Scotland
Scotland boasts one of the oldest Lithuanian communities in the West, initially attracted to its coal mines. Before World War 1, it was second only to the United States of America in the number of Lithuanian immigrants. That said, the difference was still huge, with more than 300,000 First Wave Lithuanians in the USA and just some 8550 Lithuanians in Scotland in year 1913.
Bellshill Lithuanians and their Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club
The majority of Lithuanians in Scotland lived in the area around Glasgow, especially in and around Bellshill, working in the coal mines and steel mills (7000 out of 8550 Scotland's Lithuanians in 1913 lived in this area). Lithuanians even had their own names for local towns, e.g. Bellshill would be Balselis and Mossend – Musėnai.
To this day, Bellshill has a Scottish Lithuanian Cultural, Recreational & Social Club, the only such secular Lithuanian club remaining in operation in the entire United Kingdom.

Scottish-Lithuanian Club in Bellshill
The club and its ethnically-themed bar are open most days of the week, attracting people of Lithuanian descent and other locals alike. Its halls include lots of Lithuanian memorabilia, including images of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, symbols of Lithuania, and more.

Club's bar
The club began its life as the Scottish Lithuanian Institute, acquiring its original premises nicknamed “The Shimie” in 1953. That building stood on the corner of Calder Road and Main Street. However, it was demolished in 1978 to widen the intersection. Having received compensation, Lithuanians of Bellshill built the current club building in 1979 (opened 1979 02 10), adopting the current name for their club. In 1983, the building was expanded further, with the new extension opening on August 13th that year.

Sign of the Scottish-Lithuanian Club
The institute and later club combined all the Lithuanian activities of the area, including the Lithuanian St. Cecilia choir, folk dance groups, etc. While the Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club included many original miners among its members, the initiative to establish the club came from a new wave of Lithuanian immigrants: the refugees (DPs) who fled the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1944. While fewer in numbers (some 400 in total), they saw themselves as exiles rather than emigrants as they wouldn’t have left had Lithuania remained free. As such, they sought to establish a “piece of Lithuania” in Scotland where they would feel at home. Lithuanians were helped by Mr. Bandoni, a local Italian businessman, who donated money for the club’s first building.

Lithuanian memorabilia in the office of the club
While the earlier wave of Lithuanian coal miners had their organizations (e.g. 1898-established St. Casimir Society), these organizations never owned any club or church buildings. Among the reasons for this may be the fact that the local Lithuanian community was hit hard by World War 1 when, in 1917, Scottish-Lithuanian men were given a choice by the British government to either fight for Britain or move back to Lithuania and fight for the hated Russia there. With Lithuania still ruled by the Russian Empire and Russia being an ally of Britain in World War 1, Britain did not see Lithuanians as a separate group; they were seen as Russians by the British government and regarded to be Polish by the neighbors and the press due to long years of Lithuanian language and culture being secondary in status to Polish back in Lithuania itself. So common was the lumping of Lithuanians and Poles together that it is now difficult to count the exact numbers of “true” Lithuanians, although it is believed that in the Bellshill area, there were few if any Poles, with most “Poles” thus having been Lithuanians. Due to discrimination against them because of their Catholic faith and foreign-sounding names, many Lithuanians changed names into English ones according to the "recommendations" of their employers or city authorities.
In 1917 many Lithuanian men were essentially deported to the same Russian Empire they had fled years or decades before; while the Russian Empire collapsed soon afterward and Lithuania became independent in 1918, even those who wanted to return to Scotland were often not allowed to, with their dependent families thus eventually having to leave Scotland as well ~1920. Among the reasons for not permitting the return of Lithuanians was the belief that, in the era of the Russian Civil War, many Lithuanians would have become communists. This was largely an alarmist way of thinking, as Lithuania itself was defending itself from the communist invasion in 1918-1920, although some Lithuanian communists, e.g. Vincas Kapsukas, did indeed live in Scotland at one time (V. Kapsukas later cooperated with the Soviet Russia in their failed war against the Republic of Lithuania; he served as the prime minister of the collaborative Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919-1920).
Even those who continued to live in Scotland often had to leave their close-knit communities due to the mass demolition of historic tenements in cities like Glasgow.

One of the few surviving tenements in Glasgow where First-Wave Lithuanians lived
The Scottish-Lithuanian community was thus decimated in 1917-1920, only reinvigorated by the DPs in the 1950s many of whom chose these far-away mining towns to settle down precisely because of the existence of older Lithuanian communities.
As the generations changed, the Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club almost suffered the same fate as Britain’s other Lithuanian clubs, with some members deciding to take over, close down, and sell the club in the 2000s. Unlike in England, however, such a fate was precluded by other members, who successfully disputed it in a court case, continuing the club's operation.
As the decades passed, however, many regular Lithuanian activities ceased, with the club now mostly serving as a place to meet and have fun, albeit it still retains connections to its Lithuanian heritage.

The new hall of the Scottish-Lithuanian Club
The members are from the first and second waves of Lithuanian immigrants to Scotland and/or their Scottish-born children. While after 1990 and, especially, after 2004, a massive new community of Lithuanian immigrants developed in Scotland, they generally didn’t join the club. Among the reasons is the fact that few if any of them live around Bellshill, with Edinburgh becoming the modern-day center of Scottish-Lithuanians.
Lithuanian monuments at Carfin Grotto
A lasting legacy of Bellshill Lithuanian Social Club is the Lithuanian memorials at the Carfin Grotto, the largest such Lithuanian monument complex in Great Britain.
Carfin Grotto is a Christian-themed park, originally developed in the 1920s. It was built by hand by locals, many of them striking coal miners, including Lithuanians. While Lithuanian religious services were being held there in the 1920s already, ethnic monuments were not developed at the time and grew later. Currently, there are five ethnic shrines marked on the entrance plaque: Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Lebanese.

