1921 saw significant pressures on employment of miners in Blantyre. On Saturday 2nd July 1921 a notice went up in the Craighead colliery reading, “This colliery will not reopen for work, but will be dismantled. No. 2 workmen who have their graith underground may lift this on Monday. No. 1 workmen will get theirs as […]
William Dixon and Co narrowly avoided another major catastrophe in 1921, when the shaft of their Larkfield Pit 4 collapsed. The question arose immediately as to whether it was an accident or another outrage. That was the problem which mining experts faced when they examined the enormous havoc wrought at the Blantyre colliery, a task they […]
Taken from high above Burnbank Hillhouse, this aerial photo from 1961 looks back towards High Blantyre. At a time before the EK Expressway, you can see the relatively new Kirkton Avenue and Waverley Terrace in the Housing Estate in the foreground, which had only been constructed a few years earlier. The fields to the […]
Several people over the years have asked me about this, so hopefully this answers the question, “When were the trees planted at Larkfield Bing?” On Friday 10th March 1978, two councillors put their backs into it along with more than a little help from dozens of local schoolchildren, to make Blantyre a more beautiful […]
Susan Silva contacted me back in January 2017 saying, “I’m hoping to get some assistance on an ancestry matter. My grandmother was from Blantyre, and subsequently emigrated to Canada in the early 1920’s, however her parents remained in Blantyre as far as I know. I am from Toronto, Canada and am planning a trip […]
Margaret Clark contacted me in July 2016 saying, “Hi, I have an old picture of Blantyre folks that I thought may be of interest to the project. It was taken behind the Larkfield Bar in Blantyre (as the family lived above the pub). My Gran (Margaret Cole) is the youngest in the photo and […]
This may take a few people back. Pictured are the shops at Larkfield on Stonefield Road. Happy Season Chinese restaurant has been there for a long time and the current Scotmid then was former “Landmark”, which many people still call it today! This may be going back to the 1980s, the shops located on the […]