#OnThisDay in 1770 navvies cut the 1st sod to make the Monkland Canal, under the supervision of steam engine pioneer James Watt Most of the canal is now buried beneath the M8 motorway but stretches still remain around Coatbridge & Calderbank www.northlanmuseums.co.uk/story/the-mo... 1/2

Love this William McCance print. Reminds me of the time in a previous job when I wanted to buy two McCance drawings for the collection but our head of service said no because they were -gasp!- nudes

Scotland's national film archive holds 26,000 films – from Clyde shipyards to St Andrews parades. But half are on decaying formats, and time is running out. This year's Annual Appeal is raising funds to digitise and restore them, before they're lost > auth.nls.uk/support-us/w...

Lynda Barry did not squeeze your heart and simultaneously explain the point of all art with the barest of line drawings so you could tell me that AI is "inevitable."

... and here is a steam hammer as painted by Nasmyth himself! (SMG via ArtUK: artuk.org/discover/art...)

Today's #OnlineArtExchange is about 'Machines' Here's a steam hammer, invention of Scottish engineer & artist James Nasmyth This unattributed watercolour from around 1920 shows a hammer at work in the Waverley Iron & Steel Works, Coatbridge artuk.org/discover/art... @artukdotorg.bsky.social

Glasgow is having to scale back its ambitions for cycle infrastructure due to changes national funding. From 270km to 54.4km. Not good enough @johnswinney.bsky.social 😩😡 www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow...

We often publish stories on our website about great North Lanarkshire engineering companies of the past This time we tell the story of a thriving modern business based in one of our most historic factories, Cairnhill Structures of the Sun Works #Coatbridge www.northlanmuseums.co.uk/story/engine...

Next week’s #OnlineArtExchange is one after our own heart: ’Machines’ We can’t wait to see what machine- related artwork our followers post on Thursday. Don’t forget to tag us & @artukdotorg.bsky.social in!

☀️ Summer Solstice from Stonehenge and Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Neolithic megaliths and their modernist counterpoints looming over the surrounding landscape, as captured by two of the great photographers of the 20th century. • Stonehenge, 1947 by Bill Brandt • Ratcliffe-on-Soar, 1984 by Michael Kenna

Looking forward to it! Share your machine themed artworks next week with the hashtag 🤖 #OnlineArtExchange

Evening! Something a bit different today, and something I never dived into at the time of this walk in 2022. I've been intrigued by this little building ever since it popped up on a documentary some years ago. This one's about bird crap!

The theme of this week's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange is discovery Daniel Macnee's portrait of William Cameron, Underground Manager for Scottish ironmasters William Baird & Co shows him with the surveying tools he used to prospect for coal & ironstone artuk.org/discover/art...

Call for Papers! Our autumn conference will celebrate Scotland’s #Railway200 We are taking a broad approach to the subject &, as ever welcome proposals for short talks from anyone with an interest in Scotland’s transport & industrial history. Email [email protected]

Trumpian censorship in the UK Teacher, librarians under pressure to remove books on race, identity, social justice from libraries. 200 titles pulled from one Greater Manchester school library, including books by Black authors. Freedom to read is a major casualty on the road to tyranny.

While in Algeria a few years ago I went to visit the mausoleum of Quintus Lollius Urbicus and his family. A Numidian Berber, he became Roman governor of Britain (c139-142 AD) and began the building of the Antonine Wall. #Archaeology #RomanSiteSaturday

A good, sad piece. If we are the city of Kenmure Street, we are also the city of St Enoch's. Pretending that we're not doesn't help.

This steelworks ladle car & scale/charging car are preserved at Kirkleatham Museum which has a really well put together gallery on the area’s steel history #redcar

Sadly, there are rather few eponymous women. Here is my blog about the ones I found. womenengineerssite.wordpress.com/2017/10/01/s...

I've been running a science fiction book club for staff at the Science Museum in London for a while now. In fact, next month will be our 70th monthly meeting! So I thought I'd share the reading list. We've alternated pre- and post-2000 books, and no authors have so far been repeated:

Volunteer with us! If you have an interest in North Lanarkshire's heritage there are various ways you can help. It's a great way to meet new people and learn new skills - or share old ones! www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-communi...

Still time to book a ticket for our free webinar Wed 27th May 12.30pm focusing on harnessing the power of oral testimony to enhance the content of blogs and walking routes with Andy Clark. Nip to 👉 www.mining-landscapes.org/news/fancy-j... to save a place and more info #MiningHistory #OralHistory

#SkyHistorians #History #Scotland #treen Hivemind help. Can anyone shed any light on who this old guy on the box might be? Hammermen Corporation is hammermenofglasgow.org

Still time to book a ticket for our free webinar Wed 27th 12.30pm focusing on harnessing the power of oral testimony to enhance the content of Blogs and Landscape Journeys with Andy Clark. Nip to www.mining-landscapes.org/news/fancy-j... to save a place and more info #MiningHistory #OralHistory

Highly recommended ...

