Underneath the suspension bridge, on Friday 12th August 1932, Adam Hunter (12), of 5 Murray Place, Bothwell, was drowned within sight of his companions at Blantyre. The boy, in the company of two other lads, also from Bothwell, left home to bathe in the Clyde between Bothwell and Blantyre. Choosing a part where there […]
Pictured here in 1952, several gentlemen perform the opening ceremony of the David Livingstone Memorial Bridge near David Livingstone Centre. This photo captures the moment perfectly, although the bridge was not to last and has subsequently been replaced. Gordon Cook gave me some excellent additional information about this photo, advising me, “The gentlemen in the […]
Update: This is actually the 1890’s, rather than 1905. A previously unseen photo of Blantyre Works Mills, taken around 1890s. Pictured from the Bothwell side of the River Clyde, the photographer David Ritchie has captured the everyday industrial scene at the Village Mill. Showing five chimneys at the mills, the suspension bridge leading into the […]
On Tuesday 26th April 1949, one of the River Clyde’s oldest landmarks passed into the limbo of forgotten Blantyre things. The suspension foot bridge linking Bothwell with Blantyre was closed on that Tuesday night, and shortly after, dismantled. Opened in 1852, four years after David Livingstone left Blantyre, the bridge was built by the firm […]
Once the original suspension bridge was closed and demolished over the River Clyde at David Livingstone, it had an immediate impact on visitors to the Centre. A new bridge was needed fast. The Sunday Post October 1949 reported “The closing and demolition of the suspension bridge over the Clyde between Bothwell and Blantyre had an […]
A wonderful old postcard of Low Blantyre’s “Pey Brig” or “Toll Bridge” and even known as the “Swing Brig”. The iron bridge spanned between Bothwell and Blantyre at the site of the old Mills on the banks of the River Clyde. Don’t let others ever tell you there were just 2 toll booths in Blantyre! […]