Alston, Mr. George (Senior) – Alston is an English and Scottish name with two possible origins. It could be a locational name given to someone who lived in a town called Alston, a name derived from an Old English personal name and the word tun, meaning settlement. The son of Glasgow Merchant George Alston of […]
Before Sheriff Mercer, at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Monday 1st November 1926, seven men were charged with forming part of a disorderly crowd of over 700 people in Glasgow Road, Blantyre. This was a time towards the end of the great mining strike and feeling amongst the unemployed miners were still running high, especially to those […]
Low Blantyre was the location of what threatened to become an ugly scene in September 1928. The events took place at a Blantyre football match between the Blantyre Celtic v. Bridgeton Waverley game on 27th September 1928. Thankfully, the timely intervention of the police saved the situation. Behind the goal at the pavilion end […]
With the arrival of Greyhound Racing in 1920’s Blantyre, came the inevitable gambling problems for many people in our town. At Craighead, a new sight was plain clothes officers, acting on behalf of the gambling commission, walking around the racetrack and others locally to see if illegal activity was going on, especially with the […]
The town of Blantyre has long had links with speedway racing. In the pioneer days a group of riders who appeared at White City in Glasgow were known as “The Blantyre Crowd”. They operated their own track at Airbles Road in Motherwell in 1930-1932 and this was known as the Paragon Speedway. Riders included Andy […]
Thanks to Anthony Smith for sharing these 2 photos dating from 19th December 1963.The scene is the Craighead Railway Viaduct being dismantled. I recently found out that the demolition took place between 11th and 23rd December 1963 and these incredible photos show how the sections were burned and toppled to the river, the date of […]
During February 1931, Mr. Frank Wilson was an unemployed miner, living at 45 Merry’s Rows, Blantyre. On Monday 9th February 1931, Frank and his wife were clearly finding things difficult when the wife ventured across Glasgow Road and the railway to Craighead, to the woodland, intending on gathering some firewood. She headed towards the bing at […]