There’s a story reported by another well known Blantyre historical website that states Rosendale was “was erected by David Dale of the Workers Village and named after his wife Rose. Built in the early 1800’s.” This fanciable comment would have been such a romantic piece of history, if it were true. Sadly the account of the construction date and of how it was named are both very inaccurate. Inaccurate historical accounts require correction. David Dale died in 1806, some 90 years before the buildings were actually constructed! Additionally, David only married once to his sweetheart Anne Campbell. History records nothing of a Rose existing in his family. Rosendale was built in 1896 due to the requirement for proper accommodation following the coal mining era. The name was decided in a local competition held in the newspaper press, with both winner and how it was called to be, now lost, never recorded. My theory, and this is just a theory, it was given such a flowery, beautiful name due to the immediate proximity to the dirty Craighead miners rows across the road and hemmed in on the other side by busy railway lines, signal posts and junctions. Even at it’s time of construction, Rosendale was squashed in against pollution and industry. What better way to celebrate the name of a new building, than a “dale of roses”. This could also have been a reference to Craighead’s gardens not too far off from this location.
It was demolished by the mid 1970s. Another inaccurate report is that the building stood on the spot where GW Watson Printers (formerly Reid Printers) is today. This is not the case. When the building was knocked down, the bottom of Auchinraith Road was realigned, (prior to the construction of the A725). The actual location of Rosendale was more where the actual A725 East Kilbride Expressway is now at its junction crossing over Glasgow Road. Do you have memories of Rosendale?