1955 Fairground at Blantyre

This 1955 aerial photo shows clearly the fairground was in town!

Situated in spare ground between Auchinraith Road and the railway line at Springwells, the fair was operated by travelling folk and visited Blantyre on a regular basis. The vacant ground was immediately behind Rosendale. I can remember my mother telling me about her visits to this fair and how it always had an edgy, exciting feel to the place.

The photo is interesting in several other ways. In the foreground are the miners homes at Craighead Rows, also known locally as Baird’s Rows or Raws. Those houses were built in April 1878 and consisted of three rows of homes, all numbered but no street names.

Homes and businesses along Glasgow Road are visible and Glasgow Road itself is the road you see leading from the left to the right in the mid section of the photo. At the bottom right you’ll see the back of Black’s Bakery and side entrance to homes, from Forrest Street. In front of the shows, the bottom part of Auchinraith Road was later realigned. Today you would be looking at GW Watson Printers (formerly JR Reids.) The slipway of the EK expressway is now where the railway line was, in front of the Springwells homes. A great photo, and I’m sure some readers will remember Blantyre in this configuration.

On social media:

Moyra Lindsay I remember the shows vividly, but I have no recollection of Bairds Raws and I would be nine then and would have walked past them on way to parish church halls for Brownies. No memory of anybody at school from the Raws either. Strange!
John McCourt I lived at 2 Rosendale Place then
Colin Pitcairn Did the shows not move to across from the old hasties bar…?
Garry Lee Fantastic Picture!!
Orlando Ancilotti It was great when the shows came.
Susan Walker Graham John McCourt I lived at no. 1 hi cousin x
John McCourt Hi Susan, great grounding the old Rosendale
Emma Trevethan Remember the shows well always looked forward to them coming ..
Mary Boyle I lived in Jackson Street & used to cut through into Herbertson Street to get to the shows in the 1970’s.
Helen Lawson Taylor I remember Rosendale place and the railway line that went to to CO-OP Bakery but not Bairds rows and I was ten then .
Claire Danahay My parents grew up in Bairds Rows!
Tom Brown Paul Veverka we still have that original piece of Auchinraith Road on our site
- The Blantyre Project is it in the back car park?
- Tom Brown Yes
- Tom Brown We couldn’t do anything with it as the main gas line runs under it
Mary Poole My great grandparents lived on Bairds Row and my uncles worked the mines
Alan Ingram Like very much, what a gem Paul.
Alan Ingram Could that be Grahams Steam Yachts? Could that be a ‘Whip’ (the open ride) front right of the fair? Possibly Laurence’s or Dan Taylor’s or Irvin’s?