A first for Blantyre happened in Springtime 1978, when the council created our very first Nature Trail. The former Greenhall estate paths were upgraded in Greenhall Park , creating several new walks, with paths reinforced with timber and gravel. Signage set out the various walks in 6 different trails, located in and around the woodland on the banks of the River Calder.

Work started on the 1.5 miles of nature trails in 1976 and by end of March 1978, it was nearly completed. The nature trails were part of a job creation project run by Hamilton District Council and Hamilton College of Education. Workers consisted of female students of the college.

Project Co-ordinator Ian Jamieson of the College Science department said just prior to opening, “We hope to see the trail being opened at Easter (1978) just when the area should be at its most interesting. The project has been a great success and all the girls involved went on to have full time jobs.”

Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,

Fairlie Gordon Good post Paul, ( back to nature )

🤔

😀

Paul Veverka Thought it appropriate as paths are about to be upgraded this side of xmas. Well done to all the hard working women who originally formed the trails.

Chris Ladds An army of woman was hired by Sir William Maxwell to march up from blantyre to weed and hoe the several miles of footpaths in the gorge policies several times a month in the mod 1800s. A rich local tradition it seems judging by the success at Greenhall.