Pictured here in the 1950’s is Young & Sons (coalmerchants of Blantyre), delivering to a building called Calderview on Hunthill Road.
Calderview was a former building, which once stood on Hunthill Road at the corner of Stonefield Crescent. It had the address of 55, 56, 58, 60 and 62 Hunthill Road. There are no entries for Calderview on the 1905 Valuation roll, but the building is on the 1898 map, indicating that it may have been called by a different name prior to 1905. On the 1898 map, the building is shown as 2 large semi-detached properties with 2 homes upstairs, 2 downstairs, but by 1910, the homes are shown as 4 downstairs and 4 upstairs, but with the same footprint, confirming like many buildings in Blantyre, they were subdivided to accommodate more people. It was aptly named looking across to the Calder fields, long before any housing estates were built. Calderview sat on the eastern side of Hunthill Road. It was there well before Stonefield Crescent was built and was immediately next to the busy railway junction at High Blantyre with a small signal box overlooking the houses.
The likely constructors of this stone tenement building were the Aitkenhead builders of High Blantyre in the 1890’s, for prior to World War 1, several members of their family lived there. Alexander Aitkenhead owned a house and shop there during 1915 but it was let out to spirit dealer Patrick Conway at a rent of £16/year. On 30th November 1915, Joan Paterson, 2nd daughter of Paton Aitkenhead passed away at Calderview. A stable was also noted at the end of the building. The building was clearly home to several families. In 1915, the occupiers were Patrick Conway, James Brownlie (a roadsman), Hugh Daly (a miner), Archibald Hamilton (a miner), James Brownlie Junior (who would go on to be the famous footballer), widows Jane Button and Mary Douglas, Jessie Aitkenhead and Donald McLean. During the 1920’s, a Captain Barr lived in one of the homes in this small tenement. During the 1940s to 1960s, the Thomson family owned the shop, which also doubled up as an off-license. It’s unknown when exactly Calderview was demolished, but the building existed even in the mid to late 1960’s.
In the 1970’s a new, detached large home was built, causing a stir in Blantyre at the time when rumours circulated that Scots singer, Sydney Devine was building it (which proved untrue). The current, large house at the corner of Stonefield Crescent and Hunthill Road was built in the 1970’s allegedly by Brian McLaughlin, the son of Felix McLaughlin, a former haulage contractor. At this time they had sold the undertakers business and once had a haulage business.
Photo courtesy of Nancy Murphy, who was a friend of my late mothers. They both lived in Stonefield Crescent, until Nancy emigrated to Australia in 1972.
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