Mr Robert Mathews is presented with a gift for his wedding:
Category: Kilbirnie / North Ayrshire
Glengarnock Steel Works Magazine May 1925 – Daniel McBeth
Report on the death of Daniel McBeth.
John Durney and James Hill are also photographed.
General Mathew of Place – Death Intimation
This is from the newspaper “The Scotsman” dated August the 4th 1932.
This is the man who unveiled the War memorial and was something of a war hero locally and nationally. He was married to Lady Janet Muir Knox and lived at Place House, across from the Golf course which was demolished some years back. If you want to know more about him, you can click here https://josephmctaggart.org/major-general-sir-charles-mathew/
They are both buried in the family vault – if you go the the huge imposing Knox monument in Kilbirnie old cemetery you will find it just next to there. There is a huge headstone which resembles a birthday cake, which when moved opens up a huge vault underneath. Last I heard it was completely flooded inside. There are more details in the Knox section of this site.
ِDennyholm Street, Kilbirnie (again)
I have attached some photos. On one you can see Dennyholm street houses (left bottom – they look like chalets) and on the other a map showing that “the Dennyholm” (street) ran parallel to Newton Street but was on a level at the back and beneath the street. (next to number 836 on the map). The street itself ran all the way into the mill complex.
The other two photos show: the entrance to the mill complex and the demolished site before they built the new housing estate.
The North Ayrshire Directories of that time describes them as “a long row of houses prone to flooding.” The census of 1921 shows them as having only 2 rooms each. You can see them in this photo, to the left, bottom.
I have colourized this for a better effect.
The area has been completely replaced with the Dennyholm Wynd Housing Estate.
In the 1900s the street had shops and a school. Dennyholm Street no longer exists.
Glengarnock Steel War Memorials
The metal one is still there on the side of a building by the Steel Works. The inscriptions are here
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.
KIlbirnie and Glengarnock Shared Memories
You can read the book here – you need to sign up but it is completely free.
Townhead, Kilbirnie
Here is an old and a new picture of Townhead Street. The long white building which is demolished where the trees are in the new picture was Martin’s Shed, a local meeting place. Gospel Hall meetings took place there before the Gospel Hall was built in 1897.
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/