On Tuesday 29th July 1902, play during the school holidays went terribly wrong when several children were seriously injured at Craighead Rows, Blantyre. That Summers evening workmen were making some repairs and had been working with tar. Barrels of Tar lay close to the Criaghead Rows, (miners homes, just off Glasgow Road). When the men […]
More stories from Auld Blantyre, which I hope you’re hearing for the first time. 120 years ago, the sight of a motorcar was indeed a rare thing. Even more so if one was travelling through a small mining village like Blantyre. On Monday 19th October 1902 a sensation was felt when a motorcar unexpectedly passed […]
In August 1904 a local newspaper reported that public clocks in Blantyre were few and far between. In fact, people had to wholly rely upon the solitary clock face on Glasgow Road. This was a reference to the Livingstone Memorial U.F Church and its four dials which could be seen a long way off in […]
Batters Ironmongers – was a former late 19th and 20th Century shop on the north side of Glasgow Road at numbers 142 and 144, located on the lower floor of Millar’s buildings, stone tenements, situated between John Street and Clark Street. The shop was 144, the house above 142 and both were located mid terrace in a […]
This post WW2 photo goes back to May 1949 and was taken outside the front of St.Joseph’s Church, Glasgow Road. It was the procession for Our Lady of Fatima. Angela McGlynn who shared the picture told me, “The bearers were Mary Dickson, Mary Hassan, Kathleen Clifford and Annie Corrigan ( back right, my mother). The […]
‘Whit’s Yer Nummer?” was the cry around most homes and businesses in April 1906. This was the sentence on the tongue of most Blantyre residents from Monday 23rd April 1906 as the novelty sank in of proper postal addresses being applied for the first time. No longer were homes and shops to be known by […]
On Monday 17th February 1908, a household accident happened at Mayberry Place, just off Glasgow Road. A warning this story contains sensitive content. Mrs Ann Tarleton, (nee Magewick) was the wife of John Tarleton and the couple lived in one of the homes at Mayberry Place, Blantyre. That particular night, she was at home alone […]