“The Trap” is a poem written by the late Blantyre preacher, Mr John Graham (affectionately known as The Blantyre Saint). He composed the poem for his son, also called John to recite at a Sunday School social outing. The poem dates from c 1950. Thanks to John Graham’s other son, James, for permission to share […]
This photo from the 1920s is of High Blantyre Baptist Church. Known locally at the time as “The Wee Tin Kirk”, the church sat directly on Main Street, in what is now the carpark of the current Baptist Church (directly across from the derelict Apollo Bar building). The Church was formed in 1896 by Mr. […]
The Graham family in this story were descended from victims of the Irish famine of 1840 to 1851. John Graham and his wife Mary (nee Armstrong), and John Atkinson and his wife Sarah, were forced off the land. They eventually found work in Balnamore Mill, Co. Antrim. Their children John Graham and Sarah Atkinson went to […]