Maddiston Old School is under threat from the developers.
Falkirk Council want to sell the building and the land to the highest bidder.
The school deserves a better fate than that, it has served our community for more than One Hundred Years.
Please sign this petition and make your voice heard.
If you'd like to visit my new site about Westquarter click HERE
If you imagine walking through the villages and keeping to the right then this is how this page works, starting at Cairneymount Church and ending at Weirwood.
Clicking on the Highlighted word will take you to a picture of the area, most of the links are there and I'll add more as time passes or if I see something obvious.
If you notice something that could do with more explanation please don't hesitate to get in touch at dl011g3179@blueyonder.co.uk and I'll do what I can.
£2000 and a parcel of land (part of which was occupied by a small row of houses called Cairneymount) was bequeathed to the Heritors of Muiravonside Parish by John G Urquart of Vellore in 1902, for the building of a church on the hill above Maddiston. Mr. Urquart felt that Muiravonside Kirk was too far for the people of Maddiston to travel; the church was finished in 1904.
The architect was Mr. J.D. Strang of
A memorial stone was laid by the Rev. John Mc Murtie D.D, Moderator of the General Assembly and in the cavity behind the stone were placed; some coins of the realm, a record of the bequest and the building of the church, copies of the Scotsman, Falkirk Herald, Peoples Journal and the Magazine Life and Work for July 1904.
Cairneymount was a busy church in the thirties, the evening service was held here every Sunday at six o'clock, the people being called to worship by the bell rung by Jim Bryce.
The Sunday school was held here between three and four o'clock.
On the day before the school holidays the children came up the hill for the school service.
In 1973 the church was much altered and became a church hall as well as a church, in 1980 a small hall and toilets were added at the back.
The next building encountered as we walk down from the church (while we keep looking to the right) is:
Owner, James Wilson, Teacher, Jesmond-Dene, Polmont.
Southhouse was a small one-storey building, the shop was an even lower addition built on to the north end and like most shops in the village seemed to sell everything and smell of everything sold. Mrs. Donaldson ran the shop here until it was taken over by the Hogan family.
The house was used as store for the shop for a while then the shop closed and they both fell into disrepair and were eventually demolished.
Although this house was the residence of Agnes Donaldson it is probably best remembered as the residence of James (Cocker) Wilson, Mr. Wilson was the headmaster of Maddiston School, he was a small man with half moon glasses a strict, but fair, teacher.
Southhouse has now gone and new houses have been built in what was the back yard of the house.
William McLachen owned this house, he was a goods guard on the railway, a quiet man who had the reputation of having two "speeds", dead slow and stop!
The house was subdivided and William's brother John lived there with his wife Ann and son Peter.
Similar in style to Southhouse, Hollybush, though, still survives quite close to its original condition and is back to a single dwelling house.
Jessie and Isabel Eccles lived here, Jessie was a nurse and Isabel was the Assistant Registrar.
The Registrars office was in one of the front rooms of the house.
Everyone remembers Jessie and Isabel as two quiet gentle ladies, who had a good word for everyone.
Enterkine is still standing, though it has a new name.
Hawthorn looks much like it always must have looked, the house has been much extended at the back.
Russet Cottage had four rooms; at one time they were all single ends occupied by different families, McDermott, Sharps (then Carsons) Robertson to came to mind.
At this time the
The house had outside toilets.
He was the first man in the village to own a motorcar (registration No's M S 1 & M S 2), many in the group remember how he would only drive along to the shop at the corner of the High Road, turn around and go back to Toravon again, he did have a chauffeur (Mark Chun) to do the driving though.
In the winter when the children were sledging down the hill (where
Toravon house has long gone; demolished after a fire ruined the interior and the roof, a new Toravon has been built (not on the site of the original). A new scheme of houses is now built in Toravon Woods (which at one time was laid out in paths for walking round with ornamental ponds and bridges).
A half cottage; James Thom the District Councillor for Muiravonside East lived in Janefield with his wife, Anne along with children Ginty and Nancy
Mrs. Turner lived in Ochiltree, a half cottage originally called Carden.
Again this cottage still stands, not much altered from its original appearance.
Luckily the High Road has escaped the wholesale demolition of the centre of the village, the houses have changed, but most of the alterations have been kept to the back and it remains much as it must have when it was first built.
Tam Cunningham with his daughter Madge and John Wilson lived next to each other in this semi-detached cottage; they were small one storey, room and kitchens.
There is also a two-storey block called South Brae.
Thomas Nimmo lived in the bottom half; Thomas kept a parrot, which was quite a talker but could also bite the unwary visitor.
Upstairs lived John Chisolm, his wife and family, John was the son of Colin Chisolm, the village blacksmith, and a blacksmith himself along with his father in the village smiddy. He was also the agent for B.S.A. bicycles for which you paid 2/6d down and 1/- a week, the bikes cost £2 10/-.
The upstairs house was accessed by a stair at the back, both houses were three apartments with sculleries and the upstairs house at least seemed to have quite small rooms for the size of the house.
All of South Brae has remained till to day although much modernized. Leaving behind South Brae we have to walk a little way down the narrow dyke lined road to the area roughly opposite the bus stance (about a hundred yards or so on) the next row of houses are called;
Owner, M Anderson.
Turning right, down ‘The Close’ the next house was not actually part of the row but a completely separate four-roomed cottage:
The Johnstone family lived here, Peter, Elizabeth and nieces Margaret and Jean. Both girls became teachers then Jean entered the Ministry and Margaret became a Matron in
This house also had an outside toilet and washhouse.
The next house was almost opposite Johnstones cottage:
This building was built of metal sheeting; hence it's name and was lived in by Mr. Toye.
The second house in the tin hoose was empty at this time.
The Tin Hoose consisted of two rooms and kitchens with ranges and sinks in the kitchen, it became the Old Folks Hall after the Welfare Hall was sold to Smiths.
Mrs. Ferguson’s (Bonnie Annie) ran a wee shop down here in the close; it was a general grocer but had none of the trimmings of the proper shops (not even a sign outside to say it was a shop.)
