1938 Blantyreferme 1 & 2 from Clyde Bridge

These photos are taken from the Clyde Railway Bridge looking back to Blantyreferme collieries 1 & 2. Away in the distance would be Fin Me Oot (Caldervale). The bings of the collieries are common to both pictures, but several years separate them. The first shows neat fields of crops behind Boatland, in the fields of Blantyreferme believed to be photographed in 1938.

The second photo i think is a little more interesting. Taken from the same vantage point, the subject is again Bantyreferme colliery, but in this photo are the completed pit baths for the miners. (This building should not be confused with the Priory Pit bathhouse, which admittedly looks very similar in design, although the Priory bathhouse dates from a decade earlier) The bathhouse picture is around WW2. Of course today, the bing, the colliery and the pit bathhouse are no longer there. The

1940s Blantyreferme 1& 2 after pit baths built

fields sculpted to be more level and is now the site of Birnam’s scrapyard, just before you go under the railway bridge at Blantyreferme road. Thank you to Alex Rochead for these excellent pictures.