Author: mctaggartjoseph7

Reminiscing

I always found it strange that my family hated reminiscing.

They were so busy obsessing about survival that there wasn’t a lot of time for sentimentality. Perhaps it was too painful or maybe they had some awareness it could make people sad.  I think this was common in Industrial communities.

Only when they were drunk could they relax enough to look back. Even then it was without photos or keepsakes. They rather preferred stories or maybe I should describe them as glimpses into the past.

It meant that I couldn’t get full pictures about what characters were really like. Only occasional stories.

Whatever the reason, academic storytelling was seen as a weakness possibly because it made something of the past which for them was just everyday life. I can understand that. They were hard days

Whatever the reason,  it was absolutely horrific living in such a controlled environment.

The Brandy Row

During the Steel Work days there were little rows of houses for employees dotted around the Steel works. They looked like miners rows, each with a street name. 

They were known as “the rows”  but with a heavy accent “the raws” and that’s exactly what they looked like ..raw ..with no frills ..not even a toilet.

In the photos you can see a wall where “Brandy Row” was ..known as Brandy Raws…it was a simple row…The Duffel or Duffle family lived there along with my Grandparents as neighbours. There were a handful of houses next to the Railway line. I’m guess the name was actually something else like Para handy Row and over the years was known simply as Brandy Row. In much the same way as the Lambert became Lamber and then Longbar thanks to Northern Irishmen with very strong accents.

The women used to take shovels to get hot coal from the trains as they passed slowly for the house fire to save money.

As a child I played there too and remember the old entrance to a mine shaft there which was closed off by metal railings.

Nothing is left of the rows…they were all demolished as the Council built housing schemes were built.

Maypole Street

As it’s May, its a good time to remember where Maypole Street was in Kilbirnie. It looks like it was more or less where Knoxville Rd is and Stoneyholm Mill sat on Maypole Street. I am guessing that when the Knox family built at least one of their houses there, the road was widened and changed, becoming Knoxville Rd. It’s hard to know where it was exactly, I will need to dig out some old maps.

Ancestry shows a Samuel Hood being born at number 7 Maypole Street, Kilbirnie. Later documents show a softer spelling and it was known as Maybole Street. (with a B)

As it was known as Maypole Street, there would actually have been a tree or a pole put up there in May for people to dance around and the oldest person in the town would have had the honour of decorating it.

It’s hard to picture that by today’s standards.

Maggie McTaggart, Kilbirnie 1920

I have this death certificate for Maggie McTaggart who died at Dennyholm, Kilbirnie on April 27th 1920. She was the sister of my Great Grandfather.

It is interesting to see the other people listed here, definitely Kilbirnie names and sad deaths from 1920. Thomas Kane and Patrick Bannon both died in 1920.

Colville’s Staff Magazine 1925

Another excerpt from the Steel work magazine, 1925 about Glengarnock, the main feature covering the death of Robert Taylor of Stevenson, also there’s a poem from Hugh Higgins and mentions of garden awards for the Garden City. Apologies for the poor quality scan.

All of these magazines are held at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

Continue reading “Colville’s Staff Magazine 1925”

Hamilton Gray Park

Hamilton Gray Park, the son of Samuel Park and Isabella Gray, was born in Kilbirnie, Scotland, on 25th November 1826. It seems he became a Mormon and was baptised in the town. Most likely in the river Garnock before emigrating to Utah.

I had no idea that there was a Mormon Church in the town at that time – the whole story is here https://localhistoryvideos.com/kilbirnie-scotland/