Bert and Adam her twin sons lived here too.
Bob Jamieson had his shop here till it burnt down and he then moved over to Andersons Buildings (Johnstone’s cottage).
Someone also came round the villages with a pedal operated knife sharpener, but who he was or where he came from no one seems to remember.
Among the people travelling round the area there was those whose life was given over to entertaining the public like the Hairy Man (who seemed to 'entertain' by just being hairy!), various singers and dancers and a troupe of acrobats (a mother, father and daughter) who travelled in a horse drawn gypsy caravan and did, among other things, a high wire act. The name locally for this sort of act seems to have been the 'Penny Geggie' (although in Maddiston this name seems to have been transferred to the local cinema (in Brightons), or at least a show there).
The Rag and Bone man was Macalpine who came from Slamannan and gave cups, saucers, pegs and balloons etc in exchange for rags and scrap.
Turning back along the
Most of this building (Salferall is a contraction of "Salvation for all") was taken up by the Salvation Army Hall
John was a miner at Redding Colliery and was a keen canary breeder.
The other half of
On the corner of the
Hunters shop was in an extension built on the end of Mafeking Cottage , this was another of the shops that seemed to sell everything. Jenny and Jemmima Hunter ran the shop, Mr. & Mrs. Hunter built this row at the time in the Boer war and Mrs Hunter deemed this a suitable name for the row in celebration of the relief of
John Hunter and his wife Helen lived here, all the men in the family were bus drivers, Mr Hunter has a small business of his own at one time but he was either forced off the road to increased competition, or he was bought out by one of the larger companies emerging at this time.
Tenants;
An internal stone stairway lead to two houses upstairs comprising two rooms, kitchen and scullery, once again with outside toilets and wash houses.
Paraffin lamps lighted the houses until electricity was brought in; cooking was done on a range in the living room.
The range could be very elaborate with lots of brightwork (brightwork was polished steel) and brass and took a full morning to clean (usually a Friday) with "ZEBO" black lead and a burnisher, emery paper or just ashes and water mixed together, for the brightwork.
On the mantlepiece lay a great array of brass ornaments, boots, candlesticks, tea caddy, biscuit barrel and of course the wally dugs, just under the mantlepiece there was a brass rod (or a length of string) to hang the pit claes from for drying or just to hang a dish towel from.
Owner Donald Forsyth,
George Robertson, Miner. Wife, Anne. Children, Mima, George, James, Andy, Annie, Bobby and Gordon.
James Forsyth, Dock Labourer. Wife, Annie Lees (Mitchell).
James was a checker at Grangemouth Docks and died in an accident there.
Originally came from Standrigg.
The two upstairs houses in South Rosemount were accessed by a stone stairway on each gable end of the building, each were room and kitchens.
Our journey continues, turning right, down The
Smiths first garage was corrugated steel sheeting structure, built over the entrance to the "Haugh" and was only big enough to hold one lorry but it was later expanded to hold two, it’s hard to believe that the whole Smith empire started here when James and Alexander persuaded their father to enter coal haulage and purchased a second hand lorry. Father and sons worked the lorry continuously, in shifts, until they were able to purchase another two used vehicles. Soon a contract was won with a foundry in Falkirk to deliver gas cookers to
Think of the Brethern in Maddiston and one name springs to mind, James Black. Jimmy, who hailed from Airdrie, came to Maddiston to work at Manualrigg Coillery as an office boy then became a miner there until its closure in the nineteen twenties, he then became the Absentee Officer for Muiravonside School Board.
Jimmy preached the gospel for so many years in the hall down the
Davie Anderson was the Sunday school superintendent.
Meetings were also held throughout the villages, many remember the men in black suits, bowler hats and umbrellas (Gods work won't wait for the sun to shine).
Variously known as the Rechabites Hall, or the Church Hall; among other functions held here were the Child Welfare Clinic, the Buroo, Film and Magic Lantern shows (first Tuesday of the month, cost 1d), dances,the Maddiston Players used it as a theatre, in fact it held the position of Village Hall.
Owner, Isabella Paterson or Wilson.
The cottage still stands to day and outwardly at least still looks much as it always has, the three-room configuration still remains, as all the modernization has been kept to the rear of the building.
Owners Partick and Anthony Hainey, Miners, Pond View Cottage Rumford.
The Tenants in Gladstone were;
John Inglis, his wife Bessie and children, Bessie, Cathy and Ruby were the occupants of the first end of the cottage. Jock was a labourer. It was Jock who always gave the Bowling Green its first cut of the year (with a scythe.)
James Sharp, Wife - children, Etta, Ella, Jessie, Jock, Robert, Billy, Tom and Jim.
Mr. Sharp was a bit of a card and always a sharp dresser.
Mr. and Mrs. Crawford and family, Peter, Norma and Cathy. Peter was a quiet man who worked at the Pithead at Craigend before its closure.
He was a great motorbike man and had a Sunbeam with a sidecar.
At the back of the house he had a Gazebo, which came originally from Haining (Parkhall) House.
John kept hens in the area behind Chrisella Terrace.
The houses were room and kitchens; they had gas and running water with outside toilets and washhouses.
Down the "
Owner, William Murray, Market Gardener.
Patrick Bradley, his wife and family,
Patrick was a market gardener.
"The main business was tomato growing dutch bulbs, strawberries and cauliflowers.
The worlds top flower show held annually at
Bulbs were brought from
Strawberries were grown in the first field in Vellore Road, and any rascal caught stealing them was usually escorted to the packing shed where, under the watchful eye of two bulldogs under the bench, Mr.
I cannot recall my father ever having a holiday in the summer, except for the weeks he visited
Around the same time Jenny Calaghan worked here, she remembers;
"I worked for the Falkirk Laundry until I was 16 then I was paid off as National Insurance had to be paid after that age.
I started work for Wullie Murray when I was aged 17; we started at six in the morning, had from eight till nine for breakfast then from one till two for dinner.
I was the only girl to work there for about five years then Jessie Muirhead started.
