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.