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 […]
Here’s the former Blantyre Works wages office, which today is now a beautiful, modern home, located near the David Livingstone Bridge on the River Clyde. This colourised photo is from around 1940. Once part of a much larger building, this is the only part which remains and is one of just a dozen buildings […]
Thanks to Alex Rochead for sharing this illustration of Blantyre Works Mills. I hadn’t seen it before so was delighted to see the detail. On the left is the Powerloom mill and after the break in the buildings, on the right is the Cotton Mill. The Madder mill out the picture to the right. […]
This story has been pieced together using several news reports. This is the tale of a Burnbank girl tortured by scandal, and featuring heroic actions of 2 Blantyre men. In 1924 Mary M‘Gladdery was a young woman who lived at 309 Glasgow Road, Burnbank and for many years until then had been the merriest […]
I love this colourised postcard from the 1890’s. Such a quiet rural scene. Taking your horse, unhooking from the cart, down off the Bothwell Road for a drink at the river. A sunny day, the river low, this looks a summer scene as the boys play in the burn, the boundary between Blantyre and […]