Hi Ed,
Great site. I have an itch which I cant scratch! - When I was a boy in Westburn, we often walked up past Redpath Browns to the Clyde, via the back road. Just after going over the bridge at the end of Newton Avenue, on the right were two sandstone gate pillars, we always referred to this area as 'Lady Lockhart's Estate' but ,(this is the itch!) I can't find any reference to this estate - even with all the connections provided by your correspondents. Any ideas?
John F Jackson (24 Mitchell Avenue a long time ago)
Finally I got to scratch the itch! The lady in question was not a Lady, but a lady. She was Miss Lockhart, the daughter of a well known MP and founded charitable enterprises for the workers of Newton & Hallside. She lived in Newton House, which is where I thought the estate was. The house was demolished in the 1890's and was a pile of rubble even to some elderly people I spoke to when they were children. I returned recently and was so dissapointed, because the pathways are blocked with rubble and the fields are neglected and overgrown with weeds. It seems the farm has been sold and is now destined to be either a landfill site (dump) or used for sand and gravel excavation - what a waste!
Plus ca change!
Hi John,
I played in those woods; they ran alongside the 'West Burn' at Westburn. That area was known as 'The Piggery' because after Newton House was demolished, a farmer Spiers let pigs roam there, probably up to the start of the war!
We used to build barricades of the large stones that were left after the demolition, (we fought imaginary battles with the Nazis).
Two large stone columns stood at the Westburn entrance to the Estate (the road you write about that led down to the Clyde, I was in love with Celia Murphy who lived in that road, mind you I was only twelve at the time).
I agree that the area has been used as a burnt-out car dumping ground and is an embarrassment to the locals. Would that the Council might tidy the area up for future generations of kids.
We had several swimming holes between the Westburn and Newton sections of the Clyde, right up to where the River Calder joined the Clyde at Caldervale.
Local families and playmates then were: Greers, Bradleys, Grants, Patersons, Campbells, Cannons and McPakes etc'.
The local Copper was big Sandie Lawrie who never caught a criminal in his life, hahaha.
Regards,
Ronnie.
Thanks for your kind e-mail. Sometimes I think I must have been the only kid in Westburn who loved the place and explored far and wide in the local countryside!
I still can't get any information regarding Miss Lockhart, who seems to have been the occupant of Newton House. Also, why was it pulled down? Nothing else was built in it's place, so why demolish it?
