In previous articles, I have suggested that Blantyre Lodge may not have been lived in during the 1920’s, for it was known that it had become somewhat dilapidated and the Jolly family, formerly tenants of the large house (which once stood beside Shuttle Row), had gone by that time.
It was of sincere interest when Maxine Gunn kindly emailed me in July 2016, stating that she had evidence of people living at Blantyre Lodge in the 1920′, something that took me by surprise. Maxine told me, “I looked on your website to find out more information about Blantyre Lodge House as my grandmother was born there. I mistakenly thought she was born in Shuttle Row, but I found out I was mistaken when I saw her birth certificate.
Anyway, your post says that by the 1920s, it would appear that the Blantyre Lodge House was no longer lived in. It was just to say that in 1924, when my nana was born, the house was occupied. I’ve attached her birth certificate for reference. I’ve also attached a copy of the 1925 Valuation Roll which shows my great grandfather (Peter Devine) as an inhabitant of the house. I imagine that the house was not in the best state of repair in the 1920s as from the various documents I have it looks as though my nana’s family lived between the House and with other family in Waterloo Row. “
The birth certificate Maxine provided proves that Ellen Devine was born in Blantyre Lodge in December 1924 and the valuation roll from the following year shows 9 families living amongst the 21 rooms on 3 floors in Blantyre Lodge. Families with names Devine, Breen, Flannigan, Allan, Morgan, McMillan, Owens, McKay and Simpson.
When the David Livingstone Trust formed on 31st October 1930, it acquired not only Shuttle Row but is reported in Fife newspapers as having acquired the property, Blantyre Lodge and grounds and it must have been demolished very soon after this.