Most of the heavy work was done by the men, Mr.Murray used his horse for ploughing until it died, then a local farmer did it with a tractor.
We grew all the soft fruits, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants etc, flowers, bedding plants and bulbs.
The season started when the greenhouses (twelve of them) were steam sterilized and the seeds were sown. It continued with pricking out then hardening off in the cold frames.
When the tomatoes were finished we turned to chrysanths and we were busy every morning loading the lorry taking cabbages and cauliflowers to the market in
Mr. Murray also had a stall at the "hairy berry fair" at Wallacestone, which was a feeing fair held on the first Saturday in August (now only a shadow of its former self as all that is left is the Free colliers walk).
The fair was the highlight of the summer with "Shoogy Boats" and stalls selling all kinds of things (including gooseberries of course, the hairy berry).
Our next port of call Parkhall Farm which belonged to the Browns of
David Donald was the greive at Parkhall from 1937 to 1949 he remembers that;
"Parkhall farm consisted of 210 acres, mostly in grazing for 85 head of Aberdeen Angus, 24 Highland Cattle and 200
There was one (and at times two) ploughmen, one cattleman, an orraman and the greive working the farm, seasonal workers were taken on from the surrounding area as and when was necessary, at harvest time or turnip (neep) thinning or shawing.
The permanent workers were hired at the feeing fairs at
The season began in the month of February with the ploughing, work for the ploughman began at six in the morning when he fed then tackled the horses.
Ploughing began at seven with an hours break for dinner, but that included looking to the needs of the horses before even considering his own.
After ploughing the ground was harrowed and rolled before the seed could be sown.
All the wheat grown was sold, three-quarters of the barley grown was sold but all the turnips were kept on the farm as feed for the animals.
The hay was cut by a horse drawn mower and after a day or two of good weather it was turned, it was then lifted into tramp ricks then after another day or two of good weather they were lifted into the stack yard and made into stacks.
HARVEST,
Before the horse and binder could be brought into the field it had to be cut round with a scythe. The crop was stooked and left for about two weeks before being lifted into the stack yard and made into stacks, which were thatched to shed the rain.
The mill would come for about a week, it was hired from Rheinds of Stirling and came towed behind a traction engine with a caravan behind that for the operators. The mill needed about sixteen to seventeen hands to work it; it was driven by the traction engine. The corn was fed into the top and the grain came out of the bottom, the grain was loaded into one and a half to two hundredweight bags ready to be taken away. The separated straw was used as bedding and feeding.
Before the end of the year the folds, reids or cattlesheds were cleaned out, the contents spread on the fields and the cattle were bedded down for the winter. Calving and lambing started around the beginning or February and lasted till the end of March; it was a time to be ready to jump at any time of the day or night to attend to the animals. If a Mare was having a foal it was much harder on the person looking after her (usually the greive) as there was no warning and that person had to be with her almost constantly."
Owner, Adrian Brown Vellore
The ploughmen at this time were Mr. Moffat and Mr.
Parkhall House, now called Haining House, luckily the house has survived where many like it have disappeared.
John Livingstone of Parkhall
Parkhall separated from Haining in 1647 when John Livingstone, the younger son of John Livingstone of Haining, obtained a feu charter of the lands of Nicoltoun, Weitcheit, Hilsyde, Gilmeadowland and Pairthall, amounting to the 30 shilling lands of the £10 lands of Haining.
Alexander Livingstone of Parkhall
Alexander his son added the lands of Whiterigg, which he bought from George Livingstone of that place. Alexander was a Burgess of Edinburgh and held an Ensigns commission in the Stirlingshire Militia.
One of Alexanders daughters married Richard Burn of Clarkston (Polmont) and when her husband died that estate passed into the hands of the (Parkhall) Livingstone family.
Alexander Mitchell Livingstone
Another daughter married Alexander Mitchell of Craigend and all the estates were settled on their son and after her father’s death around 1720 she and her husband became tenants of Parkhall as guardians of their eldest son Alexander. The lands of Wester and Northern room of Maddiston (Craigend) came with them, Alexander succeeded to the estates on condition he changed his name to Livingstone.
William Livingstone (alias Mitchell)
succeeded his brother and he obtained a charter for the lands of Maddiston and Manualrigg.
William was succeeded in turn by his younger brother.
John Livingstone,
he held some office with the
Thomas Livingstone
Thomas was over six feet tall and said to have been the most handsome man in Stirlingshire, he died while otter hunting on the
Alexander Livingstone Learmonth
His nephew succeeded Thomas, on condition he changed his name to Livingstone.
John Livingstone Learmonth
Alexanders son succeeded to the lands when he was six, they were heavily in debt and his creditors forced the sale of them.
Parkhall, Rowantreeyards, Nicoltoun, Whitshot and Maddiston were bought by John Learmonth, an uncle of the late Alexander.
John Livingston
(John never adopted the final "e"), he added to the estate, he died at Parkhall aged 64 and was succeeded by his sister Collville.
Collville Adam Livingston Learmonth
she married a retired
(click for more information about his time in Australia) had married three times, he was a merchant in Edinburgh then a comptroller of customs at Grangemouth and later a merchant in Calcutta, subsequently he settled (as a merchant) in Hobart Town Tasmania, on his return to Scotland he entered into possession of Parkhall, where he died in 1869.
succeeded in 1869, he was married twice and had seven children.
The Parkhall Convention for the deepening of spiritual life was held here every September during this time; it was attended by thousands of people from all over the country.
Mr Livingstone's interest in the spiritual welfare of the people was shown in his involvment with the Brightons United Free Church and the Salvation Army.
Thomas died in 1903.
The estate was sold in 1921 thereby ending 274 years of the Livingstones involvement with Parkhall and this family's last connection with any estate in Stirlingshire.
On down the road and over the Minister's Brig takes you to Muiravonside Kirk .
Back up in the village, the first of the houses built by Stirling County Council are encountered, they are flats, four in a block, the first block which is of a slightly different design to the others, was the first to be built. Chrissella was called after councillor George Simpsons two daughters, Chris and Ella; they were built in the 1920's,
Those who are interested in the names of all the tenants and their families can find them HERE
Owners, City Life Assurance.
