Newmains - The Present

The beginning of the iron industry in the early 'forties at Newmains and the opening up of the coalfields in the parish, together with, at a later date, the laying down of the Caledonian Railway gave employment to many Irish Catholics who had been driven from their homes by the famine of 1846. The spiritual wants of the Catholics who settled in the district at this time were attended to by the priest from St Mary's, Hamilton, where a mission had been established in 1843, and it extended to Carluke, Lanark, Carnwath and Auchingray. In each of these places the Holy Sacrifice was offered up at stated times. In 1849 a new mission was opened at Lanark under Father Black, whose area then covered Lesmahagow, Carluke, Shotts, Crofthead and Newmains. When Carluke was established as a mission in 1857, Newmains was included within its boundaries with Father McCay as the pastor. By 1859 the mission of Wishaw was opened, and thus Newmains was changed again to this new ecclesiastical district, which extended from Newmains to Carfin and to Rumblingsykes.

In the early 'sixties of the last century so numerous did the Catholic population become in the extensive mission field of St Ignatius', Wishaw, that Father McCay, with the approval of his ecclesiastical superiors, established various centres for catechetical instructions and the celebration of Holy Mass. Of these, Cleland, Carfin, Craigneuk, Motherwell and Newmains have all become flourishing parishes, due in large measure to the influx of Catholic workers to the pits and blast furnaces. In what is now known as St Brigid's parish, it was deemed advisable to open a centre and, accordingly, in 1871 a chapel to accommodate three hundred persons was built, along with a school which in 1885 had an average attendance of one hundred and thirty-seven children. This school-chapel was considerably enlarged in 1894, and a sanctuary added to make it more fitting for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. The opening ceremony was performed by His Lordship Bishop McGuire.

For twenty-five years Newmains remained a station of Wishaw-Mass being offered here every Sunday. It was not until the year 1896 that it became a separate mission with its first resident priest in the person of Father Humble, who later became the Right Rev Monsignor Humble, D.D., and Rector of the Scots College, Valadolid, Spain.