1910’s Broompark Quoiting Green

1936 Broompark Road Map

As the sport of quoiting became popular in the early 20th Century, Auchentibber wasn’t the only quoiting ground, although perhaps is the one most remembered. For example, between 1910 and 1936, the quoiting green at Broompark Road was popular.

The sports ground was located just off Broompark Road on a spare piece of ground, where modern Ally Bally Bees nursery is today. It can clearly be seen on this 1936 map which by that time the Causeystanes area of Blantyre was becoming quite built up.

1905 Quoiting Green at Broompark, photo taken by David Ritchie

Alex Bowie, a distant relative of mine shared this photo taken a couple of decades earlier in the early 1910s. (I think the decade is 1910s as the green is not pictured on 1910 map yet but is on later maps). Pictured are several men, in high resolution playing a quoiting match. Some look on smoking pipes, others sit at the back atop a cart as a better vantage point. Others carry paper, perhaps to record scores or line up whose turn it was next. The green would have been very handy for nearby Blakely’s Pub across the road and up a little towards Main Street.

The photo is so clear, as it was taken by a photographer, David Ritchie, who lived nearby at Main Street. The photo is obtained from the original glass negative plates, which is perhaps why the subject matter is so clear and in astonishing resolution. Previously unpublished or shown in public, I believe this is the only known picture to date of this particular quoiting green. It’s one of the favourite photos I’ve seen, and ok, i’m only distantly connected to the photographer (my 2nd great grand uncle), so it is really with thanks to Alex for sharing in the first instance.