing sources of employment for local residents, the new industries were responsible for bringing other workers to the village and an indication of the origin of some of the incomers was to be found in the nickname "Wee Ireland' given to houses adjoining Wilkie's Plough Works on the Old Mill Road. These houses, which were opposite the Co-operative, have now been demolished and the site is used as a car park. However, this Irish immigration had brought few Catholics to the village for according to the late Robert McElhinney of Croftbank Crescent there were only about six Catholic families in Uddingston in 1848. In the first half of the century Catholics were more inclined to settle in the Tannochside area where the coal pits provided a ready source of employment. Around 1848 there was a dramatic increase in the Catholic population of Glasgow and its surrounding districts owing to a large influx of people fleeing the ravages of the Irish Famine, but relatively few of these work-seeking immigrants settled in Uddingston as they were more attracted to places such as Coatbridge or Motherwell where the Industrial Revolution had made greater impact and the opportunities for work were more plentiful. However, the rate of settlement in Uddingston increased rapidly in the second half of the cenrury owing to industrial expansion and the building of two railway links to Glasgow, and it was the latter of these, which hastened the demand for commuter villas in the area. The estimated population of Uddingston in 1881 was 3,542 - four times the total of 1850. There is no reference, however, to the number of Catholic residents in the village at that time.

In 1843, Uddingston and Tannochside came within the parochial boundaries of the new St. Mary's Parish in Hamilton, and so they remained for the next 39 years. Catholics in Uddingston and Tannochside had to walk to Hamilton in all kinds of weather and it will be readily appreciated that attendance at Mass in those days must have been a real test of Faith. With the opening of Holy Family Parish, Mossend, in 1868 and St Mary's, Coatbridge, in 1874, the Catholics in Tannochside had a choice of nearer churches whilst those in the village were still obliged to make the long walk to Hamilton.

It must have come as a great relief to the people of Tannochside and Uddingston when the Hierarchy decided to open a new Mission in Uddingston in September 1882. Archbishop Eyre of Glasgow appointed Fr. Denis McCarthy as the first parish priest and he celebrated his first public Mass in the Victoria Hall, Crofthead Street, in October 1882, He continued to use this hall for Mass until the new chapel school was built the following year. The first baptism in the new parish was recorded on the 8th October, 1882, when John 8oyd, son of Peter and Mary Jane Boyd (nee Farmer) was baptized by Fr. McCarthy, the godparents on this occasion being John Clancy and Mary Cosgrove.

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