The Leech Pond, Garscadden

[masmarn]

Hi folks,

After visiting this forum for a long time now, I thought this might be the place to ask for help in identifying a location mentioned on two separate certificates in my possession relating to an accident involving a great-aunt of mine.

This side of my family came over from Ireland in about 1863 and settled in the Milngavie area, where most of them remained until just before the Great War when many of them moved to Glasgow. As well as Milngavie being listed on many of the certificates, some of them also list Garscadden Rows or just Garscadden. I think the latter is the old mining village of that name.

The two certificates I have list The "Leech" Pond, Garscadden, Parish of New Kilpatrick as the location. I've searched old maps of the time online, but haven't found it on any of them. The fact that the name is contained within quotation marks makes me think it may have been a local name for a pond in the area—perhaps named after a person or as a place where leeches were plentiful.

I'm hoping the name may ring a bell with someone here.

Thanks.

[masmarn]

Just a quick follow-up to my request.

Someone was good enough to send me a page from a local paper, The Herald, from April 1911, and it included a short paragraph about the drowning incident involving my great-aunt, confirming that it took place 'in the quiet village of Garscadden'. It also mentioned 'the Leech', rather than the 'Leech Pond', so it seems that it was a name known to the locals of the time, and was probably forgotten as the village disappeared.

[GR2]

The Garscadden Rows are on the map here. A few possible ponds round about, but none are named.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=55.92607&lon=-4.37811&layers=6&b=ESRIWorld&o=100

[Dave Francis]

A quick Google search suggests that a "leech" or "leaching" pool is a cesspit 

[masmarn]

Thanks for those suggestions.

I see on the map that the Garscadden Burn runs alongside the Rows, so perhaps something there. I hadn't thought about a cesspit as the location, but somehow that makes it seem worse. Possibly connected to the mines and pits in the area.

I konw that members of the family worked in a local paper mill and also a dye works, so I'll see if 'leeching' or 'leaching' has anything to do with those works.