From around March until June, we had a rather unusual bird in our garden. Well, it was making an unusual call. It wasn’t just our imaginations, for people were also commenting on it on the other side of the boundary in Kirkton Park. The bird in question seems to adopt a lofty position in a […]
Category: Blantyre Oddities
How bizarre
Giraffes or Cows? Which?
In May 1906, a letter from Auchinraith School Headmaster, Mr Welsh was submitted to the Blantyre School Board requesting that his fence around his home should be replaced. A strange request given the school house and its garden at the top of Craig Street was relatively new. This prompted some humorous debate by the Board. […]
David Robertson, Coatshill
Blantyre Project reader, Deirdre MacKinnon shared this photo of an object she recently found. She had been walking by the River Gryffe between Bridge of Weir and Houston. While exploring a small shingle beach by the river, she found an old oval engraved metal plate, 9 inches long and 6 inches wide. It is engraved […]
Tram Car Stop Marker
In October 2021, local man Jim Donnelly posted these two photos of a strange object he found in or near the River Calder at Priory Bridge. It looks fairly rounded from being in the water but interestingly, lettering could be seen on it, spelling the word ‘ridge’. Given the location, the word is likely BRIDGE […]
Blantyre’s Aeronautical Pioneers
Most of us will have heard of the Wright Brothers and their remarkable achievements in 1903 in undertaking the world first heavier than air flight. (albeit a very short one and a crash). This was the birth of flight. As the world looked on with unknowing, wry curiosity at these early strange machines which would […]
Crossbasket Sundial Confirmed
Further to my article the other day about where it was alleged that the sundial from Crossbasket was taken to Tudor House in Washington, USA, I’ve now been able to confirm that is indeed the case. There was a story about the sundial being taken by the Peter family across the Atlantic in the early […]