Over the last few months, there has been a lot of talk on Historic Hamilton about our town centre becoming a ghost town. We have a lot of empty shops and with the soon to be closure of BHS where indeed does this leave us?
Cast your mind back to even 10 years ago! People travelled from afar to come and spend the day in Hamilton, you would come in to the town in the morning meet up with your friends and have a wander around the very best choice of shops. We had a choice of Sports shops we had designer clothes shops, joke shops and long standing independent shops like Bairds.
You would have come to Hamilton and visited one of the many cafes, bars and restaurants and had a bit of lunch or if it was a nice day you would have got your lunch from places like Olivers and sat outside on one of the benches and watched the world go by.
Gateside street and Low waters road still seem to be doing ok with many independent shops staying open and doing well, so what are they doing different? or could it be down to the fact that they are not based in the town centre?
Hamilton town centre is not alone with the closure of shops, this very same thing is happening an many towns across Scotland. The question is, What can we do to inject some life in to our once thriving town centre?
Who?
Hiv ye ever met a livin” legend? Well I’ve met some , quite a few,,
Ye never know, fur efter this wee poem, wan o’ them could you,,
A wis asked the other day tae write somethin” aboot Burnbank “
A new some ‘patter merchants ‘so if it stinks it’s them tae thank,
A always wondered where, some guy’s got thir’ wee nicknames, ,
I’ll bet you kin tell me ! So let’s go n” hiv some wee fun n” games,,
Windy Miller, Stoorie Moore, n” best of all that wee Stucky Stirlin”
God this list could go on forever, noo ma brains jist started Birlin”
Dae ye remember Muck Mc Knight? Aye, He always comes
mind,,
Ask him any questions, n” always right, he’s never wrong? Yil find,,
I’ll jist mention wan mare name, he wis the “Jungles”famous man,
C’mon ye awe know who am talkin aboot, the one n’ only “Tarzan””
If ye kin think aboot anybody, don’t leave yir memories on the shelf,
We want tae know! Alive ur deed , promise, we’ll keep it tae oorself”
Right let c’mon then, who ur they ? Give is awe some wee surprises”
But don’t forget! THAT LEGENDS COME IN AWE SHAPES N’ SIZES””
(GARRY’S SOON TAE BE WAN O’ THEM, GIVE HIM THE C.D.M.)
The above poem was written for Historic Hamilton by Hugh Hainey,
Tell us your memories of growing up in Burnbank, or even better have you got a photo that you would like to share?
Who’s that? Awe hur’ she merrit that chancer” wi the baldy hair,
Oh aye! Is mither’ lives in Sempie St, wee aggie” lives up the stair,,
A cannie think? Aye ye kin’ She walks wae lisp, n’ talks wae a limp,,
Who his mither? Naw! that hussy he’s muckin aboot wae, the pimp”
Well who’s she? Och, kin ye no remember that wee guy wae the lugs”
Naw! Ye must remember him,, he looks like wannie them toby jugs”
Och aye” well thats hur faither” they rekin he’s bin a da” tae dozens”
Realy” Aye! Awe fur gods sake its “Fanny,” she’s wannie yir cousins””
The old town hall with it’s steeple still attached.
Wilma Bolton sent us a picture of Brandon Street and the old Town Hall with it’s steeple still attached.
Wilma told us:
“I remember the old town hall well. When I was young my father Jimmy Russell got a job as the caretaker because he was unable to work any longer in the pits.
His chest was really bad and he died age 52 some years later. By then, it was the Hamilton Burgh Police Station and it was literally falling apart from subsidence due to the underground workings.
I used to put a ball on the billiard table and it ran down the table. The floorboards were so rotten that a policeman fell through them and was half in one floor and half in the other. He had to be hauled out.
There were two cells and one of them held Peter Manuel the notorious murderer when he was arrested.. Regards Wilma”
Wilma, you are a true legend and I have enjoyed speaking with you over the last 5 or 6 months. Your knowledge of Hamilton is absolutely priceless. I love the way that you can tell me a story about almost anything that I ask you about, Keep the story’s coming!
