How about this for a charming photo. From nearly 100 years ago, this is Shuttle Row, the birthplace of David Livingstone, pictured from the Bothwell side of the River Clyde. Looking over the weir, you can make out the demolished Blantyre Mill Buildings on the riverside. Lots of new homes have sprang up on the […]
Tag: river clyde
Suspension ‘Pey’ Bridge
Here’s a brilliant photo of the former Suspension ‘Pey’ Bridge once crossing the River Clyde at Blantyre. This rare photo, thought to have been taken in the 1920s or 1930’s shows good detail of all the railings and (locked) gates that protected walkways from the riverside. Despite that a few boys clearly on the path […]
1900 Blantyre Works
A wee treat today. Seen here exclusively for the first time online, this is a photo of Blantyre Works. Taken around 1900, the clear picture was photographed by early photographer David Ritchie just a couple of years before the demolition of many of the mill buildings. The former Suspension Bridge (the Pey Brig) can clearly […]
Craighead Viaduct, 1904
This postcard was given to me by Blantyre Project reader Margaret Stewart in January 2020. (Its amazing that people can pass things over to me in my garden from the park!) It is of course Craighead Viaduct (not Greenhall). The photo dates from around 1904, though the colourised postcard is from 1909. Simply titled ‘Blantyre […]
1910’s Blantyre Mill Ruins
This scene is from around the 1910’s. Beyond the River Clyde on the Blantyre side of the river are the ruins of Blantyre Mills and up on the hill, Shuttle Row, the birthplace of Livingstone which was thankfully saved. The mills were demolished in 1903 leaving nothing much but the wages building (i’ve still to […]
Rescue Workers Appeal, 1916
In September 1916, an anonymous volunteer involved in the rescue and recovery of people in difficulties in the River Clyde was concerned about the frequency of drownings  in the Village. He wrote to the papers making an appeal, as follows word for word: “As I was one of the voluntary rescue party the recent drowning […]
Clyde Braes near Station Rd
The Infant in the Parcel
A sad tale next. My history colleague Robert Stewart recently messaged me reminding me that he had discovered 11 unknown persons interred in Blantyre Cemetery. Whilst doing some more cemetery research, Robert came across an interment of an unknown baby. He told me, “The entry in the records reads:- Â Newly born male child – found […]
1300’s Bothwell Castle
Well, this castle may be familiar. It is of course BOTHWELL CASTLE, a reconstruction showing how it may have looked like in its glorious days before battles and invasion. Can you imagine this castle over 700 years ago, looking like this, majestic standing above a River Clyde abundant with Salmon and overlooking a newly built […]