My doorbell went one weekend in June 2016 and I opened the door to Mr. Allan Reardon of Allers Farm who brought in a very interesting record from the Public Records of Scotland. It was the title deeds of Allers Farm, where Allan now lives. Knowing my interest in all local buildings and farms, Allan left me the record, which I duly copied with this permission. I love to be able to fill in accurate ownership details about our local buildings, so seeing a deed showing accurate details of ownerships, amounts paid and size and extent of the land boundaries was both exciting and appreciated.
Allers Farm is located on Stoneymeadow Road, just beyond Crossbasket and is currently a kennels and dog grooming business.
I have now transcribed the most salient points. Whilst Allers is many hundreds of years old, this extract deals with ownership just before and during the Second World War and of course was at a time before the EK Expressway was built through its land. I have omitted all the complex legal speak and picked out what I thought would be of interest for this article.
The document is dated July 14, 1941. It tells of William Duncan, a chartered accountant of Bath Street, Glasgow in 1934 and in 1937 acquiring part of the lands of Calderwood in the parish of East Kilbride (formerly Kilbride) and Blantyre Parish.
In 1941 the documents sells “all and whole the land of Allers” for the sum of £3,000 to Robert Chalmers. This was about £150,000 in today’s money, which given the size of this land and property, I have to say was a bargain. I can only assume that the war itself had impacted the price of the sale, for the size of the purchase was an incredible 182 acres, as outlined on the attached field map.
The deed tells how the Co-operative Society who owned part of the lands in Calderwood had earlier and progressively sold it back in portions in 1935 and 1938 to the aforementioned William Duncan. Robert Chalmers new acquisition was not only to include the fields on the layout plan, but also a double bungalow, farm plant and fittings, land permitted for growing timber, the value of manure and gates, fences and walls.
There were other considerations on the sale, such as previous land owned by David Borrie McNab, at a time earlier than the Co-operative Society ownership. (1904) and considerations for keeping ditches and streams clear, rules relating to electricity supply and type of boundary walls and fences permitted.
Post WW2 Allers owners further subdivided the fields on these plans and today Allers Farm and its land is a fraction of what it was then. A gentleman of the name Duncan still lives in the former Calderwood Lodge house, not far from Allers, even today.