Gwyn Ogden shared this photo of High Blantyre Main Street.
Gwyn told me this was “pictured in 1979 at 294 Main Street, near the top cross”. The cottage is derelict today not far from the traffic lights. Pictured just over 40 years ago, are some children including Gwyn’s three oldest children Robert, Matthew and Natalie who are standing outside their ‘ancestral home.
This was the house of Jean Thomas, who married into the Fleming family and who was the mother of Gwyn. Jean was therefore the grandmother of the children pictured who were back in Blantyre at the time to see the house.
** Update: Since looking at this again, I can confirm this is NOT 294 Main Street. It’s an impossibility for any even numbered house to be on that side of the street. 294 was actually on the opposite side of the road, a very similar sized cottage which once had a thatched road. Prior to 1928, it had an earlier number of 134. I believe the family have this house mixed up with another.
The address of the house pictured is 285 Main Street.
The cottage has seen better days and even in the last 10-15 years has been claimed by nature. It now looks like this:
