1859 Map showing wooden shed and paddock opposite toll house near Coats Buildings
Our suggestion that there was a stable or small field opposite the Toll House on Glasgow Road is an interesting one and needed further investigation. At a time before any elderly recollections and not previously written about, this book explores these old 19th Century group of buildings, which during the 1850’s were the only buildings on the south side of Glasgow Road between Stonefield Farm and Stonefield Road!
The 1859 map does indeed show an enclosure, walled or fenced off, ideal as a paddock for horses at the opposite toll house. A small rectangular building, narrow on plan is shown where the entrance to Priory Street would eventually be, which could well have been for animals.
This was land belonging to John Coats of Blantyreferme. However, by 1898, the field and little building was rented to William Rinn of nearby Hall Street. It was an unimpressive building, made of wood and only had a rent of £1, 6 per annum in 1895. That year it was being used as a wooden office for Blantyre Miners Association. By 1905 it was being rented differently by Archibald Borland, a cattle dealer and it changed use again in 1915 when the building and field was used as an office with yard for William Jamieson, a slater of 38 George Street , Hamilton.
The wooden building was gone by 1920 and the last owners of the field prior to the Council acquiring it, was by Alexander P Smith of Hamilton.
From the book, “Blantyre Glasgow Road – The Real Story” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017
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