Coatbridge (Scots: Cotbrig or Coatbrig, locally /ˌkoʊtˈbrɪdʒ/[4]) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about 8+1⁄2 miles (14 kilometres) east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands.

Coatbridge was a major Scottish centre for iron works and coal mining during the 19th century and was then described as 'the industrial heartland of Scotland'[6] and the 'Iron Burgh'.

[12] An Iron Age wood and thatch crannog dwelling was sited in the loch at the present day Drumpellier Country Park.

[18] Old Monkland was described in the 1799 Statistical Account as an "immense garden" with "extensive orchards" and "luxurious crops", where "rivers abound with salmon".

[19] The Monkland Canal was constructed at the end of the 18th century initially to transport coal to Glasgow from the rich local deposits.

[24] The character of the Coatbridge area changed from a rural, Presbyterian landscape of small hamlets and farmhouses into a crowded, polluted, Irish Catholic industrial town.

"[25]One contemporary observer at this time noted that Coatbridge is "not famous for its sylvan beauties of its charming scenery" and "offers the visitor no inducements to loiter long".

From the town comes a continual row of heavy machinery: this and the pounding of many steam hammers seemed to make even the very ground vibrate under ones feet.

Fire, smoke and soot with the roar and rattle of machinery are its leading characteristics; the flames of its furnaces cast on the midnight sky a glow as if of some vast conflagration.

Dense clouds of black smoke roll over it incessantly and impart to all buildings a peculiarly dingy aspect.

The growth of the steel industry (in nearby Motherwell) had also led to a start of a decline in demand for the pig iron Coatbridge produced.

"[32]George Orwell's book The Road to Wigan Pier was illustrated by a photograph of homes in the Rosehall area of Coatbridge.

[34] A legacy of 'devastating'[35] unemployment, appalling housing conditions and some of the worst overcrowding in Scotland left its stamp on the Coatbridge of the early 1930s.

In the 1930s and 1950s, however, massive state-sponsored programmes saw thousands of new homes built in Coatbridge and some of the worst examples of slum housing were cleared away.

The low-lying flat ground of Coatbridge was a vital factor in the siting of the town's blast furnaces and the Monkland Canal route.

[41] Dunbeth Hill where the present local authority municipal buildings stand is a wedge of rock which was probably squeezed upwards by the force of two (now-extinct) fault lines.

[23] Like much of the British Isles, Coatbridge experiences a temperate maritime climate with relatively cool summers and mild winters.

Coatbridge-born Dame Laurentia McLachlan was the Benedictine abbess of the Stanbrook Community whose correspondence with George Bernard Shaw and Sydney Cockerell was the subject of the film The Best of Friends.

The festival runs for over a fortnight and includes lectures, film shows, dance/Gaelic football competitions and music performances.

[57] Glasgow Tigers moved from Hampden Park to Coatbridge in 1973, and stayed there until June 1977, when they were forced out by the greyhound racing.

[62] The legend of the "aul' kirk stane" is that a pilgrim undertaking a penance from Glasgow carried a stone in the direction of Monklands.

[26] The Latin motto Laborare est orare translates as "to work is to pray", which originated in the writings of St Benedict and is commonly associated with the Cistercian Order, whose monks came to Monklands in the 12th century.

[77] The place of birth of the town's residents was as follows: 98.7% United Kingdom (including 96% from Scotland), 0.32% Republic of Ireland, 0.30% from other European Union countries, and 0.72% from elsewhere in the world.

By 1901 UK Census, the percentage of Irish-born people in Coatbridge had fallen to around 15%, but remained the highest of all the major towns in Scotland.

[47] In 2006, Coatbridge (along with Port Glasgow and Clydebank) was identified as "the least Scottish town in Scotland" due to having the highest percentage of Irish names in the country.

The leafy Blairhill and Dunbeth conservation areas to the west and north of the town centre comprise detached, semi-detached and terraced sandstone residential buildings.

The earliest map showing Coatbridge is by Timothy Pont, published in Johan Blaeu's Nether warde of Clyds-dail (1654).

[92] The present day neighbourhoods of Coatbridge are Barrowfield, Blairhill, Brownshill, Carnbroe, Cliftonhill, Cliftonville, Coatbank, Coatdyke, Cuparhead, Drumpellier, Dunbeth, Dundyvan, Espieside, Gartsherrie, Greenhill, Greenend, Kirkshaws, Kirkwood, Langloan, Old Monkland, Rosehall, Shawhead, Sikeside, Summerlee, Sunnyside, Townhead and Whifflet.

[100] Sports journalist and broadcaster Bob Crampsey was formerly headmaster of St Ambrose, prominent football referee Willie Collum taught religious education at the school in the early 2000s, and singer/television presenter Michelle McManus is among the former pupils.

The council provides local services related to education, social work, the environment, housing, road maintenance and leisure.