Arden Cottage is an existing semi-detached house at 4 Rosebank Avenue. Situated on the south side of the street on the right-hand side almost as soon as you turn in from Station Road the house is tied in history to its mirror half, “St Clair Cottage” at number 2 Rosebank Avenue.
Constructed of Stone with a slate roof, the cottage has a unique feel in this street, its bay windows on the lower flower and upper dormers are prominent features.
When first built in 1903 the house sitting on an elevated position, commanded a good view down towards the homes in the quadrangle at Blantyre Works and was set in the leafy evolving Avenue of Rosebank, then only a scattering of 2 or 3 handsome villas.
The proximity to Blantyre Station was no doubt regarded as a plus point for original constructor, a policeman William Lockhart.
The name Arden may have been named after the scenic beauty spot of the same name near Loch Lomond, perhaps a take on his birth town of “Airdrie” or indeed may have been a play on his mother’s maiden name of ‘Aird’. That is entirely plausible as he named 2 Rosebank ‘St Clair’ Cottage after his wife Helen’s maiden name of Sinclair.
The house once sat just outside the gated entrance of Blantyre Works Village, in the open but today is surrounded by modern homes.
According to the 1905 valuation roll, it was owned by Police Sergeant William Lockhart and was being occupied and rented by Mr. Charles McGauley. William would live in number 2 at “St Clair” next door. By WW1, William McGruther, a worker in the commercial bank and also Quarter Master Sergeant of the 6th Scottish Rifles lived at Arden with his growing family. The McGruther family continued to live there in th 1920’s. In 1930, still owned by retired Mr Lockhart by then 79 years old, Elizabeth McIntyre, a widow lived there, renting from him for £24 per annum.
In 1939, following the death that year of Mr Lockhart at the age of 88, the house and its neighbour was bought outright by Bairds & Scottish Steel Ltd of Coatbridge. Elizabeth McIntyre continued to live there in WW2 years at a reduced rent. Today, it is occupied and remains a nice, well maintained family home in a sought-after area.
Pictured in 2015, on the left hand side of this existing building is Arden Cottage at 4 Rosebank Avenue.
Research from the forthcoming book, “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c) 2020