A wish a wis back in Hamilton, up there in old South Lanarkshire,
A wish a wis back in ma maws wee hoose, sittin”by the open fire,
A wish a wis back in ma auld school, among awe ma auld friends,
A wish a wis back in ma auld haunts”, where friendship never ends,
A miss the Baths, The Brandon Cafe, The auld “Hamilton Advertiser ”
A miss the auld folk all around, aye aulder but so much” more wiser’,
A miss the wicked sense of humour, and of coarse that witty”banter”
A miss Hamilton, Hillhoose, Burnbank, ok! Sometimes even Blanti’r”
A telt awe ma kids n’ grandkids aboot this place, over n’ over again,
A telt them awe aboot the things a got up tae, when a wis jist a wain,
A telt them aboot all the people there, n” they couldn’t be any prouder,
A telt them tae tell their kids, they say aye ok “shout a wee bit louder”,
A wish a could write a book aboot this place, but whit kin a do or say,
A wish a could mention the special people there,so great in everyway,
A wish a could stop wellin up with pride , every time a hear it’s name”,
A wish is what the heart makes, so I’ll say a wish that a wis Hame”
The above poem was written for Historic Hamilton by Hugh Hainey.
Shortly after 10 o’clock on Saturday the 7th October 1950 a Burnbank woman heard the sound of gunfire. She ran next door to the house at 77 Farm road. There she was shocked to find her neighbour, Mrs Agnes Mason, aged about 30 lying unconscious in a pool of blood. She had sustained gunshot wounds.
The neighbour ran for assistance, but Mrs Mason died before she could be given medical attention. A man was later questioned by Hamilton burgh police and detained at Burnbank police station.
Mrs Mason’s baby of a few months was taken from the house and is now being cared for by relatives.
The area where the tragedy occurred is a quiet new housing scheme on the outskirts of Burnbank. The Mason’s home is a Ground-floor one of the four-in-a-block type.
At the home of Mrs Cooper, Mrs Masons mother at 5 Sempie Street in Burnbank grief-stricken relations sat in silence.
Mrs Cooper told a “Sunday Post” man that her daughter had been married for two years.Mrs Mason was fortunate in getting a house soon after her marriage. It had belonged to her husbands father after he had died. (Ref Sunday Post 8th October 1950)
INSANITY PLEA FOR HUSBAND ON MURDER CHARGE.
A man allegedly to have shot his wife will be tried at Glasgow High Court on December 12th. He is James Mason and today he has appeared on a pleading diet before sheriff N M L Walker.
He denied having on October the 7th, in his house at 77 Farm Road Burnbank Hamilton, Assaulted his wife Agnes Allan Cooper or Mason and discharged a loaded shotgun at her and shot her in the neck and “Did Murder Her” An agent on behalf of Mason tendered a plea of insanity.(Ref Dundee evening Telegraph Sat 2nd December 1950)
UNFIT TO PLEAD ON MURDER CHARGE
James Mason (39), who stated to have been dabbling in spiritualism, was at Glasgow High Court today found unfit to plead on charge of murdering his wife with a shotgun. He was ordered to be detained during the King’s pleasure.
It was stated that after shooting his wife Mason tried to kill himself. Three times he loaded the gun and put the muzzle under his chin and Three times he pulled the trigger, but he escaped with neck burns. He believed that some heavenly power was saving his life.
Three doctors today stated that mason was insane. One of them said he was a Jekyll and Hyde personality — a victim of schizophrenia. Dr George Scott, prison doctor at said the shooting took place at Farm Road Burnbank, Hamilton, October 7. Mason worked in the pits until 1940, when was called up for the Army. He said he didn’t want to go. He said was altogether opposed to the shedding of human blood.
He was discharged unfit when he found unsuitable to stand up to the conditions of warfare. After a month in hospitals in Holland and Belgium he came home and married Agnes Allan Cooper,a child was born five months ago. Mason believed he possessed great religious truths and it was his mission to make them known to the world.
His married life was unhappy. He thought his wife was trying drive him mad. At this stage 6 foot tall Mason had a seizure in the dock. His body went rigid and he collapsed threshing his arms Dr Scott left the witness box to give medical attention. (Ref: Dundee Evening Telegraph Tue 12th December 1950)
As the event happened still in some peoples memory i have not pursued this story further. It would be sad to think that this event happened as a result of “Shell Shock” and like millions of other men during the war James Mason was probably never treated for it.
The former burial site of the Strangs of Fairhill.
Continuing with our graveyard story at the former burial site in Fairhill, Wilma Bolton has transcribed an article from the Hamilton Advertiser dated 7/5/1887.
