Tracing Limerigg family help please.

[mosstrooper]

My Mother Jean Reynolds went to Sorn Cottage, Crossroads, Avonbridge for my birth at her parents house in 1941, some time later she moved to Heatherfield Cottage in Limerigg, Slamannan where we lived up till 1946 before moving once more into Lanarkshire. I know from living there as a small boy, Heatherfield Cottage had 4 dwellings of one room each, it is marked on old maps, image attached, you will see the property at the bottom of the image. I went to Stirlingshire Archives Office to look at Valuation Rolls for the years 1941 up to 1946 and we are not mentioned anywhere on any Volume, it does mention Heatherfield Cottage but under only one name, not the 4 families who lived there, so I'm stuck. Is there any other way I can check the Inhabitants of that row of houses for our family named Kerr or Reynolds.

James Kerr.

[ColC]

The valuation rolls every 5 years from 1855 to 1940 are on https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

In 1940 there are entries for 4 people named Reynolds they are tenant occupiers HOUSE LIMERIGG SLAMANNAN. JEANIE REYNOLDS is noted as a Proprietor HOUSE LIMERIGG SLAMANNAN.

Two/Three in Avonbridge, SLAMANNAN 1940

PATRICK REYNOLDS Tenant Occupier HOUSE CROSS ROADS AVONBRIDGE

SARAH REYNOLDS OR HUNTER Proprietor Occupier HOUSE CROSS ROADS AVONBRIDGE

SARAH REYNOLDS OR HUNTER Proprietor HOUSE CROSS ROADS AVONBRIDGE

Sadly nothing later.

Colin

[mosstrooper]

Thank you for taking an interest Colin, The Reynolds people at Crossroads Avonbridge are my Aunt & Grandfather and G-Mother, the Limerigg house owned by Jeanie Reynolds is the building I am interested in, after 1940, the person who bought that property from Jeanie listed it as being a cottage when in fact it was 4 houses she rented out and that info is not listed in the Valuation Rolls. I have looked at the info on Scotlandspeople up to 1940 as you say, and studied the Rolls kept by Stirlingshire Archives up to 1946, but none list the family names of those 4 houses, just the absentee owner of the block. The Lady in charge at Stirling Archives said this happens often, you can be lucky and find who you are looking for but these Records are not meant to be used for that, it is Property info first, not people and The Census will never come anywhere near in my lifetime (I'm 80).

James Kerr. 

[Forfarian]

Have you tried the registers of electors? They should list all those aged over 21 who lived in any of those cottages in the 1940s. They probably have sets of them in libraries and archives in Falkirk and Stirling, and they definitely have them in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh because I've consulted some of them there. As far as I know they are not available online anywhere.

[mosstrooper]

Thank you for that, if these offices are not working from Home I will try that, I have other records to check regarding the Parish of Airdrie in the same timeframe and a few phone calls let me know that lot are answering phones & emails from home, so it might be better as you say to go direct to The National Library (if I can get a Train)

JK.

[mosstrooper]

I have found the reason why the Valuation Rolls do not list the 4 houses I am researching at Heatherfield, Limerigg.
They do not list houses of less than £4 per annum Rental Value so those 4 houses were just noted as Heatherfield Cottage with no Occupants listed. Having lived there as a child in the early 40s I can tell you it was a Hovel unfit for habitation. These were Miners houses built in the 1800s.

James Kerr. The Impoverished.