Carstairs is a village in Clydesdale, one of string of villages north bank of the upper River Clyde. Carstairs Junction (population 670) grew up later when the railway arrived, while Carnwath is an old market town, population 1360.

Understand

It is 5 miles northeast of Lanark, the former county town. It had a population in 2020 of 840.

Midway between the villages is the large complex of Carstairs State Hospital, a secure unit for mentally ill people considered dangerous.

Get in

1 Carstairs Junction has a train every two hours from Edinburgh taking 35 min, and continuing to Carluke, Wishaw, Motherwell and Glasgow Central. Coming from the south change at Motherwell. Carstairs was traditionally where trains divided for Edinburgh or Glasgow; nowadays these rush through non-stop, except for the Caledonian Lowland Sleeper. This leaves London Euston Su-F towards midnight to reach Carstairs at 6AM and divide. The southbound train picks up shortly after midnight to reach London for 8AM. (The Highland Sleeper doesn't stop here.) The station has a staffed ticket office (but no machines), toilets and a waiting room. There is no step-free access, as the island platform is reached by stairs with no lift. The railway to Edinburgh formerly ran through the State Hospital, with a secure "bridge of sighs" over to its east wing, but that wing has closed and been demolished.

Bus 37 / 137 runs daily hourly from Lanark to Carstairs village, hospital and railway station, and Carnwath. Lanark has trains every 30 min from Glasgow Central via Motherwell.

By road from Edinburgh follow A70 through Currie and Balerno. From Glasgow take M8 to Jcn 6, A73 south to Carluke then A721.

From the south all routes involve zigzagging about but simplest is to leave A74(M) at Jcn 13 Abington, take A701 / A73 towards Lanark, then A70 north.

Get around

The bus links Carstairs and Carnwath.

The local taxi firm is Go Travel Scotland, tel +44 1555 666666.

See

Welcome to the State Hospital

• 1 Carstairs Parish Church, Lanark Road, Carstairs ML11 8QQ, ☏ +44 1555 871258, carstairsparishchurch@gmail.com. Central in Carstairs village, the Church of Scotland parish church dates from 1795. It had a major refurb in 2019 so the interior is modern, with the old pews taken out, though the galleries remain. (updated Dec 2022)
• Carstairs Village Green and War Memorial are west side of the church. The bus from Lanark drops you here.
• 2 Carstairs House was built in 1823; in its 1880s heyday it was connected to Carstairs Junction by a private tramway powered by hydro-electricity. It became a home for mentally disabled children then from 1986 a nursing home, re-named Monteith House, and you'll have to be content with distant exterior views. To the southeast, the gazebo-style mausoleum of 1784 has fallen into ruin.
• 3 Carnwath straggles along its main street. West by the golf course, the motte — hillock — is all that remains of the Norman castle. The disused parish church is from 1869, and adjacent is the aisle of its 14th / 15th century predecessor. The mercat cross was erected in 1516.
• 4 The State Hospital is the large institution north of the junction. This holds up to 140 male patients from Scotland and Northern Ireland who have or probably would inflict serious harm on the public if at liberty. Most have schizophrenia and the usual length of stay is 5 years. The hospital was built from 1936 and rebuilt in 2008-12. Its equivalents for England are Broadmoor in Berkshire, Ashworth near Liverpool and Rampton in Nottinghamshire.
• 5 Wilsontown is the remains of an old ironworks near Forth village, now forested. Local mines produced iron ore and coal suitable for coking, which you need to make steel in any quantity. A "company town" grew up around it but the business always struggled with poor transport links. The ironworks had closed before the railway arrived in 1860, and steel production by the Bessemer process grew elsewhere. However the Wilsontown collieries were re-established and worked until 1955. The site is free to access 24 hours.

Do

"Roman Bridge" at Lime Walk

• Listen for the siren which sounds continuously for eight minutes if a patient escapes, with relay sirens in the nearby villages. There hasn't been a fatality since 1976 when three were murdered by an escaping duo - later escapees have been re-captured before they could inflict harm. Get into locked premises or drive away, and tune into local radio for updates. The all-clear is three 30-second blasts, 30 seconds apart. The siren is tested on the third Thursday of every month at 1PM, always using the "all clear" signal.
• Lime Walk is a bosky walk by the stream half a mile south of Carstairs, reached along Avenue Road. What's called "Roman Bridge" across the stream appears much newer, but does lie on the route of the Roman highway between the Tweed and Clyde valleys.
• Golf: Carnwath GC is west side of that village, white tees 5953 yards, par 70, visitor round £32. Kames GC in Carstairs has folded.

Buy

• For a big supermarket head to Lanark, Carluke or Wishaw. The villages have only small stores with limited selection, however they're open long hours to catch the commuter trade.
• Carstairs has McColls news agent in village centre, open daily 7AM to 10PM and with a Post Office counter.
• Carstairs Junction has Londis by the railway station, open M-Sa 6:30AM-8PM, Su 6:30AM-6:30PM.
• Carnwath has Co-op Food on Main St, open daily 6AM-10PM.
• Forth has Co-op Food on Main St, open daily 7AM-10PM.

Eat

Wilsontown Ironworks

• Carstairs has Village Inn (see Sleep) and Cafe on the Green within Co-op Food, open daily 7AM-3PM.
• Carnwath has Robertson Arms (see Sleep), Spice O'Clock, Apple Pie Bakery and China Red.

Drink

• Village Inn is the Carstairs pub, see sleep.
• Mason's Arms on Carnwath Main St is open daily noon-10:30PM.
• Last Shift Inn is on the lane between Carnwath and Forth, open daily to 11PM.
• Distillery: The Wee Farm near Forth make gin and vodka; tours available.
• "Carnwath Mill for ever!" is the refrain of the traditional farewell drinking song We're no awa tae bide awa. No-one knows why, but farms and country mills in bygone centuries often housed small distilleries, as The Wee Farm does today.

Sleep

The motte at Carnwath

• 1 The Village Inn, 89 Lanark Road, Carstairs ML11 8QQ, ☏ +44 1555 870263, hello@carstairsvillageinn.com. Clean welcoming pub with rooms by the village green. B&B double £80. (updated Dec 2022)
• Little Annexe Cottage south of Kames golf course is a converted farm outhouse available for self-catering.
• 2 Robertson Arms Hotel, 12 Main St, Carnwath ML11 8JZ, ☏ +44 1555 840060. Reliable trad small hotel serving good meals. B&B Double £95. (updated Dec 2022)
• 3 The Lint Mill, Carnwath ML11 8LY, ☏ +44 1555 840042. Charming spacious B&B on an organic farm. They offer courses on aspects of organic farming, such as goat-keeping. Minimum stay two nights. It's a secluded spot so read their access directions carefully. (updated Dec 2022)

Connect

Carstairs has 4G from all UK carriers. As of Oct 2022, 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

• Lanark has limited amusements, but you go that way for New Lanark, a well-preserved 18th century mill village and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Biggar is a pleasant small town with a gasworks museum. East of it you enter the scenic Tweed valley towards Peebles.
• Edinburgh is a must-see reached within 40 min on the train.

Routes through Carstairs

Ayr ← Douglas ← ←

SW  NE

→ Carnwath → Edinburgh