Gartsherrie By Night

Clare says, “This painting of Gartsherrie Ironworks in Coatbridge is of national importance. It is a very rare, contemporary, large-scale depiction of a major mid-victorian ironworks at its height. The owners, William Baird and Company, were the first to use Neilson’s Hot Blast System in the 1830s which revolutionised the iron industry. By the 1840s, Gartsherrie was the biggest ironworks in the world with a total of 16 blast furnaces in operation. This painting illustrates the furnaces lighting up the night sky. An former manager stated that this painting hung in the works boardroom and was donated to the Burgh of Coatbridge when the ironworks closed in 1967.”