The funeral procession of the 6 victims of the Auchinraith Colliery disaster trundles up Auchinraith Road towards High Blantyre. Just look at the crowds who turned out to pay their respects!
The location is on Auchinraith Road, at the top of Merry’s Rows (Elm Street) which is just out the picture to the left. The former tenements at Melbourne Place (affectionately known as the Buggy Buildings) are pictured alongside James Place and Radnor Place. The railway ran immediately to the back of these buildings, literally in the back gardens. In fact residents would be well accustomed to the noise and clatter of steam locomotives passing right by their back windows. One theory put forward, is that the proximity of the railway and nearby collieries caused defects in the building lending to the name “buggy buildings”. Another theory is to do with the construction materials initially being second hand reused. All these buildings, including the one used as the vantage point are now gone.
Clearly this was a deeply touching event for Blantyre and would have been a huge talking point that week and for a time thereafter as residents came to terms with the disaster and their grief.
Today, the scene looks like this:
