Reader George Hay recently asked, “Have you any idea where Pearl cottage was in High Blantyre? It’s coming up in some family research.”
This was a new name for me, never encountering it before, so I had to do some digging around.
Pearl Cottage appears to be a detached former home thought to have been in the Loanfoot area of Kirkton, High Blantyre. Noted in the 1921 census as home to the McGowan and Burnett families, the name ‘Pearl’ does not appear in other valuation rolls, indicating it may have been a name little used or for a short time. In 1915, the house belonged to Hannah McGowan, the wife of a miner. The demolition date is unknown, but today the site would be approximately where the roundabout at the end of Douglas Street is located.
Looking at the valuation roll of 1915, The McGowan and Burnett families were living in a house at Sydes Brae, which appears by the 1921 census to be called Pearl Cottage. It’s not Loanfoot, or the first house on Hamilton Drive which belonged to the Aitkenheads or Braefoot. There is quite a collection of former homes though congregated at Loanfoot on the 1910 map. I do think it was in that area though due to the adjacent surnames and properties in the census and valuation rolls.
Do YOU know more about Pearl Cottage? Please do get in touch.
