Benquhat.....

[Currie]

Hello Jim,

There’s a short description of Benwhat on the Scottish Mining Website taken from an article in the Glasgow Herald, Thursday, January 28, 1875. http://scottishmining.co.uk/405.html

Original newspaper article here:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tV ... %2C1597061

Hansard 1949 - Benwhat said to have been condemned as unfit for human habitation.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/comm ... 08/housing

All the best,
Alan

[Russell]

Hi Jim
I too started life in a small mining village in East Lothian (albeit nearly 72 years ago) Like the Ayrshire villages it was a very safe environment for kids to grow up in. We were free to explore the surrounding area, form gangs and build dens, play in the fields, climb trees in the nearby woods. I don't think that life is less safe for children nowadays but parental fears thanks to high speed media reports have made such freedoms a no-no.
I remember the village before the National Coal Board transformed life for the miners and their families. When you lived in a two roomed house with only cold water and baths for the miners were in a galvanised tub in front of the fire in water heated in kettles and pots on the coal fired range. The installation of pit-head baths meant that they could walk home clean leaving their knee protectors, helmets, carbide lamps, sweat rags in a locker and bring home only their "Piece-box" to be refilled for their shift next day. At least in Ormiston miners houses had inside toilets unlike many other settlements.
I lost all my info on Benqhuat when my PC died a few years ago but it was all gleaned from the Internet so most of it should still be out there. There are several sites on mining and mining villages in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire with lots of descriptions of conditions.
Once you make a start on your family take a look at our Notice Board - Essential Reading underviewtopic.php?f=14&t=6601 We follow the Scotlandspeople guidelines on 100 year privacy.
Try putting some of your key words such as family names and place names in our search box to see if topics that might be relevant have been raised in the past.
With members right across the world it has amazed me how many problems have been solved and how many branching family lines have been brought together.
I see while I write this that our talented researcher Currie has already come up with current links about Benqhuat.

Russell