Situated on the corner of the Main Road and the Coal Road (Vellore Road) is the first of many wooden buildings common to all parts of the country, most of which were built by the army during the First World War then sold off afterwards as surplus to requirements.
Turning off the Coal Road to the right on to the Main Street, this part of the village was owned by various members of the Todd family, in fact it was so tied up with the Todd family that it became jokingly known as " Toad Hall".
All but one of the cottages remain to day and although modernized they still look much like they were fifty years ago.
Henry Todd, Hal was a salesman for "The Household" before he turned to hairdressing, he was a keen amateur dramatist being in the Falkirk Dramatic Society and the Maddiston Dramatic Society. His three daughters followed him into hairdressing.
Hal and family occupied the upstairs flat in Fairvue.
George's wife was a teacher at the local Primary School.
Harmony was a three apartment cottage with an inside toilet and bathroom and had electric lighting
Many local people served their time here as Joiners, French polishers, Cabinetmakers etc.
Burnside was undermined and the cottage broke its back and was demolished after the war.
Mr. & Mrs. Rae lived in Gowanlea, Tam was a carter, his son Tam worked in Maddiston store. Tam was a fanatical
Gowanlea is still there to-day, still two houses and a new house is built in the garden.
Tenants,
The tenants in this row of room and kitchens were,
Mr. & Mrs. McKinley owned and lived in this cottage beside the school George was a colliery washerman; Hillview had two rooms and a scullery with running water, and outside toilets.
This cottage survived much of its modernization to remain much as it always has to the passer by.
The next building is the school, which was established here in 1897 and hasn't changed that much since 1911 when the full front had been built and the village got one of its most handsome buildings.
Now the ventilators have gone from the roof, the windows have lost their small panes and the porches are being replaced, but it still remains perhaps the most imposing building the village has.
The building on the right is:
The building had the date 1911 on the front of it, the date of its erection.
There seemed to have been three levels in Clayton's Buildings, the basement which had been turned into a flat (though it was very basic and had no sanitation whatsoever and was in reality just a basement), it was split in two with a room on one side and the washhouses on the other.
The next level (ground level) had two rooms, a kitchen and bathroom.
In the ground beside Claytons Buildings sat the body of a bus and an old railway carriage, the former used by Geordie Bennie from Wallacestone (who lived in a cottage down behind what is now Breezes bar) as a cobblers and the latter used by Johnny Clayton as a General Store selling the usual goods including clothes.
Clayton's wuids, have gone now, they stretched down the back of the house to the Level. (
Ben Shackleton built the hut, which was, rather over ambitiously, called (on the sign over the door) Ben Shackletons Fish and Chip Restaurant. The original building was burnt down (when it was owned by a Mr McMann), Archie Murdoch rebuilt it, Archie installed the first cigarette machine in Maddiston, it sold Red Label cigarettes and a card of matches for a penny (0.416p). Archie sold the chip shop to Mrs Wilson who then sold it to Jean Turnbull, it didn't stay a fish and chip shop all its days and when it blew up (a Propane gas bottle exploded in a fire) in the 80's it was a General Grocer.
This was one of the few Council schemes in the village in the thirties, it contained 52 flats arranged four in a block. It was built to accommodate people who were displaced when their homes were demolished as slums: Blackbraes, Standrigg and
Pat Golden was the "I.L.P. “man" and when he wasn't orating from the orange box he carried around or holding meetings in the hall he was a shunter up at Craigend.
The hall was also used for weddings etc.
On the hill opposite Greenhithe Terrace roughly where the cottages are now, was:
Children, Agnes, Lizzie, Annie, Ned and Jock.
The Nicols had a contracting business run from a stable across the way, they had a horse, Rosie, the Rumford weans once painted stipes on it as they wanted a zebra!
One morning Lizzie went out to the stable and found the horse lying down and ran back shouting for Jock who said the horse was dead, "that's funny she said, it's never done that before".
When a hap went missing the police came looking and found one with the initials L.N.E.R. on Lizzie said "that's ours", the police asked her about the initials she said, " Lizzie Nicol East Rumford".
Jock, when doing a contract for Craigend pit, got stopped and when his cart was examined an anvil was found, when asked to explain, he said, " I must have shovelled it on with the coal".
George was a chauffeur with the Trench family who owned Parkhead.(The Health centre was located where Parkhead house was for a number of years before moving to St. Margaret's.)
Owners, Samuel & Hugh Pender.
This row of single ends had an addition built on it to serve as a shop, Mrs Shearer had the shop at Penders Buildings, it was another of the Jenny a' thing type of shop common everywhere at this time.
The shop was at one time a pig butchers not only did they sell in the shop but also they had a horse and cart going round the villages selling meat.
The house on the far end of the row hadn’t been long built, at this time. It was built during the depression by local masons who cut the stone in a local quarry and hauled it here themselves.
At one time this was a row of low thatched cottages then they were cleared to build the present row.
David Hardie, Blacksmith.
Campbell and Smiths house was separate from the row and over the burn; it was an ’ L’ shaped house with two rooms and a kitchen.
John was a quiet man.
Alexander was always the gentleman, if anyone was injured in the pit; it was he who took the cases to the tribunal.
Rumford Square was a mixture of room and kitchens and single ends, 18 to 20 houses without any facilities, one stand pipe to serve all the houses and 6 communal outside toilets of the most basic type and a midden for rubbish and ashes which were cleared out by Jimmy Ramage every Sunday and the contents eventually spread on the fields. The houses had fixed in beds, ranges for cooking and hot water and lighting was by paraffin lamps.
They were built by Nimmo the mine owners to house their workers at Manualrigg Mine but by this time late in the thirties the houses were unoccupied and beginning to become derelict.
Jimmy had a contract with the council to clean out the middens around Rumford. It was Jimmy who cut the
Although a contractor, Jimmy had a small dairy farm (Lathallan Dairy) and it was old Mrs Ramage who walked round the area selling the produce.
