Tag: kilbirnie

ِDennyholm Street, Kilbirnie (again)

I have attached some photos. On one you can see Dennyholm street houses ( they look like chalets). “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 others 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.

Here is my colourised version:

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.

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.

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/

The Bing, Fudstone, Kilbirnie (a poem)

I couldn’t resist publishing this again, it’s my poem about the “Bing” which was a huge amount of debris that sat as a mound at the corner or Place View and Newhouse Drive, Kilbirnie before it was converted into a small playpark for kids around 1983 or 1984.

In Scottish terminology, a “Bing” refers to a large pile or heap of waste material, especially the waste rock and debris piled up in the process of mining, such as coal mining. These Bings are remnants of the industrial era, particularly in Scotland’s coal mining regions, where they were created from the spoil that was brought to the surface during the mining process. Over time, some of these Bings have become landmarks or have been reclaimed for various uses, while others still dominate parts of the Scottish landscape.

Continue reading “The Bing, Fudstone, Kilbirnie (a poem)”

If Kilbirnie Were a Harp…

If Kilbirnie were a harp with strings
I'd surely sweep a strain,
An everlasting melody
Which no man could restrain


I'd write a song of thanksgiving
Of peace and love and cheer
To bless the town with all its woes
Bring pleasure to their ears


I'd play the song on Knoxville road
And at the Walker Hall
I'd play it at the Labour club
While drunkards take their fall


I'd play the harp so silently
For those who hate the sound
To aid them out of hopelessness
To turn their lives around


I'd sweep a strain of sad refrain
At steel works passing by
I'd touch upon a melody
And older folks would cry


I'd play it softly at the match
While folks would cheer their team
And move along the park so long
To watch the Garnock stream


I'd play the harp across the tracks
As cyclists speed me by
I'd play and wait at graveyard's gates
For mourners with their sighs


I'd play it at the Garnock's heart
Right up at Jacob's Well,
where no one goes to see it flow
Or care to even tell


I'd play a tune right at the school
The Children would be pleased
I'd pass the harp to little ones
To hold upon their knees


So to the town with all my sounds
And everlasting strains
I leave the harp right at the cross
For others who remain


To strain their sounds of happiness
And hope for all the town
To watch it grow with sadness no!
As an everlasting crown.