345 Glasgow Road is Daldorch, constructed by the Bowie family

Constructed: >1907<1909	Other Names: None
Constructor: W&J Bowie	Original Address: 317 Glasgow Rd
House Type: Semi detached	Current Address: 345 Glasgow Rd

Brief Summary: ‘Daldorch’ is the eastern side of a semi-detached stone Glasgow Road residence 1.5 storeys high. (the western side being ‘Dalveen.’ Built between 1907 and 1909 by Williamson and her sister in law, Jane Bowie, it appears to have been constructed following the death of Williamson’s husband George, in 1906. Initially 317, it became 345 Glasgow Road after 1930. This house was constructed as a business opportunity to let out to the Bowie’s employees.

Daldorch looks to be named after a place in Ayrshire, perhaps once a favourite of the Bowie family? The house was initially let out to William Sillars, a gardener employed by the Bowie’s to tend to the many glass houses and expansive vegetable plots to the rear of the house. Even after Williamson Bowie’s death in the late 1920’s and as the house passed to her son John Bowie, a fruit merchant, the Sillar family continued to rent here well into the WW2 years. Mary Sillars was a schoolteacher.

The Bowie family moved soon afterwards to Greencroft at Bardykes Road, and Daldorch continued to change hands to private owners. The Bowies were well known in Blantyre. Their family business grew successfully and many members of the family were involved as gardeners, wreath manufacturers, vanmen, florists and salespeople. Today, it is one of the few villas on Glasgow Road which still has the original cast iron guttering and downpipes. The small, front garden is entirely covered in tarmac for low maintenance.