The Blantyre area was a centre for large manufacturing of cotton-related products during the 18th century and was heavily involved in coal mining during the 19th and 20th centuries. In October 1877 the town was the site of the Blantyre Mining Disaster when 207 miners died in an explosion. A monument to the disaster sits at the High Blantyre Cross.
Blantyre was the birthpace of the 19th-century explorer and missionary David Livingstone. The most popular attractions in the town is the David Livingstone Birthplace, which is located on the site of the former Blantyre Works Mill. The museum, expected to re-open in Summer 2020, is comprised of Shuttle Row, the millworkers’ tenement block in which David Livingstone was born and raised, and the adjacent Weavers Cottages. The accredited museum sits alongside the Visitor Centre and surrounded by 11 hectares of parkland along the banks of the River Clyde. The Visitor Centre, formerly known as the African Pavilion, features a new café and shop. Next to the David Livingstone Museum is an iron suspension bridge over the River Clyde. This gives pedestrian access to Bothwell Castle which is around half a mile from the town. The ruins of Blantyre Priory stand opposite Bothwell Castle.
The town has a variety of local eateries and a range of traditional shops. Blantyre sits by the M74 motorway, making it easily accessible by road. The town has its own railway station with regular services from Glasgow, Motherwell, Lanark and Larkhall, while there are bus links to Glasgow and East Kilbride.