My new #UrbanPrehistory blog post reporting on the horrible fate of the Bogleys Stone of Fife - Barn Storm. This contains a trigger warning for anyone who thinks our heritage - and megaliths - matter. With thanks to Sam McKeand theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2026/05/19/b...

Concerning to see the old Forth & Clyde Canal workshops near Spiers Wharf still boarded up after a decade or more The ‘Old Basin’ was the original terminus of the Glasgow Branch of the canal & these workshops were in use for around 200 years

PROJECT NEWS: A warm welcome to ecologist Emily who has just joined the #EcoMuseum of Scottish #MiningLandscapes project team. To meet Emily nip to www.mining-landscapes.org/news

Launched #OnThisDay in 1819 the Vulcan, Scotland's 1st iron boat & the world's 1st iron passenger vessel A replica built for the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival is being refurbished at Summerlee Museum www.northlanmuseums.co.uk/story/the-ir... @dreadships.bsky.social @scotmaritimemuseum.bsky.social

Brilliant Glasgow industrial history thread by @ncdominie.bsky.social

Who wants a longish read about the colliery waggonways of Southside, illustrated with far too many maps? Nobody? Bah. You shall have one anyway. new-cleckit.dominie.scot/the-govan-wa...

I still don’t understand how Ofcom permits a channel that has “news” in its title to claim not to be “news” so that it doesn’t even have to attempt to be impartial.

Woooo hoooooo! The brilliance that was @romanpalace.bsky.social in his uncamouflaged self! Give 'im a follow! 😊 #Archaeology 🏺

Our museum collections website has a new url - find us at northlanmuseums.co.uk

Last week saw Catherine & Aileen out at #Granton harbour with marine archaeologist Ben & local resident Ian mapping the story of the transportation of coal. The developing route is currently live on the system if you want a sneak preview www.mining-landscapes.org/route/61 #MiningHeritage

IT'S TONIGHT ... Calling all wet-plate photography practitioners and enthusiasts. Don't miss our online talk 'Creating a Wet-Plate Manifesto' with Paul Elter on Tuesday 5th May 2026 (1900 BST). events.rps.org/en/historica... Register via the link in our bio for full details.

A glimpse of coach travel, 1830s style, from Robert Stevenson's plans for the new Hutchesontown Bridge (maps.nls.uk/view/218519297).

#skystorians please can you help date or even locate where this photo was taken? Reverse has no date, but is stamped 'C E Mountford, 27 Glencoe Avenue, Cramlington, Northumberland.' So possibly a coal mine from that area? #mining

A century and a half of history encased in more than 1,500 archive boxes After three years, conservation and cataloguing of the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been completed...

#SkyStorians I am looking for scholarship on the history of fragments (esp. of objects and/or in museum studies), i.e. studies of fragmented/damaged objects. I vaguely recall seeing a book or article about this once, but cannot find it (except a chapter by Schaffer). Any thoughts? #HistSTM 🗃️ 🏛️

👩‍🦽🚴🚶🏻‍♀️ Active Travel Election Hustings - join the debate on the future of walking, wheeling and cycling in Strathclyde! 📆 Tuesday 28 April 2026, 6.30-9pm 📍 The Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4JP 🤝 Glasgow Eco Trust, Cycling UK Scotland and #AyeCycleGlasgow www.gobike.org/active-trave...

#OnThisDay in 1796 William Baird was born into a Lanarkshrie farming family. By the age of 20 he had become a coalmaster. He & his brothers established Scotland's biggest pig iron producer, William Baird & Co www.northlanmuseums.co.uk/story/the-ba...

There is still time to apply to be our new Tramway & Historic Engineering Technician, based at Summerlee Museum Closing date is this Tuesday, 28 April myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/nor...

Calling all wet-plate photography practitioners and enthusiasts ... Don't miss our online talk 'Creating a Wet-Plate Manifesto' with Paul Elter on Tuesday 5th May 2026 (1900 BST). Register via the link in our bio for full details.

One of the most inclusive, accessible & affordable events of its kind, @archscot.bsky.social has released the programme for Scotland's 'Archaeological Research in Progress' conference & it's another excellent group of projects/speakers! 👍 23 May 2026 Dumfries & Online Details: tinyurl.com/mr3npe53

We’re seeking stories that capture the career of a woman engineer across the decades—what were your wins? Tell us at Women in Engineering: forms.gle/dnYc1zPex8Gf...

Still time to book a place on our free webinar if you want to know how to use #geology to turn post-industrial landscapes into places of family fun. For link and more info nip to 👉 www.mining-landscapes.org/news

Want to know how to use #geology to turn post-industrial landscapes into places of family fun? Why not book a place on our next free webinar. For link and info nip to 👉 www.mining-landscapes.org/news #MiningLandscapes #MiningHeritage