Interesting wee story this next one. Well, I thought so. When the new Housing estate at Priory Bridge was built in the early 1970’s, builders and the District Council argued about who should be landscaping the verge at the side of the B758 Blantyre Farm Road.
A beautiful new housing estate with modern homes had been built, but by 1973, residents there were getting annoyed at the untidy, wild growing verge. This complaint rumbled on for another 4 years and by August 1977, residents of Blantyre’s Priory Bridge estate were going all out to win their fight for something to be done. The strip of land, though only 2.5m wide, runs from Glasgow Road, all the way down the west side of Blantyre Farm Road.
The Residents Association at Priory Bridge pushed hard for the grassy verge to be tidied up. Chairman Colin Bendal was particularly vocal in Summer 1977 commenting to reporters, “Frankly, it has got to the stage where the verge is being used as a dump. It is strewn with rubbish and worse still, smashed bottles and glass. The wooden picket fencing alongside it has rotted already and is flimsy, too weak to be a proper road safety feature. It’s a busy road and a lot of kids play around there.”
The verge was bare, only partially grassed, no trees or plants and was not representative of such a desirable place otherwise to live. During their campaign, the Resident’s Association had been told by authorities somebody was looking into the issue, but nothing was getting done. Assurances by the council promised action would be taken in 1977, but it took another month until September for action.
Mr James Murdie, District Council Director of Leisure and Recreation had commented that the wooden fence had been built by Wimpey and did not lie on land, therefore he didn’t think it was for the council to touch.
In September, contractors on behalf of the council arrived on site and started tidying up the verge, removing rubbish and planting a small area of grass. The main action however, was beautifying the verge by planting up many hundreds of rose hip plants, deliberately chosen for their greenery and which would eventually act as a screen for residents to ensure they didn’t see the road. There was obvious benefits in noise reduction too with such a thick foliage.
These rose hip plants were quick growing. Some Blantyre kids may remember walking past them between the late 70s and 90s, calling them ‘itchy coos’, the bright orange and red large seeds in abundance.
Quite some time prior to the Millennium, new metal railings were put up by the council, finally recognising how busy the road was, the last of the picket fencing removed. Around that time, many young trees were planted which have since grown considerably in the last 2 decades. Along with the opposing trees in Northway, quite a noticeable, attractive avenue has formed lining either side of a now very busy Blantyre Farm Road, as this 2022 photo shows.
The other photo without traffic is from 16 years ago. Taken in 2008, as you can see, the rose hip plants often could overgrow into the road and needed constant attention. Around 2012, coming full circle, they were entirely removed, replaced by grass.
Ok, so I’m now talking about Blantyre grassy areas and plants here, but it’s all a little part of the bigger picture. Back to buildings, events and people tomorrow!
