Unlike many other small villages in the UK, Lesmahagow has many claims to fame because of its location and geological heritage and due to many of its sometime residents having taken up influential roles in the history of the nation. Andrew C. Scott-s family lived in the village for more than three centuries, and in this book he explores the fascinating story of this unassuming settlement.More than 400 million years ago the earliest fishes swam in its lagoons together with giant sea-scorpions. The fossils of these amazing creatures are famous worldwide. The coals, formed from peats when the area lay across the equator, fuelled a number of revolutions in energy supply. Important to Scott is not simply the industrial ecology, but the networks of families and people who made the local community. Inventors from Lesmahagow designed new machines such as the pedal bike, and experimented with innovative industrial developments at New Lanark, bordering Lesmahagow on the River Clyde. Even the pio
