1978 Elm Street

This view of Elm Street looks north towards Glasgow Road and was captured on camera in 1978, just prior to the extensive redevelopment.

On 3rd September 1979, Stonefield Parish Church suffered the fate of many other Blantyre church buildings and was accidentally set on fire. The roof was being restored at the time when a workman left his blowtorch on while he went for his lunch. The building was just 9 months away from its centenary! At first it was thought that repair would be possible with a new roof, but soon it was discovered that the whole remaining church would need to be demolished as a result of weaknesses in the wall and from the land disturbance caused by mining (the reason why the spire had been removed years earlier). Despite losing their church building, the congregation remained resilient. During the next 3 years they met in the Livingstone Memorial Church each Sunday afternoon until the new St Andrew Church was built in 1982.

Who can remember the playpark on the left?
Image: Courtesy of Neil Gordon’s ,”An Historical Dictionary”

Sidenote: From today, some images will be faintly stamped with “www.blantyreproject.com.” I often spend a little time on each image, trying to clean them, make them sharper, outline and name them. Those that receive that attention, will have a faint watermark. Whilst I’m not a fan of stamping photos, knowing many high resolution images are coming soon to Blantyre Project and the recent problems I had with one individual in Blantyre taking them without credit, this seems the best course of action for Blantyre Project online as a whole at this time. (The original, unstamped versions of each image, without watermarks will be held on Blantyre Project hard disks for public display offline and in Blantyre Project future publications.)

In addition, the source will now be added actually on to the image, as a matter of courtesy for all photos, rather than just noting it alongside in narrative. Doing this has lifted a massive weight off my mind, seems the right thing to do, protects Blantyre Project and where appropriate my intellectual property and it’s motivated me immensely. If YOU need a copy of any image without the watermark, just let me know. I’m always happy to help anybody and will quickly send you the undoctored image by email or messenger. Perhaps I’ll remove the watermark stamps on each image, say 10 years or so after each book is out, once people have seen them and are familiar with them.

On social media:

Stewart Hay I remember the fire. I was only 7 years old at the time. But what great memories living on elm street. A place where everyone knew everyone.

Henry Hambley A lovely picture which is full of memories for me. I used Elm Street as a quick way to get from from Auchinraith Terrace to Glasgow Road

Marion Anderson Remember it well, played in the swing park all the time

Spinrek Kestler Stayed straight across the road from the park. Who remembers the witches hat. Obviously before that photo.

Anne Mackie walked down here from Auchinraith Road with my daughter in her high pram xxx

Garry Lee The watermark stamp is also good as a way of advertising as many people innocently share you picture. Great picture.

Anthony Smith Bit fuzzy.Elm Road on the left.Aug.1970.