Shottskirk

Kirk O' Shotts, or the more affectionate title "The M8 Church" for its location on a hillock alongside the busy M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, was formerly a Catholic place of worship under the name Saint Catherine's Chapel.

Close to 550 years ago Bothwell and Shotts formed one parish which stretched from the Clyde to Linlithgowshire, and from the North to the South Calder.

A reward was offered for his capture - dead or alive - which was claimed by William Muirhead who lay in wait for Bertram when the latter came to his favourite drinking place, a spring of water on the hillside above Shottsburn.

He hamstrung him and, as the giant lay laughing up at him, he cut off his head with the words, “Will ye laugh-up yet?”[citation needed] It was on Bertram's plot of land that St. Catherine's Chapel was built in 1450.

In 1457 the parish of Shotts was detached from Bothwell barony and the eastern half was given to Lord Hamilton, who re-founded and probably rededicated the chapel, also founding a hospital at the same place for the reception of the poor, which he endowed with some lands from Kinneal.

The site of the old church is marked by the headstone erected to Samuel Meuros, who was session clerk and school master from 1794 to 1837.

On the back of the stone is the following inscription: “Here stood the Precentor’s desk in the Kirk of Bertram Shotts[4] which was rebuilt and extended in 1642” .

This stone and the burial ground of the Inglis's of Murdoston, which was inside the old church, give a clear idea of the site.

According to Robert Fleming's account of those days, 'Many were so choked and taken by the heart in hearing the word they have been made to fall over... who afterwards proved most solid and useful Christians.

'[5] From the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 to the Revolution in 1688, the struggle between Presbyterianism and the Episcopacy went on until it reached its height in the killing times - 1684-1685.

Shotts and the adjoining parishes of Monkland and Cambusnethan were strong supporters of the Covenant, and many conventicles were held within their bounds.

In 1678, the Duke of Monmouth, with an army of 10,000 men, camped for ten days at Muirhead, about three miles east of Kirk o’Shotts.

[citation needed] The Patronage Act 1711, which transferred the right of electing ministers from congregations to the patron, caused a great deal of trouble in the parish.