Wishaw factfile

How to get to Wishaw
Wishaw is in the county of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It's approximately 29 km (18 mi) south-east of Glasgow, and 53 km (33 mi) west of Edinburgh.

How Wishaw got its name
A number of theories have grown up to explain how the small Scottish town got its name. Wishaw may be derived from the old English for "Willow Wood", or "Wee Shaw" (small wood). Other theories suggest that the town was originally known as Viashaw, meaning a road through the wood.

Wishaw through the ages
The town's Main Street is a long, very straight road that some believe was built by the Romans.

Although there were settlements in the area around the 12th century, the village didn't develop until 1794, when it was named Cambusnethan. By 1848, when the Caledonian Railway main line came through the town, Wishaw had become a major mining centre.

By the 1920s, Wishaw had become part of Motherwell, 5 km (3 mi) to the north-west. The town benefited from the Ravenscraig steel works expansion in the 1960s, which employed thousands of local workers until its closure in 1992.

Shopping in Wishaw
Wishaw's Main Street is home to many independent shops and some major chains. The Caledonian Centre in the suburb of Craigneuk offers out-of-town shopping, and there is a market-style mall on Kirk Road.

Sports and leisure in Wishaw
Wishaw has a sports centre, equipped with two swimming pools, martial arts, badminton and gymnastics facilities, a running track, football pitch and five-a-side Astroturf pitches.