Carfin Grotto

By Steven McCombe

Details  Website  Carfin Pilgrimage Centre  100 Newarthill Road  Carfin  Motherwell    ML1 5AL    01698 268941    Get a Map    Get Directions Opened in October 1922 the Carfin Grotto was built as a shrine to Lourdes in France. The idea for the grotto originated from a Father Taylor after he read an article about a similar grotto in Oostacker in Belgium in the French 'Lourdes Review'. The Carfin Grotto is not a holy place because nothing miraculous happened there but it has been made holy by the hundreds of thousands of good people who have visited it over the years. The grotto was opened with over 2000 pilgrims in attendance at the dedication ceremony and, shortly after, the invasion of the grotto began. Within 12 weeks over a quarter of a million people visited the grotto on the main street in Carfin and as the Edinburgh Evening Standard said, "to watch the people streaming into the grotto, which has come to be known as the Scottish Lourdes, is an experience not readily forgotten." Since then the grotto has been visited by people from all over the world including Polish miners and even Goannese sailors who were regular visitors when their ships docked in Glasgow. More recently a Pilgrimage Centre, including an exhibition on pilgrimage a café and a shop, was build in June 1997. The grotto is still popular today because of its short but splendid history and its meaning to so many people. A visit to the grotto is a very spiritual and enlightening experience that's not to be missed.