This scene is strangely familiar yet different now. That’s because the photo is 34 years old, taken in 1986 after these fields near Blantyre Priory had been reclaimed.

The Bings had been reduced in the previous year and flattening the unsightly mounds created relatively flat, new expansive areas, an immediate hit with dog walkers. It wasn’t too long before suggestions were put for the use of this land, with housing fiercely opposed.

In the background the trees are much smaller than they are today and in this photo, it’s even possible to see Bothwell Castle more clearly on the opposite riverbank of the Clyde. The reducing of the Blantyre Bings, almost eradicated any visible traces of Blantyre’s coal mining industries, confining it to history books , stories and memories.

Today this is the Priory Playing fields just to the north of Blantyre, now set out nicely with football pitches.