Wee Yanni Pool – An Explanation

2014 Wee Yanni Pool by Jim Brown

A week or so ago, I posted about Richard Rankin’s discovery at Crossbasket, an inscription into the rock saying “Wee Yanni Pool”. You can read about that discovery here http://blantyreproject.com/2014/10/12/wee-yanni-pool-crossbasket/

As a follow up story, a few people have commented on a possible theory as to who carved it. Jim Brown went to the scene to photograph it further with the attached beautiful and atmospheric photo. The “Wee Yanni Carving” is on the large stone to the left on the side of the River Calder.

Jim was able to also offer a possible explanation, “As the symbol above was fishing related I think it was probably done by a guy called Yanni (Ian) Stewart a wee character from Larkfield Drive who was a well known fisherman/poacher. I would guess he did the carvings around the 70’s or 80’s. Unfortunately, he left Blantyre in disgrace a fair while ago and the last I saw of him was in a documentary about a

2014 Wee Yanni Pool, Crossbasket by Richard Rankin

Manchester homeless unit 15 years ago.“

This ties in well with another independent comment I recently received from Blantyre Project reader Gerry, who told me (and completely separate to Jim’s comment above, “Interesting Story Of The Carving Yanni, I Knew Of A Yanni From High Blantyre, Lived In A Pensioners House on Larkfield Drive. Maybe Twenty Years Back…..   This ‘Yanni’ Loved Fishing As Once I Heard A Story, On The Way Back From Poaching At The Wellbrae Resevoir, he Got Knocked Down By A Tractor and Lived To Tell The Story?”

However, it took until February 2016, to track down the actual artist who carved this and it wasn’t any of the aforementioned people. The carving was made by John Dunsmore, a retired sculptor who went to Calder St School and the Blantyre Annexe and simply loves fishing down the calder.