

Guys Inn…
As some of you will know, I have moved back to Hamilton after being away for 18 years. I went out for a pint with my old pal Andy (Blue T-shirt) and we went to Guys Bar in Meikle Earnock.
This was the first time that I had been in Guys Bar since I was 14 years old and no I wasn’t drinking in it, I used to sell newspapers in the pubs at night and this was where my round started before making it dow it down Low Waters Road and over to Peacock Cross.
For those of you who haven’t managed to sample the fresh lager & cider, I would like to tell you that they serve a great pint. They also sell good food with the restaurant at the back of the pub.
Guys Bar is a cosy wee pub with friendly staff and I can see this becoming my new local. So if your passing, why not pop in for a meal or a drink? It’s an old Hamilton pub with a relaxed atmosphere.
Cheers!
In 1911 John Alston was the proprietor of the Ranche. Here was his advert in a local directory.
I wonder if the floor was sloping in 1911?
In August 1946 Sad news ended an anxious wait for the parents of Alexander M. Muir. Mr & Mrs John Muir of 10 Whitehill Road in Burnbank had known that their son was reported missing following the fall of Singapore, but the sad news came that he had been killed in March 1943.
Gunner Muir joined the Royal Artillery in August 1939 and went overseas in 1941. He was a native of Hamilton he was educated at Greenfield School. He later moved to Rosewell in Midlothian where he gained employment as a machine man in one of the local collieries.
He was survived by his wife and his six-year-old son. His only brother who was called John served with the 7th Hussars in Libya and was discharged with war wounds in June 1941.
Alexander Muir was another Brave Hamiltonian who gave his life to his King and country.
The new consignment of Prefabricated house started to arrive in Hamilton in 1946. In March 1946 Beckford Street was a very busy place when people of all ages were flocking to Beckford Street to see the new prefabs which were erected.
There was a consignment of 18 Houses built on the site and the first tenants were to move in April 1946. All the Tarran Type Houses were built with the walls constructed of concrete slabs bolted together at the back.
Each block was a house in its self with front and back doors and the houses consisted of a Livingroom, two bedrooms, kitchenette, bathroom, wc and a lobby. The prefabs only had one fire to heat the whole house and the bedrooms were fitted with plug sockets so that an electric fire could be plugged in.
Hot air from the fire in the living rooms was passed through channels near the ceiling to each of the bedrooms. The hot water in the prefabs was transported from an electric boiler in the kitchenette.
In 1946 the kitchen equipment was at the time installed with the most modern cupboards with hooks, shelves or racks. A coal bunker was also provided and it was situated at the back door and they also came with sheds for storing prams, cycles and garden tools.
In 1946 Prefabricated Houses were being turned out at the rate of 50 per week at the factory of Messrs Tarran, Ltd, at Mossend. Some months later a new machine was installed at the Mossend plant and they would increase their output to 100 Prefabs per week.
The Beckford Street Prefabs paved the way for these types of Houses to be built in Hamilton. They proved to be very popular with people who were wanting a change from their old tenements with shared toilets.
After the Beckford Street prefabs were built, Hamilton received altogether another 54 Tarran type Prefabs. The prefabs were later constructed at May Street, Cadzow Square and Glebe Street.
With this proving popular Aluminium Houses were also Built at throughout Hamilton which consisted of 12 at Holyrood Street; 10 at Rose Crescent; 11 at Mill Road; and 10 at Donaldson Street & George Street.
Did you live in a Hamilton Prefab, or do you have a picture of one? If you do, then Let us know.
Seeing old faces from the past is really great if you find out that you are related to the people in them. This picture was taken in December 1946 and in the picture, we have Mr Thomas Hamilton & Helen Lochore who in this year were celebrating their Dimond wedding anniversary.
Thomas & Helen were born and bred in Hamilton, they were natives of the Ducal Town and they lived in the Hamilton their whole lives and between them they had 9 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood. They had 12 grandchildren & 7 great grandchildren, so there is every chance that their descendants still live in the town today.
For their Dimond wedding anniversary in 1946 they held their party at the Liberal Club Rooms on Brandon Street where they shared their day with their friends and family.
When they married they lived at Helens house at 3 Fore Row where they spent most of their years and in 1946 they lived at 142 Almada Street and Thomas who was very well known in the town and was a ‘Kenspeckle’ figure in junior football circles. He spent all of his working life working for the Hamilton Advertiser working in the print room. When he retired early in 1929 he had given 51 year’s service to the Hamilton Advertiser.
Thomas was secretary of the Lanarkshire junior football association for 48 years and Lanarkshire junior league secretary from the beginning of the first world war until 1939.
They had two sons who lost their lives in the great war of 1914-1918.
The parents of Thomas were called James Hamilton who was a Joiner & his mother was called Margaret Polson. When Thomas married he lived at the family home which was at 5 Park Road.
Helen Lochore’s parents were called John Lochore who was a Handloom Weaver & Helen Millar.
Are you a descendant of Thomas & Helen? If you are, then let us know where in the world you live now.
THE GIRNIN WEAVERS.
This quaint old panel was originally embedded in the stonework above the door of the brother Hosie’s bookbinders shop, which once stood on the same site of the former Regal Cinema, Now a carpark on Townhead Street.
The inscription read “The airt of weaving is renowned so, that rich nor poor without it cannot go”
Beneath the inscription are three heads with shuttles in their mouths which probably gave rise to the sobriquet of “The Girnin Weavers”
In November 1946 the old stone panel was housed in the back garden of the house at 40 Auchingrammont Road. In 1946 the house was owned by Mr T. Anderson.
Another interesting antiquity that was stored in the back garden of Mr Anderson in 1946 was a 20 Foot Oak Beam taken from the old Hamilton Grammar School which once stood in Grammar School Square. The old wooden beam was “Ornamented” with the initials and names of the schoolboys bearing the date of 1826.
In May last year, I paid a visit to the house of 40 Auchingrammont Road to see if the stone was still there. The family who lived there were very accommodating and they gave me a tour of their lovely house and garden. Sadly the old stone panel and the old beam are no longer there, so perhaps the said Mr A. Anderson from 1946 had taken these items with him when he moved away.
Do you know where the old stone tablet is? Perhaps it is in your garden or built on to your house as a showpiece? Or do you know the whereabouts of the old wooden beam from the old Grammar school is?
If you do then please let us know, we would like to see this old bit of Hamilton History that once stood in Townhead Street and the old Hamilton Grammar.