Alpine Terrace, Uddingston

[mojones]

My Grandparents lived at no 3 and we lived at no 4 for a couple of years. Family name is Donnelly

[Andrew C.]

I've never heard of Alpine Terrace, it looked a really nice building from the pictures on the site, although I am sure it wasn't. I know where it is on the map but without the motorway or the rest of the modern houses it is hard to put it in context. It's a pity most of the tenaments in Lanarkshire got knocked down and not saved the way they where in Glasgow. My grandparents lived in the building in John Street, Bellshill, there where lots if tenenments in the centre of Bellshill which have now gone. As children we used to go on an adventure to play in "The Canyon" which was a massive serious of bings between Bellshill and Viewpark some of the pit workings where still there in the seventies, not sure what colliery this was.     

[mojones]

Hi- Alpine Terrace did look magnificent but it wasn't really. I loved it but I was only a child. There were 3 stories on 3 sides- the front side was on what was then the New Edinburgh Road. There were mostly two rooms- one which was a kitchen/bedroom/living room with an outside shared toilet. In the centre were the wash houses. At the far side there was a children's playground. It looked over towards Uddingston with fields all around. At the to was Tannochside and there was [and think there still maybe] Spindlehoe Bray. My Granny had an old range which heated the room and she did her cooking on it. She brought up six children in those two rooms!
My Mother's family lived in Muir Park Rows at View Park. They too were Miner's cottages [The men in Alpine worked mostly at the View Park and Uddinsgston mines]
The rows were also knocked down and a new estate was built- behind St Columba's Church. There's now a petrol station where some of the houses were. We'd catch a bus at View Pak and get off at Tannochside and walk down Spindlehoe Brae and along to the right to Alpine. One of my earliest memories is standing looking over Uddinsgton where it was all lit up!! That must have been just after VE day when the street lights came on again. I was born in Nov 1943 and never knew there were street lights! We left Alpine in 1949 and continud to visit till after they were pulled down and the rest of the family moved to View Park on the new estate- where some of them still live!

[TerriG]

try this http://alpineterraceuddingston.webs.com/

Hi mojones & Andrew C
It was interesting to read your descriptions. 
Mojones, have you visited the website listed above?

[mojones]

Yes I have thank you- e-mailed all my info but no-one has replied so far. Bit disappointed as I wanted to introduce it to my cousin in Australia who lived in Alpine longer than me [and he's a few years older] He sent me several photos- the same ones that are on the site.
Have you managed to work out where it was yet? I know that Barrat built an estate there when it as demolished. So many changes over the years though. No more "Bings" anymore. We live in Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border and that was a big coal mining area. They've all closed and landscaped. It's beautiful - especially where they've planted trees to extend the old Nottingham Forest. Robin Hood's larder tree is still going- though it needs propping up these days!

Moira

[TerriG]

Hello again Moira

I'm hoping to find out some more about it when I visit Scotland during the Easter holidays.  I'm thinking the Mitchell Library in Glasgow might be a good place to start.  I am also hoping to meet up with a second cousin of mine who lives in Uddingston, as a bit of local knowledge is helpful (I live in Hampshire).  When did you and your family live there?

Terri

[mojones]

Hi Terry- we left Scotland in 1949 though we continued to visit relatives for some years. I still have  cousins in View Park [there are lots more but haven't a clue where they are]
I took my husband up to meet what was left of the family when we got married in 1964. Alpine was gone before then.
I don't know anyone in Uddingston though my cousins Grandchildren attend St John The Baptist school and church [they're all Roman Catholic]
There's a history of the church online and also one of Uddingston http://saintjohnbaptist.org/history.htm
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=20480

My family and I all went to the old school and attended the church. It's all been demolished and new ones built. As a child, I loved the church for it's beautiful carvings and gold leaf. That's all gone now and it's a very modern church.
One of my favourite haunts when I was little, was an Italian Ice Cream Parlour. I fell in love with the handsome son of the family when I was about three and was sure he'd wait for me to grow up. One day we went for an ice cream and Mama brought out a wedding album. My hero had gone and married someone else. I was NOT happy!
I last visited Uddingston in 2003 and there were places I could just remember but couldn't find the Ice Cream Parlour
My brother was born in Alpine in 1948  and was- like his father- christened in St John's. I was 5 years old.
Everything has changed and there's Motorways where there once was fields and a trip to Glasgow which we used to make by tram, is just a few minutes in the car.
We also went to visit the Livingstone memorial in nearby Blantyre which was interesting.
If you get back- you'll have to go and visit Loch Lomand. There used to be cruises there but I don't know if they still have them. It's really beautiful.
Then there's the Falkirk Wheel which is an amazing piece of machinery. It's on the canal  and lifts the boats from the lower to the higher parts. The engineering was done by a company near where we now live in England.
I hope you make it and have a wonderful time visiting your roots
Regards

Moira

[colin.mccredie]

We lived a No1 Alpine Terrace from the late 1940s and I was born there in 1952.  We then moved to Viewpark on 1 May 1959.

I think that Alpine Terrace was demolished around about 1963.

There is a clip on YouTube at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dybO7x-xvLo

[Moira Jones]

Have watched the Video on You Tube. Dan and Susan McLellan were my Aunt and Uncle. Susan was my Dad's older sister and she died in 1949 and later Uncle Dan married Cissie - her surnames gone sorry- but she lived on the front facing the Edinburgh Road. She has two or three boys. One was killed in a tragic Car Crash. Uncle Dan was the "Factor's" Agent and sorted out all the housing problems as well as being a good advisor. He was a Signalman on the Railways and had a Motorbike- which he took me for a ride on. I loved him to bits. He had Three Children, Catherine, Duncan and Patrick. Catherine moved to View Park but she died a year or so ago. Duncan lives in Glasgow but is very unwell. Patrick emigrated to Australia and now lives in Melbourne with his wife and near his two daughters and family. He visited me a few years ago which was a great treat as he was my hero when I was little. My Grandfather was an ex miner [the mines were between Alpine and Uddingston as far as I remember] Granddad was in charge of the Swing Park and kept it in good condition. I adored him. I remember sitting on the wings one day and there was a lightening strike on the Bing across Spindlehow Brae- which frightened the life out of me! I do't recognise anyone else but I do remember the Gala Days. They were great fun. I have a photo of me with two other little girls but I haven't been able to post it