Mining of coal and iron ore in the 1840s lead to industrialisation and rapid population growth from rural Scotland and large numbers of migrants from Ireland. Nearby, in Cambusnethan parish the industrial communities of Shieldmuir and Berryhill were established on the road leading to Wishaw. In 1920 the joint Burgh of Motherwell and Wishaw was created and later abolished in the 1970s. In the 1930s the burgh council undertook a massive housing development program in the area to the east of Glasgow Road stretching from the village of Craigneuk to Berryhill. The entire area became known as Craigneuk. At the same time much of the area known as the "Berryhill Rows" was demolished to make way for the King George V Playing Fields.