On Sunday 24th November 1895, after having undergone extensive renovations, the Church of St Joseph’s on Glasgow Road Blantyre formally re-opened. This was a time before the current sandstone church, and for the purposes of this article, I’m talking about the older church (pictured in this beautiful photo) which was once on the site of […]
Taken not far from the entrance to Shott at High Blantyre, this is an unusual view of Blantyre Old Parish Church. Taken around 1980, this is before the modern housing estate was built at Craigmuir Road. Indeed, at the time this was taken the derelict High Blantyre Station site was behind those trees at the […]
This sketch was drawn before 1863 and shows the former Kirk at High Blantyre cross. This was the Old Parish church previous to the existing one. This building used to be within the walls of the current kirkyard and was demolished in 1863 the same year as the current Church was built more westwards. Stones […]
It’s a scene which is little changed today. The entrance to Blantyre Old Parish Church at High Blantyre will be familiar to many people. The gate pillars and adornments, and indeed the gates themselves still look like this today, despite this photo being taken 60 years ago in 1962. The two lines of slabs which […]
By the start of the 20th Century, the mission of St Joseph’s had made remarkable progress since its inception in 1877. For a considerable time prior to that, the Catholics of Blantyre had their spiritual requirements administered in Hamilton. Mass however, was celebrated and Sunday School conducted in a block of houses in Dixon’s Rows, […]
On Saturday 17th June 1905, the Hamilton Herald and Lanarkshire Weekly Newspaper issued an article to let excited readers know about the handsome new church which had just been erected for the congregation of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Blantyre. It says, “The edifice will be solemnly and formally opened tomorrow (Trinity Sunday) by […]
I’ve been exploring Blantyre news from the first decade of the 20th Century in recent weeks. Here’s another nice wee story which made me smile. On Sunday 22nd September 1907, the Anderson Church on Stonefield Road re-opened after being closed for 4 weeks. The building had been in the hands of painters and decorators and […]