Sir, I am curious to know the origin and age of the small graveyard on the confines of the Fairhill property and adjoining the road from Earnock to Meikle-Earnock. Might I ask the author of the “Recollections” which frequently appear in your publication if he can find on the shelves of his memory any impress of the facts relating to it and its dismantled state? If he could also tell me the history of the ruined wall on the north side of the village of Meikle-Earnock. I should be under an increased debt of gratitude to him. QUAERO.
The following reply was printed on the 14/5/1887:
Sir, having read in Saturday’s Advertiser a letter from a correspondent seeking information about the age and origin of Meikle-Earnock Burying-Ground. I, along with a few friends, visited it on Sunday night, as I have often done in my lifetime before, and I must say that I was greatly shocked with the state in which I found it, It seems to me that in this awful race for riches the old proverb holds good, “Better a living dog than a dead lion.”
The Indians of North America put us to shame in the way they respect the sepulchres of the dead. I must inform your correspondent that according to tradition the origin of this old burying ground is lost in the mists of time Everything points to Meikle-Earnock as being a very ancient place , there being an ancient tumulus, which, though much larger at one time still measures 12 feet in diameter and 8 feet high. There have ben found several urns in it from time to time.
It appears the ancient inheritance of Fairhill and Meikle-Earnock was held by a family of the name of Strang, of which our energetic councillor is a lineal descendant. So far as I have been able to discover, when the old parish church of Hamilton (of which many of your readers of your readers will remember the portion that stood up to 1852, and was used as the burying place of the Hamilton family) was removed on 1731, the Laird Strang of that day built here a place of sepulchre like Abraham of old, in the shape of an octagon tower wherein to bury members of the family. Of course there had been Strangs’ buried here before this, as witness the inscription on two flat stones in good preservation: — “Here lies James Strang, of Meikle-Earnock, who was born July 20th. 1654, and died 31st March 1746, in the 92nd year of his age” –also “Here lies Robert Strang, younger of Meikle-Earnock, who was born 31st October, 1687 and died 6th of May 1737. The Mathers of Meikle-Earnock, who held the estate for a considerable time, came through it by marriage.
One of the Lairds of Meikle-Earnock married a Mather, and at his death the estate lapsed into that family, and was held for a time by a Mr Dick, of Glasgow, and is now the property of the much respected laird of Earnock, and I have no doubt if Mr Watson’s attention were called to the state of this old burying ground, he would perhaps hedge it round and plant a few trees in it. I more readily suggest this, knowing that few gentlemen in Scotland have done as much for the improvement and beautifying of their estates, and I have no doubt if this were done he would earn the eternal gratitude of every well-disposed Hamiltonian. With regard to the high wall at the north end of the village, so far as I am able to judge, and so far as the older inhabitants remember, it was the garden wall connected with the old mansion house. Yours, Etc. KINGSTON.
Hamilton Advertiser. 21/5/1887:
Sir, Having seen a letter in last week’s Advertiser. Signed “Kingston,” regarding the above burying ground, would you kindly grant space for one or two additional facts which he, as well as others may not be aware of. The ground in question seems to have been taken off the lands of Fairhill, perhaps from the fact of the tumulus referred to being situated as that particular spot, and which has always been supposed to belong to the Roman period. The oldest information we can get concerning it is perhaps what it reveals itself when we find one James Strang, who was born on 1654, having been buried there in 1746.
Seventeen years later, however, in 1763 when the estate of Fairhill (which then formed part of the estate of Meikle Earnock) was sold by a later James Strang. The burying ground is carefully reserved, and there referred to curiously as the “new burying place,” which does not point to a very great antiquity. Eighteen years later still, viz., 1781, we find it portioned out between four members of a family of Strangs as their respective burying places; and the present tomb was not built for nearly 20 years later still viz., about the year 1800, and not by a Strang, as Kingston tells us, but by a Mather, and who was himself the first to be laid within its walls—one or two old residenters being still alive who remember having seen his funeral.
It was built and secured by him as a burying place for members of the family bearing that name only; and from that time it has been gradually filled up by them, as each in their turn paid the debt of Natures immutable law; and at the present time there still remains one or two spaces to be occupied should the present representatives ever choose the spot as a last resting place—their father being the last Mather buried there. If they have ever given up their rights, as “Kingston’s” letter suggests, it must have been very recently. As regards the present state of the burying ground.
