Hamilton Place was located at the former Blantyre Works Village. Situated on the western side of the quadrangle, it was the northernmost of 3 blocks which formed and was part of Mid or Middle Row.

The addresses for these properties throughout the 19th Century was always referred to mid Row owned by the Monteith family who managed the Mills. However by 1905, Miss Margaret Hamilton owned the properties in that block, which were 2 storey, rather than the 1 storey properties in the rest of Mid Row.

Hamilton Place looked out at the back to the old Village School house and Chapel. Stairs to the upper storey were on the eastern side facing over to the chapel. The front of the property faced on to Fore Row, not far from what would become Station Road.

At some point between 1905 and 1915, Monteith sold to Miss Margaret Hamilton, which broke the trend of Coalmaster’s William Baird buying up almost all other properties in the location.

According to my research laid on on the spreadsheet above, by 1915 Mid Row had been assigned eight numbers in the postal system, namely, 2,4,6,8,10,10.5,11 and 11.5. These were all houses in 1915, with exception of number 10 and 10.5, which was a sweet shop and dairy respectively. Margaret Hamilton lived at a house named “Lyndhurst” in Station Road, although her sister Annie lived and worked in the dairy at number 10.

Just 5 years later the eight properties were owned by another member of the Hamilton family, Mr. Andrew Hamilton, the acquisition taking place between 1915 and 1920. It is from here that these properties in Mid Row became known as Hamilton Place, a term referred to in future valuation rolls from 1920 onwards. Several of the tenants renting these properties had been there for a few decades like Abraham Sneddon, Jeannie Steele and Alexander McKenzie. However, some tenants had changed by 1925 during the final years of these homes with the homes taken up by miners. Likely dilapidated, Hamilton Place, along with the rest of Mid Row, is thought to have been demolished in 1928, lasting just over 100 years.

From “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c)

On social media:

Michael Glangevlin McGovern Where would Waterloo Row be located, in relation to Hamilton Place? Thanks pal. Happy Burns Night – watch out for flames.

The Blantyre Project Michael – Waterloo Row is on this picture in this article. On the little model, it the line of houses directly across the courtyard running in the same alignment as Hamilton Place and Mid Row, i.e the row at the top of the photo. The River Clyde is just out the picture. The Dolan children would have played around this square courtyard.

Michael Glangevlin McGovern The Blantyre Project – thanks champ for the update. Can’t wait to hopefully meet you this Summer in your neck of the woods.