Sherifflatts Road

Uploaded on Monday 11 May 2020 From the Charlie Todd Collection. Starting at the top of Sherifflatts Road (you will see from the postcards over the forthcoming week that there were various spellings used) we have Sherifflatts Farmhouse around 1900. Local lore has it that when the farm tenant (or owner) got together the money to replace a much more modest dwelling he saved on foundations by building this new house on the hard packed road which ran in front of the old farmhouse, thereby requiring all passers-by to take to the field until a new bit of road was created. 

Uploaded on Monday 11 May 2020 From the Charlie Todd Collection.

Sherifflatts Road - with the gable end of Sherifflatts Farm in the background, here we have Number 88 Carn-Dearg (Red Deer) and the semi-detached number 86 Dundonald and number 84 Innisfree. The next site is probably still vacant at this point judging by the gate and fence. We believe this to be around 1900. We imagine (and would be delighted to hear from the current owners the year on their title deeds) and the views from the houses is not yet obscured by mature hedges and trees. Most of what we will be adding this week are postcards of Thankerton and the fact that we have such a wonderful record is due to three factors. Firstly as previously mentioned Thankerton was a holiday village so there was a ready market with these temporary occupants who sent many postcards. Secondly, with this in mind successive village postmasters/shop owners took the initiative and organised a selection of postcards for sale in the shop. Ideally the choice available had to cover all the houses which were used for summer lets.- it would be a disappointed customer who had to settle for a card showing the house next door! And thirdly, prior to the telephone the postcard was the preferred method of cheap, rapid communication. 1905 seems to have been the​peak of postcard usage before the telephone gradually took over. 

Uploaded on Monday 11 May 2020 From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

Sherifflatts Road - a few years further on and number 88 Carn-Dearg, semis numbers 86 Dundonald and 84 Innisfree have been joined by 82 Uplands. The railings were expensive and look great. They would be there until World War 2 when they were removed 'for the war effort'. It is now thought that the quantities removed nationally were so vast (over 1 million tons by September 1944) that the steelworks couldn't cope and only a quarter of this amount was actually smelted down. The remainder was tucked away from public gaze in Council yards and depots, railway sidings and disused quarries. Rather than stop the removal, it was thought that there was substantial propaganda value in making people who stayed in parts of the country not greatly affected otherwise in major ways realise that the war affected them and the sacrifice of all this wonderful ironwork was felt justified. Ultimately it is thought that much of it was buried or dumped in the Thames Estuary and at sea and to this day we live with the scars. 

Uploaded 12 th May 2020 From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

Number 82 Uplands and number 80 Rubislaw (quite an early house) and the later constructions Number 78 Tor Mor and No 66 Earisdal. Big gardens here hence the numbering. Unfortunately Rubislaw doesn't appear on any of Charlies postcards, so we're on to Number 64 Strath View (which helpfully is dated 1893) and Number 60 Kilncadzow, which are two of the biggest villas in Sherifflatts Road. Below them now sits Kenny Angus's Number 58 Tigh Aonghais, then the vacant plot, which in Charlie's boyhood days was Kenny's builder's yard. Beyond those we see the first of the thatched cottages at Townhead. In the old days every village had a Townhead (in our case around the grass triangle) and a Townfoot (probably the area around Tinto View Farm). ​There wasn't much to the original pre-railway Thankerton village. 

Uploaded on the 12th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd collection. 

A less inspiring photograph this time but it does show a different perspective and whereas the previous one made the two houses look cheek by jowl this one makes us realise they are set well apart - as reflected by the numbering and a big garden. Number 64 Strath View and Number 60 Kilncadzow photographed from the field opposite. Incidentally, house names were far more widely used in the past than they are now. Older original residents of the village, of whom there are a few left, when in conversation always when mentioning an individual's name added 'from Aldersyde' or wherever. There were relatively few houses in the village, house ​numbers were unimportant, ​but the house names readily confirmed who you were talking about. 

Uploaded on the 12th May 2020.From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

In this photo we've walked from Number 60 Kilncadzow down to the thatched cottages which were in the distance and we're now on the edge of Thankerton's Townhead. On the right are a pair of thatched cottages, the furthest away of which would be demolished in 1907 to build Number 45 Sherwood. Beyond them we see the gable end of a row of 4 or 5 old cottages. we are not aware of their collective name so let's call them 'Weavers Way' since their occupants at one time would indeed have been participants in that cottage industry. On the left are what appear to be another two sets of cottages, one slightly further forward than the other. These are on the present day vacant site opposite Number 45 Sherwood. 