I knew that the year before last it was put into a state of capital repair by the present representatives—strong boarding’s being put up inside the windows, the door made thoroughly secure along with many other needful repairs. But no sooner were these done, than a gang of young ruffians (you can call them nothing else) from the town and surrounding places visited the spot—Sunday being a favourite day for the display. The boarding’s are battered down from the windows—the door is wrenched open –head stones are thrown down and broken—and the very ashes of the dead disturbed and exposed to view; and not once only but repeatedly. And try to interfere without a policeman at your back! This is our nineteenth century civilization! “Kingston,” in his letter, speaks about North American Indians, but we have a generation of Vandals growing up around us that would put to blush any dusky Indians that ever handled the tomahawk.
If they have any religious notions at all, its symbols are the tobacco pipe and a sand jig, with a clog dance thrown in by the way of variety. The police authorities have been applied to at different times, but without result; and so the vandalism is repeated. Perhaps the above may account for the condition your correspondent fount it in. How to put a stop to such savagery is another question. I have not the least doubt but if our own beautiful cemetery was not carefully watched and tended it would ultimately share the same fate. Yours W.A.
It just go’s to show that vandalism is not a modern day thing, it was even happening back in the 19th Century.
The following story was reported in the Hamilton Advertiser on the 20 April 1895.
“Cadzow” writes to the Glasgow Herald; Please give me space for the following statement of facts. In a secluded corner on the confines of Fairhill and Earnock estates, within two miles distance of Hamilton Cross, there lies a small burying-place of some old Meikle Earnock families.
It has long since been disused, but a sweeter and more peaceful resting place it were hard to find, or apparently one more unlikely to be disturbed. What was my horror then, sir, on taking a quiet walk along the road that passes this God’s acre to find a human skull lying on the side walk, and grinning in all its ghastliness at passers-by! I reverently lifted the “thing” intending to replace it in the hallowed ground, when I observed that the door and window of the mausoleum which stands within the graveyard had been forced, and on looking into the interior saw that the stone cists round the walls were prized open, the coffin lids wrenched off, and the remains of their contents scattered over the place.
In my hurried glance I saw three skulls and several thigh and arm bones, and a bystander informed me that shortly before I came up some youths had been enjoying a game of football with the hideous relics. Great shades of Yorick! and this on the evening of a beautiful Easter Sunday in the latter end of the nineteenth century! I have no doubt that those more immediately interested will take steps to bring the perpetrators on this gross outrage to speedy justice.
I may add that the scene of this ghoulish vandalism is quite near to where, not long since, a young man, after spending a convivial Saturday evening with some friends, was playfully kicked to death by his boon companions. (The condition of this burial place has long been a disgrace to all interested in it.)
The next day on the 21st April 1895 the following was written:
“Before Hon. Sheriff Patrick, yesterday, John Murphy, pony-driver, Eddlewood, was charged with malicious mischief in connection with the recent desecration of Meikle-Earnock graveyard.
The libel set forth that on 14th inst., be abstracted from a coffin in a vault in the old graveyard a human skull and bones, and, taking them outside, broke the skull with the bones or stick, and kicked the fragments up and down the graveyard. He pleaded not guilty and the case was adjourned for trial.
John Murphy, pony driver, Eddlewood, was tried at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Tuesday 30th April 1895 before Hon. Sheriff Patrick–on a charge of malicious mischief, committed in the old graveyard, on 14th April. Murphy, a boy of 14, pleaded not guilty, and was undefended.
Five witnesses were examined for the prosecution. From the evidence of four young lads, companions of Murphy, it appeared that on Sunday afternoon they met, and one of them gave information that the vault in the old graveyard was open. They went down to see the place. Arriving there, they found a number of other lads congregated.
Accused went into the vault, and, according to one of the witnesses lighted a match. He went to one of the coffins, which was open and contained a number of loose bones, and then opened another coffin. According to the same witness, he inserted his hand and extracted a skull from one of the coffins, this he brought out on the end of a stick, and threw it to the ground. Remarking that he wished to know what was in the skull, he broke it with a stick.
Again he entered the vault and was about to bring out another skull, when his companions remonstrated, and he gave up the notion. Constable Steel of the County police, said two days before the day libelled he had visited the graveyard in consequence of a report that the vault was open. He found that this was correct. The door had parted from its fixing in the wall for a space of about six inches, through the effect of the underground workings, he fixed the door in such a way as to secure it, and communicated with the representatives of the owners who promised to see the door put right. On the Tuesday following.
