 The settlement first formed as part of the parish of Holytown when substantial coal workings were being exploited during the 19th Century.The village prospered and so when the Church of Scotland suffered Disruption in 1843 the new Free Church was constructed in New Stevenston or Wrangholm to serve the mining community.With the decline of coal mining, and the rise of the steel and heavy engineering industries the bulk of the population were employed until the serious industrial decline of the late 20th Century, culminating in the closure of the Ravenscraig steelworks.