Uploaded on the 12th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

A cracking postcard this time at Thankerton's 'Townhead' looking up Sherifflats Road towards Number 45 Sherwood (built 1907) with what appears to be the second thatched cottage still tucked in beyond it. To the left we see the last in a terrace of four or five thatched weavers cottages (which we have called Weavers Way) which stretched towards the railway bridge. On the right in the far distance we can see one large house only, probably I think, Number 64 Strath View (1893) and out of sight on the near right were the two sets of thatched cottages we saw in the earlier postcards. Johnny Watson remembers water pumps like the one located on the roadside at the corner of the cottage. They were connected directly to the water mains and by turning a knob at the side which opened a valve, water emerged from the lion's mouth. Thatched cottages would have no internal running water (other than through the roof!) so these would have been in regular everyday use. Thatch in this part of Scotland would generally be straw thatch, in the Highlands heather ​thatch and in the south of England the best, the well known Norfolk reed thatch. 

From the Charlie Todd Collection: This photograph was placed on this website on the eve of the 75th Anniversary of VE Day The photograph was taken by Jim McQuid of Symington showing a serviceman walking up Sherifflats Road. To his right is the grass triangle with The Creamery behind, to his left Woodville (still with its iron railings so this must have been earlier in the war) with Lilac Cottage/Law View behind that (now combined into one house by Jamie Craig) and in the background the Station. The Signal Box is just visible between the Creamery and the Station. It is assumed these are rows of insulators on the electricity poles. Unfortunately the soldier ​himself has not been identified. 

Uploaded on the 13th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

In this postcard we are in front of Weavers Way with Number 45 Sherwood just visible above the thatch and the gable of Number 60 Kilncadzow visible in the middle distance. It was Thankerton builder John Forrest who built Number 80 Rubislaw (1911), Number 60 Kilncadzow, semi-detached Nos 44 -34 (1912) all in Sherifflatts Road + Nos 56 & 54 (1902) in Station Road while his brothers Willie & Jim built Numbers 52 & 50 (1908) in Station Road. 

Uploaded on the 13th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

This was a very popular postcard judging by the number of copies Charle has discovered. Weavers Way in Townhead with the railway bridge ​just visible on the far left and what appears to be some sort of summer house in the garden behind the last cottage on the far right. 

Uploaded 13th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

Looking from the Railway Bridge over towards Elmwood with the original thatched cottages on its left. 

Uploaded on the 13th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

Number 44 Oakley; occupied by Andrew Lang (41) a solicitor with Hay, Cassels and Frame. Number 42 Avonbank; occupied by David Inglis (54) and Hannah Inglis (52). David was shewn as a boot and shoe maker. He also repaired bicycles but had been in the metropolitian Police in his younger days. Hannah was from Willesden, Middlesex. Local lore has it that David lived to a ripe old age and the Metropolitan Police Pension Fund sent an investigator up every few years to confirm that he was indeed still alive! (as per Henry McMahon). I think he had a workshop down one of the cottages. (Ella, Rose or Ivy). Number 40 Norwood; occupied by James Reid (64) and Grace Reid (65). Number 38 Gowanlea; must have been vacant or on holiday. Number 36 Lilylea; Occupied by Thomas Stevenson (51), Mary Stevenson (49), peter Napier (16 - visitor an apprentice photographer), William Hastie (20 - Visitor a steelworks clerk), and Archibald Prentice (20 - Visitor - A Matallurgical Chemist, Iron and Steel.) and Number 34 Rosela (later renamed Drumelzier when a new owner, who had moved from that Peeblesshire village moved in). Occupied by two families, the Johnstons and the Williamsons, who were cousins and who occupied one floor each. An unusual and interesting arrangement no doubt driven by financial considerations, but one which gave them much better accoodation than prevailed at the time.​These 3 semi-detached sandstone villas were constructed by Thankerton builder Mr John Forrest in 1912. His Sales Ledger records the following :- 28th October 1912 - Villas at Thankerton for Messrs Kay and Frame, 78 Quarry Street, Hamilton. 3 Double Cottages as per Estimate of Oct 1911 £160 each = £480. Extra for bay window in middle villa £9. Front boundary dyke £23 13/3d, Rough rubble retaining walls at South boundary & divide feus £14 0/6d, Ranges and grates £10 6/6d, Soil for gardens £3 18, Clothes poles set in cement £2 0/6d. Paid to John Stevenson & A Forrest for walks & fences £10 18/9d, Grand Total £552 19/6d, Cost Each – with bay window £95 10/- without £91... Wonderful to have access to this detail - and how prices have changed! 

Uploaded on the 26th May 2020 From Jim Watt of Biggar. 

