Monument in Kilbirnie

[Iandj]

I wonder if anyone on the site can help me identify the monument behind the four people in my attached photo.

I think the monument is a structure in Kilbirnie.  I thought at first it was Kilbirnie Cross, but now I am not at all sure.

The four people in the photo are:

•   (front left) My great-great-grandfather, James Jamieson (1819-1900), was born in Beith and moved to Kilbirnie in the 1840s.  He was a mill worker and was variously a flax thread spinner, a pinner, a gate-keeper and a belt repairer.  He was an elder of the Kilbirnie Free Church for 22 years until his death, according to his obituary in a local newsletter.

•   (front right) My great-grandfather, James Thomson Jamieson (1852-1930), was born in Kilbirnie and worked as a clerk in a local fishing-net factory.

•   (back left) My grandfather, James Jamieson (1882-1959), began as a clerk in the Kilbirnie Cooperative Society and moved in 1903 to Falkirk where he rose to become Secretary of the Falkirk Cooperative Society and a member of the Falkirk town council in the 1920s.

•   (back right) My great-uncle, Robert Jamieson (1884-1957), became an engineering draughtsman in London.

The photo was taken on an apparently sunny day no later than January 1900, when my g-g-grandfather died.  My grandfather and great-uncle seem to be no younger than about 18 and 16 years old.  This suggests that the photo was actually taken in about 1899.  At different times the family lived in School Wynd and 37 Bridge Street, Kilbirnie.

Regards

Iandj

[Brosie]

Hello Landj, the photo is the Biggart fountain in Dalry ref to Thomas Biggart, the said fountain was renovated by a local stone mason and moved to town end street in 2010, thank heaven there are still people who preserve history.
                                         regards Brosie.

[MonicaL]

Brosie, gold star  I had this bookmarked to see if anyone could find it!

See www.flickr.com/photos/gordonjc/3539867299/

Older photo here (ref: 602 - www.dalryburnsclub.org.uk/olddalry/olddalryphotos.html) although looks to be a different angle from where you family photo was taken?

Monica

[Brosie]

MonicaL, fantastic photo's, 779 the regal picture house my aunt worked there so I got in free a great saving on the pocket money.

[Iandj]

Hi Brosie and MonicaL

Thank you for all these fabulous photos of Dalry .  But I am not sure it is the Biggart Fountain for a couple of reasons.

First, the lips of the rounded "petals" of the structure in my family photo seem to be slightly above the heads of the two younger men who are standing.  I dimly recall that these two men were somewhere between 5ft 3" and 5ft 6" tall, and the sculpted petals seem to be a lot higher than those in the Biggart Fountain.  I've looked closely at the early Dalry photos and the sculpted "petals" in each one appear to be at around waist height, enabling people to sit on them, so it's unclear/unlikely that the Biggart fountain has been lowered by the two feet or so that would have been necessary to achieve this since around 1899 when my family photo was taken.

Second, if you look carefully at the chimney stacks in all the photos, the one in my family photo is of a slightly different design from those in the old Dalry pics, having three distinctly separate chimneys rising from the eaves.

Ian

[duskyree]

hi landj, i can assure you that that monical and brosie are 100% correct, that this is the biggart fountain in dalry, which has been moved 3 times, from the original site in your photo beside the U P Kirk on dalry cross, the 2 men who are standing looking to their left are looking directly at the Kirk.
it was fist moved to the public park and the bottom plinth was discarded, it was next moved back to dalry cross and sited in front of st margarets church and moved again in 2010 to townend street, i'v uploaded a photo which i took today 28th may 2013 of it on it's present site.
i spent a very happy childhood in dalry during the second world war and remember drinking from the metal cups which were chained to the fountain, i hope you enjoyed the photos sent by monical and brosie as much as i did, they brought back great memories to me.
hope this is of help to you,  good luck, duskyree.

[Louise Ross]

I'm quite sure this picture was taken in Dalry Ayrshire. As the Monument in the background is the fountain which used to stand on the Dalry cross.

[pharmaT]

I agree it looks like the Biggart fountain, bit confused about the background so I think it may have been when down the park.  Although there is still a Biggart fountain in Largs and that remains on a higher plinth I wonder if it may be that one.

My earliest memories of the Biggart fountain are when it was in Courthill street.