Here’s a nice local anecdote from 1892. During the 1880’s and early 1890’s, water pipes were being run into Blantyre streets for the first time as the County Council sought to improve sanitation and living conditions. Whilst the water was being led into streets, an old resident who was generally housebound heard the pickaxes in […]
In Springtime 1909, the road authorities as an experiment decided to relay Glasgow Road with a new road surface. These were the days before tar-macadam surfaces and Blantyre’s main thoroughfare was already partially cobbled in places due to tramlanes laid only a few years earlier. This however, left parts of the road which were “unmade” […]
A modern myth seems to have manifested in recent years. It is said that you cannot cross the Blantyre Parish Boundary without stepping over water, based on the fact that the Parish Boundaries are the River Clyde to the North, The River Calder to the West, The RottenBurn to the south and the Park […]
During times of exceptionally fine weather (yes it did happen in Blantyre!), the County Council imposed hosepipe bans due to water shortages. Amongst them, on 27th August 1955, where it was prohibited to use a hose to water your garden or wash vehicles. The council imposed a fine of 5 pounds with officers patrolling […]
Some more interesting information obtained from the Triennial Review 1961 – 1963 book. If only to record these facts in Blantyre’s history, the little county council book, states that: In relation to Schools a) In 1961, Phase 3 of St Joseph’s School was completed at a cost of £185,000. The book states this was a […]
The Lee or Lees Burn is a stream which rises at “Mains Castle” in East Kilbride Parish and forms the Parish Boundary for about a mile before it enters the Rotten Calder river, near “Bridge Mill” at Crossbasket. Interestingly, where the Lees Burn meets the rotten Calder river at the Bridge Mill location, exactly across […]
From it’s humble beginning’s much of the sewage generated by Blantyre’s hamlets ended up directly in the Parkburn, Leeburn, the Clyde or the Calder. During the 1600 and 1700’s, there were no proper drains within the town, with people relying on kerbside drains and small culverts that at least tried to hide waste water and […]