Landlord James Craig of Birdfield, Blantyre let out his elegant house for a couple of years in 1849. The rent was considered moderate and the advert placed in the Glasgow Herald on Friday 2nd March 1849 read as follows:

2008 Old Place today

1849 advert in Herald

“Old Place house consisting of Dining Room, Drawing Room, 4 bedrooms, Kitchen and Pantry, Washhouse, Bath and Stable with Hayloft. The garden is large and well stocked with Fruit trees and bushes in full bearing. There is also a Bleaching Green with excellent Spring Water and a Cow’s Grass can be had if required. The house is situated 8 miles from Glasgow, and 2 from Hamilton near the Public Road to Blantyre and within a few minutes walk of the Blantyre Station of the Clydesdale Junction Railway expected to be open early in Summer. At present several coaches pass the house daily. Immediate possession may be had”.

Now, of course there are many such adverts in old papers, but this one is interesting. It details the opening of the LOW Blantyre Train Station (Summer 1849 meaning the advert is exaggerating a few minutes walk. High Blantyre Train Station wasn’t opened until quite some time later) and this particular house was a popular stopping point for coaches. Indeed some people in the town still refer to Old Place as “The Coach House”. Old Place is situated just off Stonefield Crescent and was at this time sitting in large open fields. The orchards were situated where Janefield Place is today. A Bleaching green was the name given to a strip of land adjacent to a house which was used to lay out your laundry to dry or in some cases, to use as a safe area to bleach white linen in the sun.