A fatal accident happened on the Blantyre Suspension Bridge on Saturday 21st July 1900. Several young men were on their way home, crossing from the Bothwell side back to Blantyre that evening and began larking about on the bridge. One of them, Robert Foy (19), in a playful frolic put his legs over the side […]
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 […]
Here’s a charming picture of the old suspension bridge spanning the River Clyde. Given the houses at Waterloo Row are demolished, but the Village school is still there, I reckon this was taken around 1930 or 31. Photographed from the Bothwell side looking back over to Blantyre, the bridge only lasted another 2 decades before […]
This is a wonderful photo. From 1937 or 1938, it is the only view I’ve ever seen photographed from the original, suspension bridge in Blantyre (closed in 1949). Looking downstream, you can see the weir, and beyond that to the buildings is the background, where the current bridge is located. The flat area the […]
I was delighted to find this newspaper report from 1853, which provided a little more information on the arrival of the first Suspension Bridge at Blantyre Works. Can you imagine all those years ago, celebrating the arrival of an accessible Village bridge connecting Bothwell to Blantyre. From the ‘Scottish Guardian’ Newspaper on 22nd February […]
Pictured here in 1952 is the opening of the second bridge at Blantyre Works. The first suspension bridge had lasted almost a hundred years and closed in 1949. The black and white photo shows councillors opening the bridge, which is the previous bridge to the current one. Built in 1952 by Architects and Engineers Bone, Connell […]
Gordon Cook and Alex Rochead have kindly shared here their photos of their respective Suspension Bridge Tokens in their collections of Blantyre Memorabilia. The bridge was built by Henry Monteith to allow people to cross the Clyde from Bothwell to Blantyre and these tokens were issued to allow passage across. They date from 1853, an […]