I just LOVED this story. Elizabeth McCourt is an elderly Blantyre lady who once lived in Auchinraith Road, Blantyre during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Although now living in Australia, she remembers vividly her youth in Blantyre, especially during wartime years. With help from her son, Elizabeth contacted me back in January 2018 with a delightful […]
This view of Elm Street looks north towards Glasgow Road and was captured on camera in 1978 by the late Neil Gordon, just prior to the extensive redevelopment To the right is Kidd’s Buildings, in front are the tenements on the north side of Glasgow Road and to the left is the former Stonefield Parish […]
The late Blantyre historian Neil Gordon, was certainly a very accomplished painter. Amongst his many passions of all things Blantyre, he took great delight in painting scenes of this old town. Like this painting he did in 1979, of Blantyre Mills pictured in 1870. Some of Neil’s paintings ended up in local museums, others […]
It’s always nice when people send in paintings of Blantyre. These two have pride of place on the wall of Isla Arendell, who told me, “One is by A.G Reid of the bridge in the Calder (Milheugh) and the other of Stonefield by a Walter McDonald. I remember my mother Nan McNally buying the latter […]
This black and white picture is actually a real photograph from the 1890’s, which was touched up as a painting by artist Raphael Tuck. This was a common thing for Tuck to do until his death in 1900. In the early 1900’s his pictures were run as a series of well received postcards, and this […]
This lovely painting was commissioned by myself as a possible contender for the front cover of my latest book. It was pipped at the post when I chose Pathfoot cottages instead, but the painting is worth sharing here and very beautiful in its own right. The scene is the Auchentibber Inn during 1908. Landlord JBH […]
In early May 2015, East Kilbride historian Chris Ladds, showed me a sketch that had ben sent to him that same month. Incredibly, the sketch dated in 1821 is approaching 200 years old and in colour, features Calderwood Glen. Drawn by a Mary Paterson, who allegedly was a nanny or teacher at Calderwood Castle, the […]
This wonderful watercolour, was recently shown to me by Chris Ladds, history enthusiast from East Kilbride. Painted in 1755 by artist Paul Sandby, the picture is an idyllic scene of Calderwood Linn, at Calderwood Glen. The painting is important as it shows the Glen had mature woodland even at that time and the redundant road […]