Many people will be familiar with the story of Blantyre Explosion in 1877 in Dixons Pit 2 and 3 where over 200 men and boys died. Blantyre was not particularly large at the time, and this would have made this tragedy all the more apparent in our town. So many families were affected and although […]
In November 2014, Betty McLean in Canada contacted me about finding a vent pipe in High Blantyre that was close to the site of the 1877 Pit explosion. The vent pipe was found in the verge , not far from the pavement on Hillhouse road, not too far from the old location of the BIG […]
On 22nd October 2014, it will have been 137 years since the Blantyre Pit Explosion that killed 215 men and boys. Robert Stewart approached me recently with an idea for an article that remembered not only the men that died, but also so many children of such a young age. It’s easy to forget when […]
I think this article deserves to be shared to show some awareness and memory of the dead. All too often when we think of the 200+ victims of the 1877 Blantyre Explosion, we may think they are all buried in High Blantyre Cemetery. After all, there was a large monument erected by Dixon’s in their […]
From 1877, here is the payslip of John Traynor, a fifteen year old boy who died in the Great Pit Explosion of that same year. John was a pit driver who was caught in the blast. It always amazes me, just how many wonderful old documents are out there in Blantyre. What may have seemed […]