Millardale – this contemporary house and garden was one of the original thatched weaving cottages of Hunthill. Located at 45 Hunthill Road, it was in recent decades home to the McLean family and is today well kept next door to the Weavers Gallery. The name appears to be derived from the Millar family who lived there prior to WW1, and notably missing from the 1905 valuation roll and before, may have been called something else prior to that date. In 1915, Agnes Millar of Glasgow owned the cottage and was letting it out to Andrew Shaw an enginekeeper for £14 per annum. Andrew Shaw continued to rent the cottage until after WW2.
Anne Ellis, who shared this great photo told me recently, “My gran and grandpa Shaw bought it and then dad bought it from them. Dad also bought the adjoining two houses which became after the tennents passed away my dads parents house and my shop. I would say this is in the 20’s as my gran was bored and since my papa was out in South Africa teaching engineering in the mines I believe. Gran also had a chip shop in low Blantyre and also owned the tenement building next to the Livingstone Memorial Church. She seemed to be a bit of an entrepreneur in her day”
The stone built cottage has been slated for much of the 20th Century and still is, but was originally thatched. The door opens out on to Hunthill Road and early hedgerows at the pavement have long since given way to a stone wall. The stone gateposts have been repositioned back from the road against the cottage itself. Millardale was a shop in this era and in the mid 20th Century. Today, this is still a desirable extended home.