Villa Tickets After the opening of Thankerton Station in 1846 the expansion of the village was greatly assisted by what were called ‘Villa Tickets’. It wasn’t just the Caledonian Railway who did this, but many of the companies going right back to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway and the Peebles Railway - whichever company operated the line you were located on. The terms and conditions varied as you can see from the attached scans. The railway benefitted in several ways. It was only the householder who was granted a season ticket, but of course his family and servants would want to visit the city and his friends would want to visit him, so that would generate revenue. As well as the business from transporting building materials there were also all the fixtures and fittings, furnishings, etc., which, the householder being wealthy enough to afford to build the house, would be coming from the best suppliers, rather than local tradesmen. By effectively increasing the population of the area there would be a corresponding increase in supplies of all sorts being brought in. Roads were poor and road journeys slow as a result, so rail was the preferred means of transport for people and goods. As you will see, the householder had to be working in and moving from the city, or at least outwith the area. A doctor in Peebles tried to get a season ticket to Edinburgh by building a new house, but as he fulfilled neither of the above criteria he wasn’t granted one! 

Uploaded on the 13th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

Another view of Numbers 44 - 34 Sherifflats Road. As was customary, the sender has marked the house they were staying at - in this case Number ​40 Norwood. 

Uploaded 14th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection.

A much earlier photo of the same location this time looking up Sherifflats Road. The road itself in 'unmade' - long before they got round to putting down tarmacadam but look how fresh and new the houses on the right look. To the left are some of the villages last thatched cottages. Local folklore has it that sparks from a passing engine (or traction engine) finally set fire to these necessitating their demolition. 

Uploade on 16th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection.

The building of the Thankerton Creamery was financed by Miss E. Smith Dunlop and opened in 1911. Prior to the opening of the railway in 1846 Covington had been the local village, hence having the school and the church, while Thankerton consisted only of a few scattered farms and cottages (technically Thankerton, not having a church, is a 'hamlet'). With the arrival of the railway and the building of the station though it became sensible to build houses adjacent to that station. Thereafter Thankerton rapidly grew as Covington gradually declined. Being at the centre of a rural area surrounded by farms, no-one had addressed the issue which farmers faced of short term storage of milk etc while awaiting uplift until Miss Dunlop, only child of Sir Nathaniel Dunlop of Shieldhill House, a Glasgow shipping magnate, took up the challenge. This splendid new building was opened in 1911. They also carried out small-scale manufacturing processes on site - as we'll see. Sadly as a 'creamery' it succumbed to the Great Depression of the 1930s but other uses have been found for this fine building and it is with us to this day. 

Miss Dunlop's Creamery at Thankerton

In 1918, The Queen (the “newspaper for ladies”) published an article entitled “A Model Dairy founded by a Scottish Lady”. It described the creamery at Thankerton which had opened in 1911 to process milk for over 40 local farms. It was explained that Miss Dunlop, daughter of local landowner Sir Nathaniel Dunlop, took great interest in the running of the Shieldhill estate. In the course of her business she had found that the chore of processing milk on each farm meant that farmer's wives and servants were “doomed to a life of drudgery”. If dairy tasks such as separating cream or making cheese were done elsewhere, it would “lighten and cheer the home life of women” and release “free time for more creative pastimes”. The initiative, it was said, was “based on a sound form of socialism that ought to be encouraged between the wealthy and the working class”.

While doubtless there were many noble motives behind the creation of the “Shieldhill Cooperative Dairy Association Ltd.”, Miss Dunlop was also a shrewd businesswoman who appreciated the growing market for dairy products in industrial Glasgow, along with the increasing requirement for scrupulous hygiene and consistent quality. This was easier to achieve in a factory rather than on a farm. Plans for the creamery were inspired by recent innovations in the Danish dairy industry.

Ellen Smith Dunlop was the only child of Glasgow shipping magnate, Nathaniel Dunlop. Her mother, also Ellen, died within a few weeks of her birth. Ellen became her father's constant companion, and never married.

Nathaniel (Sir Nathaniel from 1907) was a self-made man who became Chairman of the Allan shipping line, and later chaired the Clyde Navigation Trust.  In 1898, he purchased Shieldhill House and 1,600 acre estate, with the intention of gradually retiring from business life in Glasgow. He was then sixty eight years old and his daughter Ellen was thirty one.

The creamery was purposefully sited close to Thankerton railway station; and conveniently built on a slope, so that milk delivered at the front of the building flowed between processes by gravity. Processed milk, cheese, and other dairy products were dispatched from the rear of the building, and taken along a private path to the station platform where it could be loaded on passenger trains to Glasgow and elsewhere.

A florid contemporary account described how the fresh concrete exterior of the creamery was “dazzling in the glowing rays of the summer sun”, and that the clean white interior “reminded one of the lost grandeur of old Roman marble baths”. Special mention was made of the cheese ripening room, where great 80 lb cheeses were kept cosy at a constant temperature, and a well appointed office where “no lover of solitude.... could desire a more charming a corner.” It also described the shield above the entrance of the creamery bearing the monogram of the “generous lady whose munificence not only started the work, but carried it through to completion”. The intertwined initials ESD (for Ellen Smith Dunlop) and the date 1911 are still proudly displayed on the front of the building.

