Rutherglen, United Kingdom

However, a factual analysis of the state of knowledge, would conclude that there is no evidence that David I granted Royal Burgh status, nor granted it by a charter. That David I did probably grant Rutherglen some trading or even burghal status, is evidence by a William I charter granted sometime during the period 1179-1189. Thus, the only tenable conclusion is that sometime during David I's reign (1124-1153) he granted some form of privileges to Rutherglen, but not necessarily in 1126. Indeed, had such a royal burgh charter been granted for Rutherglen by David I, then the William I renewal of Rutherglen's status should proceed in standardised terms of ratifying any earlier charter, but instead it was worded to grant it anew, in greater solemnity with burghal status, and not only to embody it in a charter but also to identify its jurisdictional marches, which would be an unnecessary step if the charter had been intended to represent a ratification or renewal of any previous charter of erection. Important in this regard is the phrasing evidenced in the William I charter - et hac carta mea confirmasse. Thus, the William I charter implicitly represents the granting of a new status and it even contains a description of the trading boundary to flesh out the nature of this status. It has been well demonstrated that as none of Scotland’s Royal Burghs have documented evidence of charters from the period of David I, then they were all erected purely by word-of-mouth, without any charter. Generally, it has been believed that charters for such burghs were avoided because they all shared a sort of common constitution enshrined in Leges Burgorum, and so the only step the king had to take for new burghs, was simply to declare that locality was part of a longer list.

The sole origin of the relatively modern claim that Rutherglen was founded as a royal burgh in 1126, is traceable to a Scottish Parliamentary Roll entry dated 30 May 1661. This proceeds upon a supplication to the Parliament, made by a burghal clerk on behalf of the Provost, Baillies and Council of Rutherglen, claiming that the town was erected a ‘frie burgh by King David in the yeer 1126’. This supplication involved the Burgh’s plea for permission to increase their number of fairs in order to compete with the greater competition of the adjacent Royal Burgh of Glasgow. Their ‘antient Royall burgh’ of Rutherglen, they contended, was falling into decay and ruin as a consequence of Glasgow’s attraction. The clerk, in stating the alleged foundation year of 1126, lent no support to the supplication. In this context it appears like an overstatement to try and achieve a goal. Of course, the concept of a ‘free burgh’ undermines the authority further still because such a grant classification did not exist until 1200, and even then only in England. Problems like these can be deliberate or accidental, but in the latter exists the possibility that the year of founding was misdated, as was quite common at that time. Indeed, in two confirmation charters for Lanark’s Royal Burgh in the 1500s and 1600s make reference to the wrong king in terms of the period in which the charter was granted. As such, the claim of 1126 as the burgh's foundation date, is not only very late attested, but is also expressed in a context of agendas and commonplace historiographical mistakes. As such, there is no evidence that Rutherglen received Royal Burgh status in 1126, just that it received some form of trading rights sometime during David I's reign, and probably not by means of a charter. 1126 remains possible, but there is no evidence to encourage its likelihood.

Rutherglen Royal Burgh gradually diminished in importance as neighbouring Glasgow grew in power and size, although the establishment of other Royal Burghs at Ayr, Dumbarton, and indeed Lanark, may have contributed to this decline. By tradition, the masons who built Glasgow Cathedral are said to have lodged in Rutherglen, although this same tradition calls them Picts and suggests they travelled to the Cathedral site by a subterranean passage, which raises great credibility concerns.

In the 14th century Walter Stewart, father of King Robert II, was granted Farme Castle. This was located close to Farme Cross in the north of Rutherglen, and stood until the 1960s.

Rutherglen Castle, located to the north of the town's Main Street today, was occupied by an English garrison during the struggle between John Balliol and Robert Bruce for the Scottish crown. It was besieged by Robert the Bruce in 1309 and eventually came into Scottish possession in 1313. It was destroyed by Regent Murray after the Battle of Langside with the stones used for other buildings, and no trace remaining.

Rutherglen was a centre of heavy industry, having a long coal mining tradition which died out by 1950. In the 18th century, barges carried coal from Rutherglen to Greenock almost every day. A small shipyard, T.B. Seath & Co., was in operation on the Clyde at the northern edge of the town for several decades. The Clydebridge Steelworks, situated between Rutherglen and Cambuslang, began operating in the 1880s and employed thousands by the mid-20th century, but the workforce dwindled to a few dozen by the 20th century and now only refines steel produced elsewhere. J & J White Chemicals (later ACC Chrome & Chemicals) in Shawfield, which was in existence from 1820 to 1967, produced more than 70 per cent of the UK's chromate products including chromic acid, chromic oxide pigment, sodium and potassium chromate and dichromate. Today there is a significant legacy of soluble chromium (VI) waste in the area.