Something remarkable today, a photo perhaps the oldest of any Blantyre photos!
This lantern slide was allegedly taken in 1860 by Sir Thomas Annan and shows Blantyre Priory when the ruin was still very much more intact than now. Incredibly this photo 161 years old was taken a full 17 years even before the Blantyre Pit Disaster happened! Indeed, the photo is so old, the current Priory woodland looks in its infancy a far cry from the woods you have to get through today from the playing fields to get to the ruin.
Over the River Clyde in the background is the timeless Bothwell Castle. This sleepy, rural scene with the Priory covered in ivy would have had the charm of tranquility and peacefulness all around it, for this was at a time before any major pit was sunk in Blantyre or influx of miners.
With thanks to Gordon Cook who kindly recently shared this.
I used to cross the railway line on a regular basis with friends to play there