Blantyre Lodge

Blantyre Lodge

Alison Walker-Hill wrote: “Do you, or anyone else reading this know anything about the Lodge which was situated in the field which is now the Livingstone Centre? When was the lodge built? Who did it belong to? ( Jolly?). Many thanks!

I am presuming that it was built before/at the start of the building works for the mill. My Dad always referred to it as Jolly’s Lodge, and a piece of wood in the frame of of our house ( removed during refurb works about 50 years ago) had the words “Jolly’s stables” on it. Although our house was defo stables, it is also referred to as “the board room” for the mills., but it never looks like a fancy building in any of the paintings/photos… interesting that it was sandstone, like our house and the wages office, but Shuttle row appears to be mainly brick!… wondering if these were built at different times or if they’re sandstone for a particular reason?”

Blantyre Lodge was a substantial stone property belonging to James Monteith, David Dale’s partner in the Mills development and was situated in its own landscaped gardens in the field adjacent to Shuttle Row. Probably built in the late 1700’s.

The Lodge was eventually used as accommodation for the Mill’s Manager and was clearly much grander than the workforce’s inferior accommodation.

Besides the Lodge, Mill House, known as the Board Room, which was part of the Bottom Row and the Wages Office, all of which were built of Sandstone sourced locally, as building works increased to accommodate the workforce, it is reasonable to assume that a cheaper form of construction was used, such as brick.

Mill House

Mill House, also known as the Board Room was part of the Bottom Row and had Stables at the rear. It is now owned by Alison Walker-Hill’s family.

This photo of Mill House, taken in 1900 shows the start of the dilapidation of the Bottom Row which by this time was used as workers accommodation.

Wages Office

Production ceased at Blantyre Mills in 1903 and the company was liquidated in 1904. By the early 1900’s the building was falling into disrepair with the decline of the mills and was robbed of its sandstone over the years.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken in April 2001 in advance of proposed re-landscaping around the site of Blantyre Lodge, the old mill manager’s house, within the grounds of the David Livingstone Centre.

Trench 1 examined the southern side of the former turning circle in front of the former house and revealed layers of gravel over a sandstone foundation. Trench 2 located the southern wall foundation of the former house at a depth of c 1.5m below the present ground surface. The sandstone wall, which survived up to three courses high, sat within a wide foundation trench but had clearly been extensively robbed.

Today, the site of the Lodge is a children’s sand pit and climbing frame play area within the Livingstone Centre.

Graeme Walker wrote: “Jolly was the Manager in residence. There used to be a photo of the lodge on display in Shuttle Row with the tile “Jolly’s Lodge”. I seem to remember it showing a building with a prominent veranda… almost colonial in style. Thornhill Avenue and the Dandy are the remnants of the entrance drive (the mill manager had their own entrance to the village away from the locked gates).”

Source: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

~~~

Site Designed & Maintained by:
“In Pursuit of Excellence”

Copyright © Symbol Internet Marketing 2003 – 2023