Need some help with these photos. They’re undated but I suspect may be the early 1980s. The location is known. The Clyde Braes, leading down to the River Clyde, not far from Station Road. The old works cemetery is in the photo, so its before the houses were built at Caskie Drive. What year do […]
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:- Newly born male child – found […]
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 […]
There’s a little known man from Blantyre’s history that deserves some attention drawn to him. William McCall (or McColl) was a Blantyre man who made many heroic river rescues and managed to save the lives of many people. His heroic efforts can be traced back as far as 1889 and were the admiration of the […]
Bernice Cox messaged, “My great grandfather, Matthew LINDSAY (married to Catherine CORNFIELD), was fishing or poaching probably, salmon from the River Clyde on 27th May 1878. He was spotted by the gamekeeper who set off across the river in a boat and Matthew took off running. He collapsed and died at the scene and […]
When the day of the demolition of the David Livingstone Memorial Bridge arrived in May 1999, it was found after cutting the main supports that the contractors could not pull it fully down. The attempt was abandoned and the next day further acetylene burning tools arrived to weaken the bridge sufficiently into smaller sections […]
A previously unseen photo of the River Clyde. Taken on April 4th, 1903, 2 young figures stand at the end of the Parkburn, where it flows out in to the Clyde, just beyond Bothwell Bridge. The figures stand on the Blantyre side of the river, the bend sweeping downstream towards Craighead. The river looks […]
This rare early photo is amongst the earliest ever taken in Blantyre. Taken 143 years ago in 1875, it shows Blantyre Works Mill, on the edge of the River Clyde. You can see how tall at 5 or 6 storeys the mill was and one can only imagine how many hundreds of people would […]