ST. ANTHONY'S, click here to go to The Roman Catholic Page
South Craigs Farm was a mixed farm, run by John Paterson: Children: Thelma, Nettie, Cathy and John.
The steading was 'L' shaped with the back of the 'L' facing the chapel and had much in common with Rumford Terrace, Manualrigg and Quarrellhead with low whitewashed walls and a mixture of slate and pan tiled roofs.
Much of the land around the steading was used as a caravan site for many years, houses have been built here now.
This area consisted of a double storey block (similar in style to Rosemount or Galloways building) where the nurse’s house is now and a row of houses on the other side of the road (but nearer the corner of the road where it turns down to Sunnyside), which was identical to the The Smiddy, South Craigs or Rumford Terrace with whitewashed walls and a pan tiled roofs.
The next cottage sat up a lane behind and sort of between Ogstons and the next one and like Ogstons cottage this one has now gone as well.
Alexander Swinton, Labourer. Son, Andrew.
Peter Baird built the next cottage around 1860-70, the sheer extravagance of the stonework is unequalled anywhere in the two villages and quite why this is so is not recorded (except for the fact the the Bairds were stonemasons)
Mrs. Shearer occupied one half of the Cottage; Mrs Baird occupied the other half of the cottage.
In South Craigs there were, Mrs Baird who had a newsagents business in the shed behind her house and Forrester who had a Newsagent/Tobacconist shop in the house though which house he/she occupied is a bit unclear.
The cottage still looks to day much as it was when it was first built but it is now one house.
John Donaldson, one of the workshop members who worked in the undertaking business remembered how when someone died you went to the undertaker who came and measured the body then went to make the coffin. Next day the coffining or chesting was held when the body was placed in the coffin and a service was held then the coffin was placed in the best room.
This cottage consisted of three room and kitchens, occupied by the Riley, Clark and Shearer families.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Baird lived in Marne Cottage, which had two front rooms and a kitchen, this house had gas.
This is the house with the head carved on the side of it, which is in fact a representation of the house's owner and builder Peter Baird.
Owner Elizabeth Pender.
They had two children, Molly and Robert.
Many in the group remembered Penders busses, he ran services to
The bus service here as in the surrounding area was run by Alexander, the fare to Falkirk was 6d (2.5p) return or 4d (1.664p) each way; the fare to Edinburgh (from Falkirk) was 2/6 (a half crown or 12.5p).
The cottage still stands, not much altered externally, but the three single ends have gone.
Turning right once again the next street of houses were miner’s rows built facing each other across the street, they belonged to Carron Company and the tenants mostly all worked for the above company.
On the opposite corner from where we are (the corner of Carron Terrace and
This shop was owned and run by Jessie Laing who lived next door to the shop, this shop was a big general grocer, later to become part of the Redding Co-operative chain.
Jessie organized bus trips every year for the local folk, usually ending up somewhere along the
Lorraine Place still stands and hasn’t really changed that much
The next row of bungalow style houses were built by
Tenants,
These houses were owned by the Allison family from North Craigs, built by a Mr. Walker, and originally called
The buildings were designed with one house at the front and one at the back, room and kitchens with inside toilets.
The houses were identical in appearance to Mountjoy and
1a, Alexander Gray, Miner. Wife, Anne McNee. Children, Nancy, Belle, John and Anne.
Alexander was a bookie's runner.
Tam (The Rabbit) was a handyman who used to do all sorts of jobs.
"Tango Tam" was a great dancing man; he used to do the "Belgian Burl".
Tam was a singer with a concert party.
This cottage (opposite Comely Park) was owned and lived in by the Hainey family; it had two front rooms and a kitchen. The cottage still remains though the (curling) pond in the name is long gone, as is the quoiting green which replaced it (the fact that it's called Pond View Cottage surely means it was built before Comely Park obscured the view to the pond?).
The present chapel is now on the site of the pond, curling stones found while digging the foundations are displayed at the chapel door.
John Ogston owned Chrichton Place, a row of room, kitchen and sculleries with inside toilets. Cooking was done on a range in the kitchen and there was gas lighting.
Mr. Frazer was a jeweller and watchmaker and many of the group remembered when this was a jewellers shop.
Rev. Thomas McCann was the priest at this time, he wasn't the most popular of priests but that could be explained by him taking over from Father McGarvie who was popular with everyone no matter what religion.
Burnside Cottage is now one house and has changed quite a bit (externally and internally) since the thirties
Elizabeth Sharp, the owner, lived in one side of this cottage.
Tenant,
The next cottage, Haugh sits a little further up the road past Burnside:
The Kelly family lived in one side of this cottage; Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie lived in the other.
This was another of the older cottages in the area with low pan tiled roofs and whitewashed walls and would have been either but and bens like the smiddy house or just single ends.
Those interested will find a list of the tenants HERE
It was at No. 1 Bellvue that the first public telephone was installed; just inside the front door (which was never locked) a blue sign on the wall advertised the fact that a telephone was here. No slimline phones, no direct dialling, the phone was a heavy black bakalite thing with no dial, dialing was done by the operator, button A was pressed to get through, button B was pressed to get your money back.
There was a General Grocer here, which originally belonged to Jim Hunter then to Thomson then to Mary Auld who was responsible for the present shop built next to Greenwells Terrace. As with many local shopkeepers Mr Auld was a miner who was injured in the pit and the compensation set him up in business.
At this time there was a bike of some sort (many bikes were made up from bits and pieces of other older ones) in almost every household. The most popular was an upright 28-inch frame with rod brakes B.S.A., Rudge, Whitworth, Dawes makes which cost around £2. 10/- (£2.50). Although it has to be said that the occasional frame and two pram wheels (no brakes just a boot stuck between the wheel and the front forks) had been known to run around the villages steered no doubt by the less faint hearted local laddies.
The houses have undergone much modernization, again most of it has been to the interiors and the outward appearance of the houses hasn't really altered that much.
There was another wooden building (which was yet another Fish and Chip shop) here between Greenwells Terrace and The Blocks; Andra Miller was the owner in the thirties, the chips were fried in big open cast iron pans built into a brick range. Andra also sold Waltons Ice cream.
