Coatbridge, located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, is a working-class town near Glasgow.

Along with neighboring Airdrie, Coatbridge is in the Monklands region. Approximately eight miles east of the Glasgow City Centre, Coatbridge is often considered part of the Great Glasgow urban area, although there are small gaps in development between the Monklands and Glasgow.

Coatbridge was named for a bridge that carried the old Edinburgh-Glasgow road over the Gartsherrie Burn, at what is now Coatbridge Cross. The "Coat" part of its name was probably derived from the Scottish cot, which meant "cottage," although there is another theory that it came from the Colt family, who owned land in the area as early as the 13th century.

Its settlement goes back about three thousand years to the Mesolithic Age. In 1852, a circle of stone coffins from the Bronze Age were found just west of Coatbridge, and other Bronze Age artifacts were found in Coatbridge. The remains of an Iron Age era crannog dwelling, made of wood and thatch, can sometimes be seen in Drumpellier Country Park west of Coatbridge, depending on the water levels. The remains of a Roman road exist on the fringes of the town, near the M8 Motorway, and Roman coins have been unearthed in Coatbridge.

The Monklands region got its name from a group of Cistercian monks who established Newbattle Abbey, about forty miles east of Coatbridge, building a road that passed through what is now Coatbridge and Airdrie. When the land was taken from the monks during the Scottish Reformation, Monklands Parish was divided between New Monkland (Airdrie) and Old Monkland (Coatbridge).

Near the end of the 18th century, the Monkland Canal was built to transport coal to Glasgow from the local deposits in an around Coatbridge. The invention of the hot blast furnace process in 1829 allowed Coatbridge's ironstone deposits to be exploited to the maximum through the hot blast furnaces and the canal. The iron industry in Coatbridge became prosperous. As the industry employed a lot of people to mind ironstone and to work in the blast furnace plants, large numbers of Irish workers came in. Iron bars and plates produced in Coatbridge were used throughout the British Empire for railways, bridges, shipbuilding, and other construction projects. In the late 18th century, the Coatbridge area was a collection of hamlets, but its population soon increased by 600%, and its character changed from a rural landscape of small. hamlets and farms into a congested, polluted town. Most of the town's population lived in tight rows of terraced homes built around the iron works plants.

By the end of the 19th century, the ironstone deposits were depleted, and it became more expensive and less profitable to produce iron in Coatbridge, as the raw materials had to be imported, although the industry continued for a time.

By the mid-20th century, Coatbridge's iron industries were in sharp decline, and the last of its blast furnaces closed in 1967.

However, state-sponsored programs cleared away many of the town's slums, replacing them with local authority housing stock. Since the 1970s, there have been several initiatives to regenerate the town's economy, but its population has continued to decline, and living conditions for those who remain are too often not high.

At its peak, the town's population was 54,262 in 1961. By 2022, it has dropped to 42,264.

Today, Coatbridge is known for its links with Ireland, as the families of those who came to work in the town's iron industry have remained. The Irish government sponsors the annual St. Patrick's Day Festival in Coatbridge, the largest Irish festival in Scotland. In 2006, Coatbridge was identified as the "least Scottish town in Scotland," due to its high Irish population. Approximately 30% of the adults in Coatbridge had names with Irish origins.

Prominent landmarks in Coatbridge include St. Andrew's Church, St. Augustine's Church, St. Mary's Church, the former Cattle Market Building, the former Coatbridge Library, Coatbridge Leisure Centre, and Summerlee Heritage Park.

The Monkland Canal was completed in 1791, and some sections of the canal are still visible today, between Townhead and Drumpellier. There are six railway stations on the four railway lines that bisect the town.

Coatbridge is made up of several named neighbourhoods, most of which were once independent hamlets. In central Coatbridge, there are Dunbeth, Langloan, Summerlee, Victoria Park, and Whitelaw. South Coatbridge includes Barrowfield, Carnbroe, Cuparhead, Greenend, Kirkshaws, Kirkwood, Old Monkland, Rosehall, Shawhead, Sikeside, and Whifflet. In North Coatbridge are Blairhill, Clifftonville, Coatdyke, Drumpellier, Espieside, Gartsherrie, Greenhill, Parklands, Sunnyside, and Townhead.

Topics related to the town of Coatbridge, Scotland are the focus of this part of our guide.

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