Map of the Carfin Grotto with the ethnic shrines marked
The Lithuanian shrine began as a Lithuanian traditional wooden cross (UNESCO-inscribed art form) erected in 1985, commemorating a anniversary of Lithuanian Catholic activity in Scotland. Built of oak, the cross was designed by Jonas Adomonis from Bradford. It is dedicated “To honour the memory of the late Mons. Joseph Gutauskas and other Lithuanian priests who served the Lithuanian community”. While Lithuanians never had their own church in Scotland, for a long time, there was a regular Lithuanian mass at Bellshill’s Holy Family Catholic Church at the opposite side of road from the Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club.

Lithuanian monuments at the Carfin Grotto in Scotland
In 1987-1988, the Carfin Grotto’s Lithuanian cross was joined by what is named as Scotland’s Lithuanian Community’s Shrine to Mother of God in English, however, the Lithuanian inscription describes it as being dedicated to the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in particular, with a copy of that miraculous painting of Virgin Mary, the original of which hangs in Vilnius, within the small chapel. Priest Andriušis collected some 2000 Pounds for this monument,

Dedication of the shrine

Dedication of the Lithuanian cross
Furthermore, a statue of St. Casimir, Lithuania’s most famous saint, was erected nearby.
The monument complex includes a Lithuanian flag, being the only place in Great Britain where a Lithuanian flag always flies.
One of the nearby benches is dedicated to deceased Lithuanians with the words “Amžiną atilsį” (“Rest in peace”).
Other sites
Scottish-Lithuanian history is researched in several books. There is a collection of Lithuanian-related documents in the South Lanarkshire Heritage Center.

Lithuanian archival documents at the South Lanarkshire Heritage Center
There is also a Baltic Street in Glasgow. While its no-longer-existing tenements once housed many Lithuanians, the street name actually predates them and is of unrelated origin.
Share this:
Article by Augustinas Žemaitis
Language
True Lithuania services
Sister websites
True Lithuania – Extensive website on Lithuania, its culture, cities, history and more
Our Youtube – English videos on Lithuania and interviews with Lithuanians abroad
Destination Lithuanian America – Map of 800+ Lithuanian heritage sites in the USA and Canada
Comments
- Theodora Yuhas on Spring Valley, Illinois
- Theodora Yuhas on Spring Valley, Illinois
- Bob Wilkus on Westville, Illinois
- Dominick Andrews on New Jersey
- Patricia Tamoshunas Evans on Brockton, Massachusetts
Donations
Monthly donations via Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Bank transfer:
Recipient: VšĮ "Žinių triumfas"
IBAN: LT627180300002700895
SWIFT: CBSBLT26
Youtube
Info
- Destination Lithuanian America
- Differences between Lithuanians and neighboring nations
- Divine Mercy: Lithuanian-originated Christian tradition
- Foreign locations named after Lithuania
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania castles abroad
- How to save Lithuanian-American heritage
- Lithuanian camps
- Lithuanian cemeteries abroad
- Lithuanian Churches Abroad
- Lithuanian Convents abroad
- Lithuanian diaspora cuisine
- Lithuanian districts abroad
- Lithuanian Halls abroad
- Lithuanian heritage abroad: what is it?
- Lithuanian minority heritage abroad
- Lithuanian museums abroad
- Lithuanian Schools abroad
- Maps of Lithuanian heritage abroad
- Similarities between Lithuanians and other nations
- Website author Augustinas Žemaitis
- “Lithuanian Landmarks in the USA” book
- Top Lithuanian locations outside Lithuania
- Lithuanian streets and monuments outside Lithuania
Topics
Andrew / Kunta Kinte island Bar Do Vito Sao Paulo Gardinas Palaces Golshiany Palace Grodno Palaces Kengyr Gulag uprising monument Kosava Palace Krėva / Krevo Palace Lida (Lyda) Castle Lida Palace Lithuanian chapel of Washington National Shrine Lithuanian colonies in Africa Lithuanian colony in Gambia Lithuanian consulate general in Latin America Lithuanian district of Sao Paulo Lithuanian embassy in the USA Lithuanian embassy to the European Union Lithuanian Martyrs chapel in Rome Lithuanian migration to Brazil Lithuanian migration to Uruguay Lithuanian shopping malls in Georgia Lithuanians in Bayonne (New Jersey) Lithuanians in Brazil Lithuanians in Jersey City Lithuanians in Kearny (New Jersey) Lithuanians in St. Lawrence (Verano) cemetary Lithuanian Uruguayan cultural society Lituanica (Lithuania) square in New York City Minnesota Lithuanian community Mir (Myras) Castle Navahrudak (Naugardukas) Castle Nesvizh (Nesvyžius) Palace New Jersey St. Paul and St. Peter Lithuanian church Our Lady of Vilnius chapel in Rome Peshchenlag Lithuanian prisoners monument Ruzhany (Ružanai) Palace St. Michael Lithuanian church Bayonne Steplag Lithuanian prisoners monument Transfiguration church in Brooklyn Transfiguration church in Queens Vila Zelina in Sao Paulo Villa Lituania in Rome Vilnius square in Tbilisi (Georgia) Vilnius University model in Mini-Europe park (Brussels) Wilno village in MinnesotaMain sponsors this year:
Department of Cultural Heritage of Lithuania
Lithuanian Foundation, Inc.
Media Fund of Lithuania
State Chancery of Lithuania
Leave a comment