Now much altered and renamed Ailsa, Rainhill and Nicolton Courts these next houses were called after the famous Carron Company who owned them;
"The Blocks" were built around 1910, there were forty room and kitchens arranged 16 in a block, and eight three room and kitchen houses in what became known as the "Old Blocks".
The " Old Blocks" had front and back doors (downstairs) the front door led into a lobby where pails, brushes and etc., could be kept, a door from here led into a bedroom with a window looking out onto the
The W\C was off the scullery.
A double staircase at the back leading to a landing serving two houses accessed the upstairs houses. The upstairs houses were of the same design except for the last block, which only had one bed recess in the kitchen, and there was a set of stairs to the attic rooms (when this last block was built it was meant to be for the white collar workers).
The block No's 112 to 120 were knocked down in the early 1960's (61-62) when the blocks were renovated by Stirling County Council, sadly this renovation went badly wrong for most of the houses and even after trying to upgrade the heating systems the houses stayed very difficult to heat properly.
Thirty years later the first block (No's 65 to 80) would go the same way during yet another renovation scheme, this time the old blocks were sold off by Falkirk District Council to a private developer thereby giving them enough money to renovate the new blocks ( the only houses that retained the name Millbank Terrace, the only reason for renaming The Blocks seems to have been the end of their association with Carron Company and the fact that when the were renovated a Labour administration was in power and decided to call them after the Labour party HQ - there weren't any Mills in the area that I know of anyway!!).
This next row was roughly in the area occupied by Blackmount Terrace now:
Carron Company owned the houses.
Rainhill consisted of a row of four cottages and in common with many of the houses on the border of the village they had no running water, electricity or gas.
They were built on the slope of the hill and a set of steps led down from the living rooms to the scullery with the coal cellar under the scullery.
Toilets were of the outside "cludgy" type, which were emptied into pits dug at the bottom of the gardens.
Donald Cameron, Labourer. Wife. Children, Wullie, Greta and Peggy.
This cottage is listed along with Rainhill but was actually seperate from that block, being on the other side of the road (track) leading down to the old brickworks and Bellvue.
Tenant(?)
Archibald Lambie, miner. Wife - children John.
It was said that the Lambie family looked after the woods called after them (don't know if they actually owned them though.)
Walking back down the High Road (
Ebeneezer place has gone, the name has gone and there is a new block of houses here called Seaview.
John kept hens and sold eggs, their son John was killed in an accident on his bike going down the Salmon Inn Brae when his brakes failed.
Jimmy "made contact with the beyond" by placing his hands on the table and rocking it to frighten the weans.
Children, Peter, Jimmy, Irene and May.
Jimmy played the pipes with Craigend Pipe Band; he was another "coamytee" person, when he was a laddie he immigrated to
Eelan Pender had a sweetie shop in Ebeneezer Place which probably took over from the one Mrs Robertson had opposite here in City Hill, it was always open when the weans got out of the school, the shop was originally in the house but moved out to a hut later on.
Craigend Miners Welfare's clubhouse was opened by Mr. Pate OBE the manager of Carron Works in June 1925.
It had 12 acres of ground attached for sporting activities, which included a nine hole golf course, football pitches, bowling greens and tennis courts.
Situated in the middle of the village it was a substantial brick built building, which included a hall with accommodation for 250. It cost £3700, of that £2000 was given by the Lanarkshire Miners Welfare Association, the rest was contributed by the miners themselves.
The welfare was lost to the village when Smiths bought it as office space, the committee asked the people to contribute towards its upkeep (a penny a week) but they refused and the committee went ahead with the sale.
This was another of Carron Company's many properties in the area which would have in many cases, been inherited when they took over the collieries.
Manuelrigg was in an advanced state of decay at this time, indeed some of the houses were deemed uninhabitable.
Manuelrigg was at one time a farm steading and had many characteristics in common with the older agricultural buildings throughout
James only had one leg the other was a peg leg.
One day he lay down on a field and kidded on he was shooting down a passing aeroplane with his crutch, he got the fright of his life when the aeroplane swooped down as if to shoot him!
4, Uninhabitable.
Manuelrigg Colliery closed in 1922 and great excitement was caused in the village by the demolition of the pit chimneys.
The quarry here (behind the Fire Brigade Headquarters) seems to have been started here around 1800 by the Livingstone Learmonths of Parkhall who owned this area.
The Brickworks started around 1880 by a Mr. Dick and used the material from the top of the quarry (ganister); in 1896 the boiler at the brickworks exploded killing two men.
In 1897 the brick works became a limited company and had new machinery and Hoffman kilns installed.
The Haulage Contractor was of course Smiths, still at this time a fledgling enterprise installed over in the
It was in 1946 that Smith began constructing their headquarters here, having just taken over two other haulage companies, Smith of Avonbridge and Keir of Camelon, and adding another eight vehicles to their fleet. The opening of the British Aluminium Company’s new rolling mills at
By 1953 there was accommodation for 28 vehicles with a repair shop, traffic office, loading bays and storage space, the whole covering 15,000 square feet, and an adjoining two and a half-acre site had been acquired for further expansion. In the same year the company purchase the coach building firm of Campbell Bros. Whitburn and there they began building vehicle bodies to their own design. So much traffic was going to
In June 1954, the business was converted to a limited liability company and was registered as:
J. & A. Smith of Maddiston Ltd, with a capital of 40,000 pounds. In October of the same year the old Welfare building was purchased and converted into an administration block with a large boardroom, waiting room, general office, wages department, typists’ pool room, managers office and telephone exchange. The office staff amounted to 18 at this time with an additional 10 employed in the traffic office, which was retained within the garage building, it was around this time that the maintenance shops were built, which allowed for complete servicing and overhaul of the vehicles at Maddiston. The fleet was comprised mainly of Leyland and A.E.C multi wheelers with some Albions,
This bungalow on the
The "Sergeant's House".which, although never its official name, was the name that stuck:
The sergeant at this time was Alex Taylor; he lived here with his wife Jane and children, Jane, Jim and Isobel.
