Now you may think that Springwell as a hamlet “sprung” up initially around Robertson’s of Springwell, the large aerated water business but this was not the case. Robertson’s Aerated Water Business was founded in 1890 but Springwell formed properly with the first few homes appearing much earlier around 1877/1878.
It was almost certainly the nearby Greenfield Foundry being constructed in 1877 that brought mass employment to the area, as well of course as the Greenfield Colliery, sunk in the 1860’s. The 1875 valuation roll still has the fields of Springwell empty with exception of the aforementioned farmhouse.
The first settlers to build modest homes in what would become Springwell hamlet were mostly miners, craftsmen, carters and foundrymen. It was those men with the foresight to buy inexpensive land from the farm of Springwell in the late 1870’s and 1880’s that did well. The way to prosper was to build your own homes with whatever you could afford, then sell them on, or even better rent them out. Quite often those entrepreneurial miners and foundrymen left their employment a little later due to their successes, to become employers of others.
It was a good life plan to follow and that’s exactly what people did.
From “Blantyre Glasgow Road – The Real Story” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017
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