The T junction at the top of Broompark Road where it meets Main Street wasn’t always a T junction. It used to be a crossroads! On the 1890s maps, a street called “Forrest Place” led off Main Street towards the South, opposite Broompark Road. Leading to five tenement style houses, it would appear Forrest Place was a cul de sac.

The 1910 map demonstrates this well with Forrest place shown directly across from Blakely’s pub. The construction of another building adjacent to the old toll booth, offset the crossroads slightly. Today though, the street is no longer there and is replaced by a modern path leading from the side of the chemist building over to a modern housing estate.

The name, “Forrest Place” is confined to Blantyre’s history, but not to be confused with Forrest Street in Low Blantyre which is still there.

Update: This block was more commonly known in High Blantyre as “The Barracks.”