Church Street
Church Street
Another bite sized chunk of Blantyre History
When we Travel west from Murray’s Raw’s on Glasgow Road,
the next block was taken up by the Stonefield Church and the Church Manse, they were built in the 1880’s and of course the Street running off from Glasgow Road was called Church Street.
One of the features of the Church was its steeple, and tower, housing a large bell, which when rung could be heard throughout most of Blantyre. Another feature was the large size masonry stone wall with black iron railings with various gate openings at front and side, the front gates being the most impressive. The church burned down in 1979. |
All of these iron railings and all iron railings without exception in the whole of Blantyre, and anything else with iron in it’s content was cut down, early 1940’s, and used in the war effort. This was very necessary at the time but not a pleasant sight to see after it was done, there was a nakedness throughout the whole village and for many many years after the war ended and even up to the present day most of the iron work has never has been replaced. Most of the Population of Blantyre today have no memory of this event and accepts it as is, but these iron railings throughout Blantyre lent a slight Victorian tinge of privacy to the various buildings and surroundings. If you are walking through Blantyre and are passing a wall take a look and you will most likely see small pieces of iron embedded in the masonry. You can also see a fair amount of the iron railings in the pictures in the ‘OLD BLANTYRE’ book.
Church Street was a fairly upscale area to live in. Most if not all of the homes were of a large masonry stone just like the church, they were a bungalow type home with all the latest conveniences. A small Street with roughly 6 homes east side and 10 on the west side. Situated three quarters of the way down on the west side there was a small wooded area which ran from Church Street through to the next street west called Logan Street, this small wooded area was called St John’s wood, why I do not know? In all my years living there I had maybe heard it called by this name a couple of times at the most, and yet the name has stuck in my memory. There is a story to be told on this little wooded area which I will cover when we move on to the Logan Street Saga.
Church Street ended into a pasture for cows at it’s top end, unlike most of the other streets running south which so far have all finished up in Auchinraith Road.
Your Comments:
Sheena Thomson: I was married in this church in 1969.
Jane Paterson: Our friends were married there also x
Sandra Goodall: It was a beautiful church such a shame about the fire. I went to Stonefield and St Andrews and a church is about the people so its still a beautiful church.
Helen Henderson Mclaughlin: I was married there a few months before the fire and it was beautiful inside and out.
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Continuing the conversation between Thomas Dunsmuir Hartman in Chicago, formerly Logan Street, (known as TDH or Drapadew) and Margaret in Queensland Australia on TalkingScot.
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