The Abercrombie family, from
Abercrombie Cottages were room and kitchens, with running water, toilets but with no baths and gas lighting.
Suvla Cottage consisted of two rooms at the front of the house and an extension on the back where the kitchen was. Mrs Robertson was a teacher at the local school.
There was running water a toilet but no bath, lighting and cooking was by gas.
John kept and trained jumping ponies in the ground behind the house.
As well as his horse and cart he had a lorry, he sold coal all around the area.
Situated on the road into
This street was originally called
Going in the front door, the door to the left was the coal cellar, the door to the right, the bathroom. The next door to the right was the kitchen which had two sinks, one shallow and one deep with metal plates between for holding a wringer. The taps were brass, the sinks enamelled with wooden draining board for covering them when they weren't in use. A coal fired boiler provided hot water.
The living room had a big black range where the cooking was done; there was a press on the right of it. There was also electric lighting and the odd power point.
The door, to the right, led directly into the living room where there was a big range for cooking. From the living room a lobby led to a small room and the bedroom beyond.
The washhouse was outside against the pub wall.
In the downstairs house, Duncan McNiven, Blacksmith's Hammer-man. Wife, Mary Sneddon. Children, Mary and Lucy, grandchildren, Ian and
The front door was in the centre of the house facing the
Originally a Coaching Inn, this
On entering the
The other door led to the snug or jug, which was a small room with a bole where one could buy a cairry oot.
The beer was Aitkens and the most popular drink was a pint and a wee dump, closing time was at 9pm.
There was two rings outside the door for tying up horses a not uncommon sight in the thirties and regularly used by the butcher on his round (in fact many folk knew when to go to the butcher, as after he'd been in the pub a wee while the measures got more generous).
This handsome building was built in 1889 when much of the centre of the village was rebuilt.
The Jack and Hunter families live in two flats above the shop; the head of both families were employed by the Cooperative society.
The Store was the biggest and most important shop in the village, there were two departments to the store, the Grocery Dept. and the Drapery Dept. The Grocery was managed by Harry Struthers, a very efficient man from Pannie (now the Whitesideloan area of Brightons).
Easton McFarlane was the cashier and Cornelious (Corny) Bryce worked at the counter.
All the dry goods came in bulk and were weighed out into thick brown paper bags of all sizes.
Butter and cheese came in barrels and was unpacked in the back shop then brought through and measured out to the customer’s requirements.
If a customer wanted a ham end for soup their name was put on a list and when that name came up, that was the day they made soup.
Many of the old measures such as chappins pecks and fourpit were still in general usage in the thirties.
The first thing to notice on entering was the sawdust on the floor and the counters arranged all round in the shape of a horseshoe. On the left was a row of benches where the customers waited until their turn came up under the wag at wa' clock.
After the 'getting the messages' customers went to the cashiers office and paid on a white line (for 'tick') or a yellow line (for cash), either way the cashier gave the customer a 'flimsy' (a small yellow or white piece of paper) with the customers number and the amount spent on it.
The weans were sent to the Store for all manner of things and the School Board minute book is scattered with references to children being kept off school to be sent to the Store (especially during times of shortage) to wait in the queue (sometimes for a full morning) for whatever had come in.
A jeely jar could be exchanged at the Store for sweeties but most jeely jars were kept at home by mothers making their own jeeely or jam (a 1lb jar was worth a ha’penny (0.288p) a 2lb jar was worth one penny (0.416p).
Jean McFarlane and Mrs Gilroy ran the Drapery; here one could buy clothes for all the family’s needs, from head to toe and from the cradle to the grave. (And the Co-op would see you were properly put in that grave too!)
Not only could clothes be bought but furniture, ornaments curtains and if they didn't have it in stock (as with some larger items) they'd order it for you.
There was a mutuality club, which allowed the customer to get goods and pay it up through the weeks.
The Store had to cater for all needs and if a miner needed a new pick or shovel it was the store that supplied them (shovels came in sizes one to twelve, 10 was the coalmans shovel 12 the carters), carbide for the lamps (pit ile before that) the lamps themselves, pit buits, tackety or sparable, pee-weeps (pit vests), moleskins, the list goes on and the Store supplied them all.
As well as the shops the Co-op had a fleet of vans (horse drawn and motor) going around the district selling direct to the public, Abe Addison was the Co-op baker (inasmuch as he drove the van that is) and Hughie Lumsden was the butcher.
The 'store' also supplied a service for the local radio listening fraternity, as it was here they brought their accumulators (this was a sort of telephone box shaped battery around 9 inches tall and 4 inches square) to be recharged. (There was also a boy on a tricycle who came round the villages and picked up / delivered the accumulators, the company providing this service was based in Reddingmuirhead).
The Redding Cooperative Society was taken over by the
As well as the Co-op butcher and baker who came around in vans there was also Myles (Hughie Callaghan drove this one) and Dalgleish the butcher.
Smart the baker gave away Black and White Stamps to the customers (Spend 4d (1.664p) to get one stamp) who then saved them up much the same as petrol or cigarette coupons to-day.
Other carts going round the houses sold lemonade, Barrs, and
A more locally produced and better drink also came round the doors too, soor dook, John Binnie (from Wallacestone) came round every Saturday in his Soor Dook cairt. Many also remember Wuidy Tyler (although he did get the rather disparaging title Watery Wullie) coming round as well.
Croft Cottages ran from the Co-op to the Smiddy in the area now occupied by the shop:
Croft Cottages was extensively subdivided with flats upstairs, downstairs, back and front.
One of the upstairs flats was described as having a living room and two bedrooms, it had gas lighting and cooking was done on a range in the living room.
Although there was a toilet indoors there was no bath. It had an outside washhouse.
A description of one of the downstairs houses; It was a three apartment house (kitchen, parlour and bedroom), it had two fixed in beds in the kitchen and gas lighting.
The downstairs houses were room and kitchens, all had outside toilets.
