Arguably, one of my most favourite Blantyre photos. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you , for the first time seen here, the former Cochrane Chapel, in all its glory, just over 110 years ago!
Once located at Calderglen, near where Kirkwall Avenue, Priory Bridge is now, this is an exclusive photo and to best of my knowledge, the only one in existence of the former Cochrane Chapel, still intact.
The date is relatively unknown but given it was built in 1884 and as there’s only one gravestone in the graveyard, it can be dated either 1890s, 1900’s or 1910s. The ivy growth would suggest its likely 1900s or 1910s, the stonework and pointing still new looking.
I’m proud to say I own this actual photo, part of a large Calderglen collection given to me. It’s a cracker, showing the chapel in all its fine, former glory. Demolished in 1990, it had been a ruin over several decades in the latter 20th part of the Century.
This beautiful building is most definitely a piece of Blantyre, now lost for good.
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said:
Elaine Hutcheson OMG how beautiful
Bill Hunter What an impressive building. Well worth the wait
Gordon Frew Always wondered what it would’ve looked like, amazing
Claire Conner Wow I never knew it was so beautiful! Thank you for sharing
Debbie Jones-Kelly Stunning. Shame we couldn’t rebuild it and use this as the template of the museum of Blantyre would be amazing and for school kids to read up on.
Well done xx
Greg Leighton Incredible to see this! Played in the ruins of it a lot when Zi was little! Fantastic photo!
Barbara Ann Wallace Wow!!…thank you for sharing!! I used play in the chapel and its good to see what it looked like!!
Barbara Ann Wallace Doreen Pollock….the good old days!!
Sim Dow Wow. Hard to believe that old ruin was this beautiful building
Arlene Campbell Paul it’s a fantastic photograph , having lived in that part of the estate …. it’s unbelievable to see this unspoilt view and image x
Christine Wallace Wow, wonderful!
Lesley Bethel What a beautiful building and a wonderful memorial to a lost son. Such a shame it was lost, like so many other glorious buildings in Lanarkshire
Catherine Jones MacDougall Aww debbie that would have been lovely. A part of our history x
Ruth Gee Lorna Gebbie remember my Papa taking us a walk down here when we were wee x
Kirsty Coyle Stunning. Such a shame that it’s gone
Laney Wildman Omg so beautiful always wondered what it looked like played here many a time as a kid shame it’s gone xx
Sarah McDowell John McDowell this was across the road from us X mind the head stones x
David Jamieson Wow amazing – lived within yards of the chapel throughout my childhood and always wondered how it once looked – amazing – but such a shame it’s now gone.
Stewart Willis Is the house on the hill still there ??
Blantyre Project its not. Lodge and offices for Calderglen were demolished some time ago.
Moira Macfarlane Absolutely beautiful, another piece of Blantyre history,,??
Elaine Speirs Its a shame this was lost.
Bill Hunter John Richard Cochrane, Grant of Arms, June 1884. They are the stained glass window situated on the right hand side of the doorway. He was known as Cochrane of Calder Glen.
Isabella Mcginty Stunning building
Andrew Mclinden Remember playing in it in the early sixties not a lot of people knew it existed then ,hard to get to as it was overgrown then with a high fence round about it ..
Steven Lightbody Wow, amazing! Just to echo previous sentiment, sad that such a beautiful building has gone!
Emma-Louise Hay Catherine! Look how awesome this used to look- well before David cut his eye climbing on it!
Marion Jones Omg been following your stories on this so interesting to find out things about your home town , keep up the good work xx
Blantyre Project Thank you Marion. This has been a brilliant topic for me to look at. A real pleasure.
Alison Kennedy Wow, it’s lovely to see that, I used to imagine what it looked like when we were playing at Princesses in the 70’s
Laura Cowan Alison Kennedy I’ve been following the posts about it. Loved playing down the woods, the greatest natural play ground, and teacher of life lessons
Audrey Marshall Really interesting Paul. Obv you have a lot of paperwork in relation to this, but definitely not a direct relation of mine. We are Lanark / Wishaw based at that time and before. An unusual thing to build at that time. Could you give me the full male head of household name and dates to see if I have any links? Thanks
Mark Gallacher Living in Dalcraig as a youngster I spent a lot of time playing down here. Thanks for sharing.
Amanda Christina I used to play there as a child, can’t believe it used to look like this! I’ve always wondered what it was like and why it was there. Beautiful x
Sharon Kelly Alison DickieJacqueline Keachie
How beautiful was this…. Hard to believe we used to play in the ruins x
Kirstin Anderson What a great picture. My mum and dad’s house is directly in front of where it was, it was almost in the back garden. Nothing left of it now. Such a shame.
Paolo Fox I used to play in there climbing and walking around the roofline back in the late 70s when I lived in priory bridge. Great memories.
Joanne Thomson Spent my childhood playing here! It was in ruins, such a pity it was never maintained Karen Campbell John Campbell