Lanarkshire offers a tremendous mix of environment from the highly residential and industrial Clyde Valley which borders on to Glasgow to the southern uplands of the Tinto and Lowther Hills - mostly farmland. Motherwell, Wishaw, Airdrie, Coatbridge, Hamilton, East Kilbride and Uddingston represent the industrial heart of the county. Biggar, Lanark, Strathaven (pronounced Straven), Carnwath and Carstairs are the owners of the "rural" epithet. Despite its primarily industrial past which accounted for Lanarkshire being the most heavily populated county in Scotland, the county is steeped in both leisure and history. Bothwell Castle near Hamilton and Craignethan Castle near Crossford bear witness to an historic past. The building of Bothwell Castle started in the early 13th century but ownership was passed to the Earls of Moray and then the Douglasses before, during and after the battles of independence. Eventually, the Douglasses prevailed but a disastrously troubled period ... < more >