Mining villages in Fife

[Montrose Budie]

Sadly, many of these villages no longer exist except as a vague area of indistinct grass and weed covered humps which are the surviving ruins.

This applies when the villages ("miners' rows") concerned were built in remote areas where there had previously been no villages or hamlets, to accommodate the coal and iron stone miners, as well as the ironworks workers. Originally the main economic method of iron and steel production was to build an ironworks very close to the source of the ore, the ironstone. Once pits became worked out and/or it became economical to transport the ironstone to much larger ironworks many miles distant, many villages fell into disrepair as there was no longer a reason their continued existence unless other industry had developed locally.

In addition, as economical Scottish ironstone pits became worked out it also became economical to import iron ore in bulk from other countries.

There were over 110 ironworks in Ayrshire in the 1890s !, not one of which survives.

Where the coal mines continued to have workable seams they often survived, along with some of the 'raws' into the pre WWII era; but the post war rationalisation of deep mines leading only to a few large pits in any coalfield in production, such as in Ayrshire, led to the further depopulation of these villages.

This along with increased mobility, - public transport (the NCB also provided buses) and car ownership , - led to the demise of many of the old 'raws'. Not least due to the fact that folk preferred to live somewhere where there were facilities (not under the control of the mine owners who had the monopoly in the village shops, often deducting the cost of the unduly expensive goods directly from wages, often keeping the families permanently in debt) as opposed a tiny village way up on a remote moor!

New time you're anywhere off the main drag in Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, the Lothians, Stirling and Fife have a close look at the landscape and you're likely to see the small bings from ironstone and coal mines of the time now heavily disguised by vegetation; and then have a look at one of the websites with maps from the time, and you'll find many villages where, today, there is no trace of there having been human habitation ! (Ignore, BTW, the massive shale oil industry bings in East and West Lothian, - that's a whole different story!)

The 1881 census CDs can be an excellent tool for tracking down these 'lost' villages and providing the names of the raws.

Less than 2 miles away from where I live, there was a vibrant village of over 1,000 in the latter half of the 19th century serving the local ironstone and coal pits, plus one sulphur pit (a possible reason the natives of my town are known as 'Chinamen' due to the coloration of the skin of the sulphur miners, but there's at least two competing theories). All that now remains apart from the many wee bings is a handful of the larger houses, total population maybe 15.

Today's Quiz Question ?! Which famous Scottish football player, latterly even world famous as a football manager, along with his 4 brothers, started his playing career with the football team in the eponymous Ayrshire mining village, - the Glenbuck Cherrypickers?

Hint: His reputed quote in 1981 was "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." In fact it wasn't original, he was paraphrasing a quote attributed in the 1950s to Henry Russell Sanders, an American football college coach. <g>

[PaulaD]

Today's Quiz Question ?! Which famous Scottish football player, latterly even world famous as a football manager, along with his 4 brothers, started his playing career with the football team in the eponymous Ayrshire mining village, - the Glenbuck Cherrypickers?

I believe this would be Bill Shankly!

Paula

[LesleyB]

Hi Mary
Well, Woodside is alive and well. Pretty quiet tho' and no evidence of any mining works, but I expect that activity ceased a good while back. As far as I'm aware, and not that I know much about coal mining, but I think in that area they did not have any big deep pits, just quite small works, possibly many opencast and most likely to be supplying local limeworks. Or it may be possible that it was just limestone that was being excavated, but you need coal to turn that into a saleable commodity...

The village still has some older buildings, many have been restored or modernised and there are also some new houses.
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1770
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1769
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1768

If you want larger versions of these photos, send me a PM and I can email them to you.

Also see
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... 08esc1.htm

Owner: Teasses Lime Co., Lower Largo
Name of Mine: Teasses & Teuchats
Situation: Largo
Agent: J Watson
Minerals worked: Limestone
Pits Below ground: 8
Above ground: 5

At Charlestown (in Fife), also mentioned on the above page, there is plenty evidence of the limestone industry - well worth a visit if you are in the area.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/c ... index.html


Best wishes
Lesley

[Montrose Budie]

Today's Quiz Question ?! Which famous Scottish football player, latterly even world famous as a football manager, along with his 4 brothers, started his playing career with the football team in the eponymous Ayrshire mining village, - the Glenbuck Cherrypickers?

I believe this would be Bill Shankly!

Paula

That's the man, - the spitting image, BTW, in looks and accent of my father-in-law, Wee John !, also a miner, both coal and ironstone, the latter as a 'Bevan Boy' <g>

mb

[Montrose Budie]

More Bill Shankly quotes .............

Another often misquoted Shankly quote was what did he think about the team on the other side of Stanley Park. Mainly coined as "There are only two teams in Liverpool; Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves." The true quote was less a jibe at his city rivals and more of an understanding into Shankly's belief that winning was everything. "A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves."

Also said, "If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains." Ironically, his home in West Derby was opposite Everton's former training ground in Bellefield, where he was always a welcome visitor after his retirement.

Shankly famously said about the offside law, "If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be." * Also attributed to Brian Clough

When Liverpool player Tommy Smith once consulted Shankly to tell him he couldn't play next week, due to his injured knee, Shankly replied: "Take that poof bandage off, and what do you mean Your knee, it's Liverpool's knee!"

For many years, legend had it that Shankly had taken his wife to a Rochdale game as a Wedding Anniversary treat. Eventually someone plucked up the courage to ask Bill if it were true. Naturally, the great man denied it venomously "Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present, it was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves."

Shankly was famously competitive in 5 a side matches. Matches in which his talented full-back, Chris Lawler was equally famous for his taciturnity. Bob Paisley was refereeing one day and decreed a goal offside. Shankly argued long and hard, so much so that in the end Bob Paisley asked Lawler: "Chris- you were the last man, was Bill offside?" To which Chris replied "Yes Bob, he was" Shankly exploded with rage. "All these years he keeps his mouth shut, and when he does speak, it's to tell a lie"

[marypryde]

This seems to have veered waaay off topic.

[Montrose Budie]

This seems to have veered waaay off topic.

It's called 'thread drift' !

mb

[mac]

Mary,

The book, 'A Blast From The Past' accurately describes the life (working/living conditions etc) of a typical Scottish mining family. See www.blantyrepast.com

mac

[Lorna Allison]

Thanks for the "drift" mb. Husband SO enjoyed all of that. Lets him see this wife sitting with her laptop for hours on end is still in the real world - well his real world. He's sitting reading his latest acquisition "Partick Thistle Legends"

Lorna