For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by the Kirkyard wall and the Wardrop Moore Arch, at Kirkton. So little has been written about this, and many mysteries remain, which I admit I don’t have all the answers. When was the wall originally built? Why was the earthworks raised inside the kirkyard? Why was the […]
Tag: kirk
Stoneymeadow Cemetery
There is a reference in the 1885 Annals of Blantyre book to “an old graveyard in Blantyre, covered in daisies and buttercups that had not been disturbed for hundreds of years.” This has always puzzled me, as dead people were being interred in the old Kirkton graveyard not just at the time this book was […]
The 1731 Schoolhouse
<<< Back to Schools Rev Stevenson during the 1700s left us all a marvelous account of education in Blantyre during 1785. He wrote in the Statistical account for that year, “There is only one school in the Parish. The schoolmaster’s salary is about £6, but he has neither house nor garden belonging to the office. […]
Re-use of old stone
The area of Kirkton fascinates me. Not just for it’s impressive stone buildings and walls, that seem to stand the test of time, but for just how old the area is. Historical detail is rapidly giving way to progress, but Kirkton has also had it’s fair share of buildings that didn’t last to this era. […]
Heritors Bond for New Church
By the late 1700’s, the old church in the old kirkyard, Kirkton, High Blantyre was showing some signs of ruin. In fact it was close to be being condemned. It was too small, too damp and not worth repairing. Taking action, the heritors of Blantyre (those who owned the main portions of land) decided to […]
Kirkton – Hamlet Name
Kirkton – A place in High Blantyre, we now officially recognise as probably only the Park. However, in years gone by, Kirkton was a lot more than just the public park. Prior to the early 1900s and long before the park was even created, Kirkton was the name of the hamlet, the little village that […]