Downie’s Buildings – were former 19th Century houses and early 20th Century shops located near Kirkton Cross on the north side of Main Street. To put this in context, they would have been where the small rectangular grass park is today near the Cornerstone pub. They are known to have existed prior to 1855, for […]
Mr. William Downie (Senior) – b1812-d1885. According to Slaters Directory is noted as being a grocer and spirit dealer. The family name is associated with the old Downie’s buildings on Main Street and School Lane in the triangular piece of land, that later became Matt Boyle’s House. William Downie was born in Kilmarnock Ayrshire in […]
The old photo is High Blantyre Main Street, near Kirkton, looking east. Taken in the 1920’s it shows Sneddon’s Buildings, or Sneddons Laun. In the foreground is Sneddon’s Building, a former row of 2-storey stone tenements on the south side of High Blantyre Main Street. Situated to the west of Kirkton Cross, they once […]