James Bryce's house was described as being aligned the same way as the Smiddy (the front looking down on the back of the Smiddy and the
James, Allan and John Bryce owned Whitevale.
Tenants:
A set of steps led to the main door at the far end of the building (farthest away from the
There was a small scullery off the living room to the rear and up a small step. Cooking was done on a range in the living room and there was gas lighting. The house also had a flush toilet.
Many in the group remember when Bella ran the local Post Office from her house. As well as the usual services provided at the Post Office Bella's was also the call house for Dr Reid (who came from Standburn) this was the Dr's first port of call in the village to collect the names and addresses of those who he had to visit.
The Smiddy was situated over the burn from the bus stance on the
The Smiddy was another one storey building, half of which was the smiddy and the other half was the dwelling house.
Colin Chisholm was the blacksmith and although his work was mainly agricultural, work repairing motorbikes was beginning to creep in as their popularity increased.
(Some of the motorbike makes remembered were; B.S.A., Ariel, Rudge, Matchless, Harley Davidson, Triumph, Sunbeam, Exelsier (Two Stroke), Royal Enfield, New Imperial, Coventry, Eagle, Levis, Velocet (Water Cooled) and A.J.S.).
The cost of shoeing a horse was 17/- (85p) in the summer and 18/- (90p) in the winter, the extra cost was for studs to keep the horse from slipping on the frozen ground.
A set of shoes hanging in the rafters was kept for each customer.
The smiddy was always a favorite place for the weans of the village and if a horse was there for shoeing the weans weren't far behind.
This was (at least) the second smiddy in the village, the other was situated across from
The Smiddy House was a "but and ben", which means it had one good room and one room in general usage. The "But" was a small single room with an earthen floor and a range for cooking, the "Ben" had a wooden floor the good chairs and the chiffonier would have been in here this room was kept good for special occasions such as weddings and funerals.
This area (95-97) had all but disappeared by the time the new road came through in the 60’s.
This row of three cottages up the
Owner James Jardine
As the name suggests this next building sat at the top of a hill, the rising ground behind
Tenants:
Owner Carron Company
No description except it was a five apartment cottage
Behind the Manager's house this little row seems to have been agricultural workers houses until Carron Company acquired them.
Owner Carron Company.
Owner Carron Company
Tenants,
Craigend Estate belonged to the Mitchell family, the family changed the name of the estate to Mitchell in 1752. This family inherited Parkhall in the 1720's and the estates stayed together until 1820 when John Learmonth Livingstone's creditors forced the sale of all the estates.
Thomas Mitchell Livingstone one of Australia's early explorers was born at Craigend, the story of his career can be accessed here.
John’s uncle, William Learmonth Mackenzie, bought Craigend, almost certainly Mr. Mackenzie realized the potential wealth "under his feet" and started mining here, and it certainly had begun by 1840.
Mining slowly encroached on the mansion house of Craigend and eventually must have led to the departure of the Mackenzies.
United Collieries were the next owners of Craigend and they in turn sold it to Carron Company and it was they who developed it into the massive operation it came to be. In the thirties Craigend pit and mine were producing 1200 tons of coal a day until its closure in October 1935.
This area seems to have been the turning point for the busses for as long as busses came to Maddiston, from Hunter's busses to Pender's busses (who started the Maddiston / Grangemouth service which ran for so many years with Alexander's then First Bus), The General, Alexanders's now First Bus.
The next area of the village lay along a track roughly where
A standpipe in the street provided water.
This was one of the cottages mentioned above, there was also a smallholding here of four and a half acres, Hood's Cotage was a very basic building, single storey rough stone walls and pan-tiled and for some reason there didn't seem to be any ceilings, the house was open to the rafters.
Hood's was the first cottage in this area, it was joined to Quarrelhead Farmhouse, the front of both houses faced down the village.
The majority of the buildings consisting this farm were of the style of the older farm steadings, pantiled and whitewashed sitting astride a track, but the Farm House itself was a fine two storey tiled house.
A stone above the fireplace bore the legend "Thomas Baird 1761".
In the 1930's Quarrellhead was owned by the Baird family (strangely enough nothing to do with the original family of Bairds who presumably built this place, they bought the farm in 1926), Alec the son of that family described it like this;
" We had fourteen acres then bought a field from Parkhall then another three and a half acres from
There was a byre for five kye who all knew their stalls (when one was sold and later bought back and brought home, it walked straight back into its original stall). We had thirteen milk kye, two pigs, one hundred hens some ducks and a horse.
I took over the milk round from my father when I was sixteen. Mother was up and had the kye milked around six, the milk round began around eight, it went all round Maddiston and ended up in Rumford.
The milk cost 2d a pint and was carried on a cart in two eight gallon churns, the women could buy half pints, pints or more, they came out with cans to get them filled, I also sold eggs and butter on the round.
The steading was a continuation of the row of houses, the byre came first then the house, which had a set of double stairs at the front, the barn was next then there was a shed. On the opposite side of the road was the cart shed and stable, another barn and finally another shed.
Ploughing was done by contract with another farmer but most of the land was dug with a spade by my mother who was the farmer, my father was a miner and bought the farm because he didn't want his son to follow him down the pits."
The land was worked till around 1951 when the ground was bought to build the
The house had three rooms on each of its two floors; the living room had a big stone fireplace with a brass surround and a range where the cooking was done. There was also a scullery with a flagstone floor and big double sinks.
Our walk through the villages of Maddiston and Rumford finishes at Weirwood, the house was situated directly opposite the double storey block on South Brae:
Mr Donaldson and his wife, Anne Thomson, lived in Weirwood, he retired here in 1927 after a long career in the mining industry, which started at the age of 9 at Blackbraes Colliery where he was employed for 20 years (and where he returned later as under manager).
The first half of the house had two rooms and an addition built on the back to serve as a kitchen.
Owner Mr Hogan
When the house became too big for the family living there it was split, the second house consisted of two rooms and a kitchen, the entrance being at the back into the kitchen, Matt Hogan took over the shop further up on South Brae (Mrs Donaldson’s) when Weirwood was demolished to make way for the new road.
