The Blantyre Rennet

The Blantyre “Rennet” refers to the tasty and abundant cooking apples all throughout the 1800’s and 1900’s that were commonly found in the nursery slopes of the Calder, at Barnhill, opposite the Cottage Hospital. The apple was known as “Blantyre Rennet” and was widely used for cooking all sorts of apple dishes and jam.

As pictured, they were all sorts of shapes and sizes and as they are wild, are usually more than a bit bashed!

The nursery slopes used to have an abundance of fruit long before the markets of Clyde Valley. It was big business at Barnhill hamlet. Today, the nurseries are all gone and only the occasional tree can be found. I recall as a child going to a location across the road from Malcomwood Farm on the upper slopes and climbing trees intent on shaking down the apples from the tree. My grandmother would then collect them all from the ground , in an old shopping trolley bag and we would both wheel the bounty back home to Stonefield Crescent. We would have apple crumble and jam for the next month! I miss those kind of days out in the 70’s.