Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, ten miles (sixteen kilometres) southeast of Glasgow city centre and 37 mi (60 km) west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell 2 mi (3 km) to the south, Hamilton 3 mi (5 km) to the southwest, Viewpark 1+1⁄2 mi (2.5 km) to the west, Holytown 2 mi (3 km) to the east and Coatbridge 3 mi (5 km) to the north.

The town of Bellshill (including the villages of Orbiston and Mossend) has a population of about 20,650. From 1996 to 2016, it was considered to be part of the Greater Glasgow metropolitan area. Since then it has been counted as part of a continuous suburban settlement anchored by Motherwell, with a total population of around 125,000.

The earliest record of Bellshill's name is handwritten on a map by Timothy Pont dated 1596; the letters are difficult to distinguish. It's possible that it reads Belſsill with the first s being an old-fashioned long s. The site is recorded as being east of "Vdinſtoun" and north of "Bothwel-hauch" (which confusingly is above "Orbeſton" on Pont's map). The name can also been seen on a map, which was derived from Pont's work, made by the Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu; he calls the place "Belmil". The village consisted of a row of quarry workers' houses owned by a Mr. Bell, who owned a stone quarry to the south of Belmill. Charles Ross's map of 1773 has "Belsihill" marked north of Crosgates and Orbiston.

About 1810, this new settlement took on the name Bellshill and continued to grow. It absorbed nearby villages such as Nesnas, Black Moss and Sykehead. Bellshill was on the road which linked Glasgow and Edinburgh.

According to the first Statistical Account, in the late 1700s the parish of Bothwell, which encompasses modern Bellshill, was a centre of hand-loom weaving with 113 weavers recorded. Some 50 colliers were listed. A hundred or so years later, these occupations had changed places in degree of importance to the area economy. With the introduction of new machinery in the mid-19th century, many cottage weavers lost their livelihood. Demand for coal to feed British industry resulted in expansion that by the 1870s, produced 20 deep pits operating in the area.

The first mine to open (and the last to close in 1953) was the Thankerton mine. Others followed swiftly and rapidly increased the size of the town, attracting a steady stream of immigrant workers from abroad, particularly from Ireland and Lithuania. The town is sometimes referred to as 'Little Lithuania' because of these immigrants. (Historically it was called 'Little Poland', as contemporary evidence shows locals did not work to distinguish incomers' backgrounds). Factors adversely affecting integration for the first generation of these 'new Scots' included a language barrier, minority religion (most were Catholic), and hostility based on suspicion that they were taking jobs, by accepting lower wages and being used to break strikes. – Lithuanians in Bellshill and elsewhere tended to identify more closely with the Irish communities of each town, who had similar issues.

The rise in the migrant population (though severely lessened by the political changes following the First World War and subsequent Russian Revolution, which adversely affected the status of Lithuanians both in their homeland and in Britain) resulted in their opening The Scottish Lithuanian Recreation and Social Club on Calder Road in the Mossend area. Gradually Lithuanian culture has faded over the decades, as families have assimilated into Scottish life. Younger generations sometimes are unaware of their family's history, also because of intermarriage, name changes and anglicisation of distinctive surnames (either voluntarily or by obligation).

Among the most famous of the descendants of this community was footballer Billy McNeill of Celtic and Scotland. Other mid-20th century players of Lithuanian heritage included Andy Swallow, Alex Millar, Matt Balunas, and John Jack.