The creamery (which was the first in Lanarkshire) brought great benefit to the local community, and its success will have inspired cooperative dairy schemes in other areas. However, the dairy trade was fundamentally changed with the creation of the Scottish Milk Marketing Board in 1932 and the introduction of a minimum price for milk. The SMMB took over ownership of the Thankerton creamery, and for whatever reason, chose to close it, offering the building for sale in 1938 on the proviso that it would not be used as a creamery. The old creamery building at Thankerton has served many industrial purposes since then, and at the time of writing appears to be for sale.

Nathaniel Dunlop; “the grand old man of Scottish shipping” died in 1919 at the age of 89, and his daughter Ellen assumed full control of the Shieldhill estate. Ellen always maintained a keen interest in the welfare of local residents, especially the concerns of women folk. She was instrumental in the formation of the Quothquan Women's Rural Institute in 1918, and was active in the SWI affairs for many years. She supported many local charities and good causes. When Ellen died in 1958 at the age of 89, much of her wealth was distributed among her servants and staff, notably her maid and companion of fifty years. Much was also gifted to local charities, and a special legacy was established to feed the wild garden birds that she had taken much pleasure in feeding each day.

Uploade 15th May 2020. from the Charlie Todd Collection.

When I look at this one I always think of a line from 'The Life of Brian' - Blessed are the Cheesemakers! Here we have 5 employees at the Creamery with cheeses freshly made on site. Far left is Bob McQuid who appeared as a much older man in one of yesterday's photos. Located very close to the station, the Creamery was ideally placed to dispatch fresh diary produce from the surrounding farms to urban markets all over the UK from it's own railway platform. On the opposite side of the building, a long loading ramp led from Sherifflats Road to the first floor where there were double doors, replaced by windows when the ramp was removed. Nancy thought this photo of her dad and his colleagues would date from the early 1930s. 

Uploaded on the 16th May 2020.From the Charlie Todd Collection. In the far distance we have the white gable end of 'The Neuk' cottage where the Elder family stayed, then continuing down Sherifflats Road we have :- Number 18 Elmbank; Number 16 Medwyn semi detached with Number 14 Rosebank; Number 10 Duneaton (originally Wellbank); Number 8 an unnamed (currently Jean Edgar's) semi detached with Number 6 Croftlea; Number 4 Oakdene; Again any information of dates of construction would be great. It has been reported that Oakdene was constructed between 1900 and 1910.

A great postcard of Duneaton at 10 Sherifflats Road showing a thatched cottage behind (long gone) which would have been No 12 since the house next door remains No 14. Stuart, the present owner, tells me the house name was changed by the previous owners from Wellbank - since there is indeed a well in the garden. During the early railway era villa owners in Thankerton, and in the towns and villages all along the line, rented out their homes for 3 months during the summer to Glasgow businessmen and their families and moved into the cottage or sometimes a couple of rooms at the back of their house. On work day mornings the businessman then took the train back in to Glasgow while the family stayed to enjoy Tinto, the Clyde, Thankerton's 9 hole golf course, the Tinto Hotel, trips to Biggar, Moffat, Peebles etc.

Uploaded on the 16th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. We're now in the 'Station Triangle'. Straight ahead we have Number 1 Hazel Cottage, Sherifflats Road. Over on the right we can see 'The Round House' Number 4 Oakdene and beside it a thatched cottage, which I can only assume had the same name as the present bungalow Number ​2 Lilybank.

Uploade 16th May 2020 from the Charlie Todd Collection.

A great postcard of Duneaton at 10 Sherifflats Road showing a thatched cottage behind (long gone) which would have been No 12 since the house next door remains No 14. Stuart, the present owner, tells me the house name was changed by the previous owners from Wellbank - since there is indeed a well in the garden. During the early railway era villa owners in Thankerton, and in the towns and villages all along the line, rented out their homes for 3 months during the summer to Glasgow businessmen and their families and moved into the cottage or sometimes a couple of rooms at the back of their house. On work day mornings the businessman then took the train back in to Glasgow while the family stayed to enjoy Tinto, the Clyde, Thankerton's 9 hole golf course, the Tinto Hotel, trips to Biggar, Moffat, Peebles etc. 

Uploaded on the 16th May 2020. From the Charlie Todd Collection. 

We're now in the 'Station Triangle'. Straight ahead we have Number 1 Hazel Cottage, Sherifflats Road. Over on the right we can see 'The Round House' Number 4 Oakdene and beside it a thatched cottage, which I can only assume had the same name as the present bungalow Number ​2 Lilybank.