On information he received, he again visited the vault and found the place broken into, and the coffins and bones in a disordered condition. He further stated that five years ago the vault had been broken into and coffin cords taken away, which the girls in the village used as skipping ropes.
Accused, when asked for an explanation of his conduct, simply denied that he had lighted a match. His Lordship said the evidence disclosed an extraordinary state of affairs, and but for the circumstances that the accused was only one of a large company, all young and thoughtless, and that the place was improperly secured, he would have passed a severe sentence. But he learned from the Fiscal that the present prosecution was brought more as a warning, so trusting that such sacrilegious misdeeds would not be repeated, he would only impose a fine of 15s with the option of 10 days’ imprisonment.
The following story was donated to Historic Hamilton by Wilma Bolton.
Duchess Anne Hamilton was the 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, She lived from 6 January 1631 to 17 October 1716. and she is remembered as “Good Duchess Anne” She was a noblewoman who rebuilt Hamilton Palace and did a great deal to assist in the development of the town by building a school, almshouses, a woollen factory and a spinning school.
Duchess Anne’s Hospital was an old house that stood at the corner of Castle Street and New Wynd, today the site of the Almshouse is occupied by a house across from where the entrance to the Asda car park is. The hospital or Almshouse as it was known was occupied by a number of poor families, it was built around the middle of the 17th century as a hospital and had been occupied up until the beginning of the 18th century where it became disused as a hospital and ever since it had been occupied as a dwelling house.
Duchess Anne’s Hospital for the poor.
In the year 1858 there were still 6 or 7 individuals who were receiving 8s per annum from the house of Hamilton in view of a house rent. The slum building was later demolished.
In the first picture we have Leslie George Sayce aged fifteen and the second one is Les Sayce and Andra McDade in the garden of
29 Mayfield Road in 1948.
Leslie George Sayce aged fifteen
He was later known then as Les McDade due to his parents getting divorced when he was 2 years old.
Les was born at 29 Mayfield Road in the “Jungle” to Mary McDade on 19th Jan 1947 and his father Les Sayce was a survivor of HMS Barham in 1941 His father later went on to escort duty in the North Atlantic.
The picture was taken in the back yard of 24 Hillhouse crescent in 1963 and Earnock “Bing” is in the back ground.
Les went to Glenlee primary and then Earnock secondary and when he left school he worked as an apprentice joiner for Charlie Cornes at Limetree, then for Gibbons who were building “The Furlongs.’ He later worked at the Wagon works across from the Blantyre Industrial estate.
Les Sayce and Andra McDade in the garden of 29 Mayfield Road in 1948.
He then went to London and spent seven years doing joinery work. He was also a cross country runner attaining house colours for his school which was “Windsor boys school”. and served as a member of the combined cadet force of the Royal Artillery. He then joined the Cameronians, he was based in Germany for a year in 1962. Returning to Scotland in 1963 he joined the ATC at Hamilton barracks 2166 Squadron.
Les started spending much time in libraries reading poetry of Selfridge Sassoon and the usual building subjects pertaining to construction management and aeronautical physics. (mechanics of flight) – {He published his own work in 1978}
He then set out for the south of England and searched for his father, it took only a few hours to track him down. (in a pub) He went back to Scotland in 1972 for four years working as a Ghillie on the Mamore estate in Kinlochleven and a joiner on the housing schemes.
In the mid 70s Les went to Spain for a holiday and when he was in Spain, he met some lads from a NZ rugby club and they invited him over there, So in 1976 he arrived here in NZ and worked in the islands “Rarotonga” then Australia and in 1977 he met his future wife Jessie Stokes!
At this time he was playing guitar in the country clubs and dance halls as a solo performer In most circles he is known primarily as a guitarist.
He trained as a commercial pilot in Wanganui and Nelson and done the flying part in Auckland as that was his home club, he flew many types of aircraft mainly on charters.
In 1982 he suddenly started playing cricket and he went at it with a vengeance,his training regime was rugged as he was running around a Hill station farm rounding up lambs and in winter found him training with the rugby lads. He ended up a captain of a two day team and won sportsman of the year in 1986.
Last year Les moved from Auckland and is now living in a town (a country town) He has his dream home with a huge garden and his dream car and has not slowed down in the least.
Historic Hamilton would like to thank Les’s friend John Stokes for sending us Les’s story.
