Author Topic: Stacks fisheries!?  (Read 7979 times)

Offline osprey28

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 15 November 12 15:26 GMT (UK) »
The River Forth at one time (as far back as the 13th century) was a major producer of shell fish - particularily oysters in huge amounts along the south shores of the river around Bo'ness & Carriden.  I recollect reading that one of the big shellfish farms bordered on the Stacks farmland which goes down to the shoreline at Carriden. 

There used to be the ruins of one or two small houses just into the woods from the shoreline at Stacks boundaries.  These may have been workers houses for the shellfish fishery there.  The shellfish industry on the Forth went into decline from the 1870's and finally closed around 1920, mainly due to pollution.

It may be that these houses were let out to tenants after the fishing era ended.  If you ancestor worked in the potteries it would only have been a 20 minute walk from these houses to the potteries at Bridgeness.

You might get some info from the valuation rolls for Carriden around the time of your ancestor's death.  These are held at the archives at West Lothian Library - at Blackburn.

Osprey
Allan / Gordon / Aitken / Milne / Grant / Burnett in Aberdeenshire.  Allan / Alexander / McGowan in West Lothian / Davidson in Fife / Dempster in Lanarkshire / Allan / Burnett USA & Canada

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #10 on: Thursday 15 November 12 19:31 GMT (UK) »
These are held at the archives at West Lothian Library - at Blackburn.

The Archives are in Deans Industrial Estate in Livingston. http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/tourism/libservices/ices/ves/

The Local History Library has moved from Blackburn to Linlithgow. http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/tourism/LocalHistory/ This is where the Valuation Rolls are.


Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline osprey28

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #11 on: Thursday 15 November 12 19:45 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for the update - that may have saved me a trip to the wrong place in future.

Osprey
Allan / Gordon / Aitken / Milne / Grant / Burnett in Aberdeenshire.  Allan / Alexander / McGowan in West Lothian / Davidson in Fife / Dempster in Lanarkshire / Allan / Burnett USA & Canada

Offline tidybooks

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #12 on: Monday 17 December 12 11:12 GMT (UK) »
Hi,

I have found a death notice in the Scotsman of a John Paul, Farmer, Stacks Farm on 25th April, 1930, who died in an Edinburgh Nursing home. He was to be buried at Bo'ness cemetry on the Tuesday.

Can this be one of the relatives?

Tom
Scotland - Buchanan, Thomson, Pat(t)erson, Stewart, Ritchie, Tracey
Ireland - Tracey, Conroy, Pat(t)erson.


Offline osprey28

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #13 on: Monday 17 December 12 22:25 GMT (UK) »
I don't think the originator of this thread gave us a name for his ancestor.  The Paul family certainly had Stacks farm right up to these times if not still.  Reading back on the thread it does not look like there is a relationship.

Osprey
Allan / Gordon / Aitken / Milne / Grant / Burnett in Aberdeenshire.  Allan / Alexander / McGowan in West Lothian / Davidson in Fife / Dempster in Lanarkshire / Allan / Burnett USA & Canada

Offline osprey28

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #14 on: Monday 17 December 12 22:29 GMT (UK) »
Current edition of Yellow Pages has J Paul & Son as farmers at Stacks Farm.

Osprey
Allan / Gordon / Aitken / Milne / Grant / Burnett in Aberdeenshire.  Allan / Alexander / McGowan in West Lothian / Davidson in Fife / Dempster in Lanarkshire / Allan / Burnett USA & Canada

Offline Ian54

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #15 on: Wednesday 02 March 16 16:30 GMT (UK) »
Hey everyone

My great x 2 grandfather died in 1931 at stacks fisheries in Bo'ness....

Can anyone tell me what this was?? As I have no idea how he would have ended up here!

Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul.   I have just come across your post regarding the Paul's and Stacks Farm.  I used to stay on the farm and was well acquainted with the fisheries which have been derelict since before WWII. 

The fishery was a small stone building located on the shore of the River Forth just east of Bo'ness.  It was part of Stacks Farm and as the name suggests is where fish were landed and processed. The ruins can still be seen there today.

Stacks Farm including the farmhouse has just been sold by the Paul family although some of them still reside there in a bungalow and a cottage.  Hope this helps.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #16 on: Wednesday 02 March 16 20:33 GMT (UK) »
Some photographs here
http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NT0380
with some information about the oyster fishery at Stacks.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline Ian54

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Re: Stacks fisheries!?
« Reply #17 on: Thursday 10 March 16 09:52 GMT (UK) »
Thanks to Forfarian for the above link.

The Fishery is named on the map, and is right beside the fence along the John Muir Way. I surmise that it belonged to Carriden Estate, but for once the old maps don't help - the buildings are marked but not named. My thanks to AG for telling me that the fisheries were for oysters in the mudflats, which were roughly as extensive in the mid-19th century as they are now. See discussion at left and also NT0380 : Oyster Shells. This must have been quite an attractive building before it fell into ruin.