Monklands Memories - Airdrie & Coatbridge areas

Annathill

The name Annathill is thought to mean the site of a patron saint's church and early settlement in the area is proved by prehistoric ritual and burial sites. The later history is of a mining village near the pithead of the former Bedlay Colliery and the population of the village in 1981 was 149.

Bedlay Colliery

Bedlay was opened in 1905 by William Baird & Co. It was established to produce high quality coking coal for the Gartsherrie Iron Works. In 1969 there were almost 1000 men employed at Bedlay and they produced some 250,000 tons annually.  The mine closed in 1981 and the mineshafts were filled the following year.  This was the end of deep mined coal in the Monklands

 
Bedlay Colliery 1978

Davie Reid remembered working in the snow at Bedlay! The walls of the Electrical Workshop did not reach the roof, and when there was a north easterly wind blowing, the snow used to come in and cover the motors they were working on! He remembered it as a very cold place and can still feel the shivers.

Miners Housing

William Baird & Co built three rows of houses (pictured above) for workers in Bedlay Colliery.  Collectively named Annathill Terrace the miners named them as Front, Middle & Back Row. There were eight large houses in Back Row.   They had 3 apartments, indoor toilets, and front & back doors.  The remainder of the houses had two rooms - a living room and a bedroom.  A cupboard with a sink and running water acted as the scullery and was in the living room.

This is a view of Annathill looking North towards Mollinsburn (c1910?).  The houses of Annathill Terrace and the Mission Hall have long gone but recently new private houses have been built on the site.  In 1985 a travellers site was built at, what was, the eastern end of the terrace but this site has since been abandoned.  Until recently Annathill had less than 20 permanent residents - the population has now increased to over 150.

A Lament to a Place Now Gone

  by the lateJohn McGeachie

John McGeachie was a miner at Bedlay until he was called up August 1939 and after he lived around that area until about 1960
 

Are these green fields we see today

the village of our yesterday

where once there stood the red brick rows

now the only life the circling crows

The swing park! There the swings now gone

no more the sound of childish throng

weeds now grow high and unpruned ever green

where the youth played tennis

and old men the bowling green

the old school it's now gone

where once as kids we played

the old church hall a scrap yard now

where once people prayed

there is no Carmicheals bus now

for even Jock has gone

and no longer from the bully

can you here the sound of song

who ever comes here now!!

no Bus comes through the place  

the final touch the Pit has closed

the final coup de Grace

but people lived and loved there

there was happiness and tears

for the miners life was often hard

in the passing of the years

The pleasure was often football

Dogs and Doos

or just standing at the corner

to here the local news

many were rough diamonds

with no published word or dress

but their hand went in their pocket

for their neighbors in distress

and if death the widow maker came

knocking at the door

there was no lack of helping hands

to help that were left

 so when I look round this place

it' hard to hide a sigh

no more to see a well kent face

or someone walking by

the old Pit pad where once we walked

you can still see today

it seems so sad a lonely path and

no one to walk it's way

so strangers if you come some day

to this place where our village lay

you will find nobody you can ask

you will find no sign to ease your task

to tell you this was Bedlay.

by the lateJohn McGeachie

Summerlee Heritage Park - Brick Collection  - Just a small part of the Summerlee Collection

Clay & Bricks - The story of Glenboig Union Fireclay Co

Brick Making
The International Brick Collectors Association California  If you're a brick collector, you may be interested in this organization: The International Brick Collectors Association (IBCA),

Glenboig Village Park