Carfin Lourdes Grotto

~ Church ~Grotto ~Visitor Centre ~Reliquary Centre ~

GROTTO SHRINES

The Polish Shrine

This shrine, in honour of Our Lady of Czestochowa, was erected in 1982 to commemorate 600 years of Christianity in Poland, 1382 – 1982.

The Polish Community have long been associated with Lanarkshire, many from that nation arrived here as a result of three different wars, the Crimean, the First and the Second World Wars.

Large numbers of Polish Immigrants arrived in the West of Scotland hoping for work, as did many from Lithuania and the Ukraine.

In September of 1940 Bishop Gawlina, with a General and two Colonels of the Polish army, led their troops on a pilgrimage to Carfin. At the last moment their huge numbers were reduced to only four hundred men due to a recall to London during the Blizkrieg.

Near the Polish Shrines stands the outstanding Shrine erected by the Ukrainian Community in 1977. The people of the Ukraine marked with this monument 30 years of exodus from their homeland.