2015 Priory Magazine Store. June. (PV)
I’ve recently posted about the discovery of the Priory Pit Explosive magazine store, near the Playing fields woodland, Low Blantyre. There’s a little story from 1921 about these dynamite magazine stores being broken into.
On Friday 18th November 1921 considerable uneasiness prevailed in Blantyre relating to Police raids in the town in connection to break in and thefts from the Magazine stores of Blantyre’s collieries. The Police received reports that the magazine stories containing dynamite for blasting operations at both Priory Colliery and Bardykes Colliery had been broken into with the doors forcibly damaged and removed. The police concluded the thieves had been after the detonators, without which the dynamite could not be ignited. Much of the dynamite remained but no detonators had been present in the store. As these magazine stores, like the existing one at Dixons Pit in High Blantyre were in such remote locations, hidden away, it would have been easy for the thieves to have gone unnoticed, without being disturbed. Following the incident , special security guards were placed at the buildings on patrol.
I went to visit the Priory Magazine with Gordon Cook and Alex Rochead in June, taking this picture. The bing is right up to the side of it and woodland now has engulfed the building, where before it sat in the field. The Bardykes Colliery Magazine is an interesting building too. It was located behind the Spittal cottages, but in time the bing encroached it and eventually the little building sat within a pit, within the bing itself, as was the case by the time of this theft.
On social media:
David Jamieson As a kid who grew up in Blantyre it’s amazing to see all these old places I never knew existed. Are there any plans for a walk / tour ? Id love to visit these.
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Marian Maguire They have no respect for anything, these old stores have been their for generations and most of our fathers at grandfathers probably worked there. They would take the sugar out of your tea.
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The Blantyre Project These little stores are just as important as our other buildings. All excellent history. I think i’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to exploring and writing about Blantyre’s buildings, both lost and current.