c1924 Andra McAnulty
Now this post may prompt a few interesting comments.
Andra McAnulty in the 1880’s described Blantyre “A village of a kind, but, as a matter of fact, it was nothing more than a clay hole.”
Around the same time, A Glasgow Herald reporter came to the village and said, that like many colliery communities, High Blantyre was “to all but the most fervent local patriot, an unlovely sight”. The village straggled “with no attention to order” and was a somewhat shapeless settlement of buildings, “of all shapes and sizes” where new roads were added “just as a whim of the proprietors might dictate.” Indeed, the reporter could not forbear mentioning his need to thread his way through “a maze of the dirtiest and most intricate ways and byways that the country can boast of.”
Its been a long time since Blantyre has been described as a particularly pretty place. It would seem from the above descriptions, the arrival of coal was the culprit. I do hope those beautiful, idyllic days return that see Blantyre noted for its charm.
Pictured is Andra McAnulty around 1924.