Lesmahagow

[osprey28]

Does anyone know where Viewbank would have been in Lesmahagow around 1905 ish - it was a street not an individual house(I think).  Some of my ancestors were born at no 10 Viewbank between 1905- 1911.

Also - any potential sources with photos of that vicinity at that time.

Many thanks.

Osprey

[DonM]

According to the 1905 Valuation yes the building was called Viewbank and it was on Abbeygreen at Bankhouse and had 19 tenants.

Don

[Malcolm33]

   So where might South Side, Main Street Lesmahagow have been.    When I try google maps it isn't recognised.    My gt.gt.grandfather John Draffan, 36 year old widower, was there in 1851 with his daughter Jane and his son George.  Gt.grandad, James Currie Draffan had been packed off to live with his Gran in Coatbridge.    That same year 1 year old Thomas Draffan, another son of John's was shown as a lodger with a family called Patterson at Gadburn, Lesmahagow.   Sounds like a farm...would anyone know?

    In 1861 John Draffan was at New Town, Lesmahagow - again haven't found it.

    I believe in signs, and I find it more than a coincidence that I was living in Viewbank Melbourne from 1989 to 1994.

[Forfarian]

So where might South Side, Main Street Lesmahagow have been.    When I try google maps it isn't recognised.   

I suspect that 'south side' was just someone's way of distinguishing the houses on the north side of the street from the houses on the south side of the street. Not a place name in its own right. I've come across this many times in the census.

Having said this, it's not too helpful because the main street in Lesmahagow seems to be Abbeygreen, and it runs roughly north and south so doesn't have a 'south side' or a 'north side'.

[Malcolm33]

  Thanks Forfarian.    I think that was what puzzled me when I first looked it up on a map.    I should have asked more questions when I went there in the 1980's, but it was all new to me then.

[MonicaL]

Hi Malcolm 

This it the listing of the enumerator's "walk" for the 1881 census. This is always a helpful way of trying to figure out where somewhere was as you have other 'sign posts' from what else was listed next to it.

This link is from 1881 http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/LANARK/1999-07/0931725519  I can only see a mention of 'New Town' not South (or North  ) Side, Main Street.

However, we need need a map to be able to see the detail...

There is is this link www.scottish-places.info/towns/townmap422.html - just click on historical tab link. Not sure if this is detailed enough really.

Monica

[Forfarian]

Go to http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NS8139

Click on the map and use the slider to increase the scale. At maximum you will get the names of all the streets, and you can move around to look for the rural area. There might even be images of some of the farms etc.

[Malcolm33]

  Thanks Monica.    Looks like some of the names used in 1851 had gone then by 1881.    One big change I spotted right away is really funny.

   They have Draffan Castle, now Craignethan Castle down as Tillietudlum, the name invented by Sir Walter Scott.   So they were catering for the American Tourist as early as 1881 !!!

    The late Sir Nigel Tranter has 'Draffan House' in his book 'The Wallace' so I wrote to him years ago and he replied with the whole story of how the Draffan sided with the Black Douglas and crossed the King who confiscated the Draffan lands around 1455 and handed them over to the Earl of Arran - Hamilton.

[osprey28]

Hi Folks

Many thanks for the information on Viewbank - very helpful.

Much obliged

Osprey