1936 Map showing Burnside Cottages at Parkburn

Tom Campbell recently contacted me from New Zealand to say, “to the bottom right of this map appears to be Burnside Cottages where I lived as a boy from 1958 until they were utterly destroyed by flooding of the Park Burn ten years later. I recall more than one cottage (at least three) occupied in the late 1950’s but by the time they were flooded only ours, which was the biggest was left.

I remember the water rose so quickly that we just had time to grab some papers and photos before it went from lapping the doorstep to shoulder height. The fire brigade came but had nowhere to pump the water to as the land there was the lowest lying around the area. I’d love to know the origin of the cottages if these are known ? I later emigrated to New Zealand where I still am now”

I’ve been looking at this area on old maps for Tom. In 1898, the two cottages nearest the burn were there, but there was FOUR little homes on the site of the third cottage. This was the case until 1930s when the third cottage had been built, presumably first by knocking down the little row of four homes. So by 1936, on the map shown here, three cottages were on that site, just as Tom describes. I’ve highlighted them with red dots. Today, there is a modern small industrial estate on the site, directly across from the bus garage. The Parkburn was known to cause many flooding problems. Tunnels and culverts were later built, enclosing much of the Parkburn in Low Blantyre, underground, to prevent any future flooding. Thanks to Tom for providing much of this detail, such memories are vital to recording history.