In 1908, an event occurred which threatened the eviction of almost all the residents at the former mining community of Caldervale (Fin Me Oot). A huge strike at the nearby colliery in late Summer/ Autumn of 1908 saw 450 miners “down tools” in protest at the “contracting out” system. By the end of the 12th […]
Monica McGarry Chizmadia lives abroad and has shared another piece of McGarry family history whilst they lived in Fin Me Oot, near Blantyre. She told me, “While helping my mother move house, I found this picture. It’s signed by the priest, although I can’t make out his name, except starts with an A. It has […]
Monica Jean Chizmadia shared these photos of her family, the McGarry’s formerly of Caldervale. She told me, “The black and white picture is everyone that lived in Fin Me Oot. My grandmother Elizabeth is the dark haired woman standing, my father is first on the left. There were only two girls in the whole clan..and […]
Next, the story of a young ‘drawer’ who was caught raiding an orchard. (A ‘drawer’ was usually a boy or young man who pushed wagons of coal from the coal face to the pit eye or shaft. William Nichol worked in such a profession. Living at 18 Caldervale Rows, Blantyre (Fin Me Oot), William had […]
This lovely photo was sent in by Monica Jean Chizmadia. This is her father, Gerard ‘Scotty’ McGarry photographed in Stonefield Public Park, Blantyre around 1950 or so. You can see how popular the park was then, the former boating pond clearly visible. The young trees only a couple of decades old and all at a […]
In April 1927, Cambuslang Parish Council received word that the County Council of Lanarkshire would bear the cost of erecting a new bridge over the River Calder, a tributary of the Clyde, at the location of Caldervale. For some time, the nearby residents had asked for the building of a bridge, as workers and […]
Pictured here in 1946 is Blantyreferme Colliery. Former Blantyreferme colliery was based not far from Newton but within Blantyre Parish and was owned by Ayrshire Company, A.G Moore & Co, (coalmasters). This scene is captured from the Clyde Bridges looking back over westwards to Blantyreferme colliery with the brickworks on the far right. The bings […]