looking for Bruce Quadrant, Main Street, Monkton

[Doddie]

Hi, I am doing some family research for my girlfriend. I am trying to locate the street where a shop used to be. According to the Valuation Roll for 1915-1916 it was to be found at 7 Bruce Quadrant, Main Street in Monkton. I have had a look at some old maps of the area. Main Street is longish and I cannot find Bruce Quadrant anywhere. Perhaps it has had a name change or no longer exists at all. Hoping someone can help me.

Regards

Doddie

[AlanBoyd]

There is a property advertisement in the Ayrshire Post, September 1994 for

Prestwick, Bruce Quadrant, last remaining luxury 3 Apt. Top Floor Flat within this quality development overlooking Prestwick Cross and Gardens.

Comparing the photo in the property ad with streetview, this seems to be the building which now houses Costa.

Confirmation comes from the 17 January 1986 edition of the Ayrshire Post which has a long article reporting on a talk by local historian Mr Hugh Law which includes this:

Mr Law took his audience along Main Street, recalling the shopkeepers who had occupied the shops in Bruce Quadrant, between Crofthead Road and Saunterne Road, in his youth. Only the last of these, the Burns Emporium, still retained its name although it had had a number of changes of ownership. Roughly in the middle of the Quadrant was the Town Hall, which had started as the Unionist Hall and had been known for two short periods in the Twenties as the New Cinema.

A map view from 1958 (Bruce Quadrant not labelled).

https://maps.nls.uk/view/130365799#zoom=4.1&lat=3325&lon=3328&layers=BT

Added: no 7 is marked on the map. Looking at streetview, I think this is Stewart Travel.

[Doddie]

Hi Alan, thank you for your reply. I think you've cleared that all up for me. Some very helpful information there. I think my confusion lay in the fact that I was thinking that a quadrant was a square or a contained area of housing, rather than a section of a street located between two other streets/roads.

Regards

Doddie

[AlanBoyd]

I found this photo online at (shortened url):

https://tinyurl.com/bdykhk7d

The building with the chimney at the front of the building is the one containing the flat that was advertised in 1994. I think no. 7 may have just been cut off at the left, but I’m not sure about that.

[AlanBoyd]

Bruce Quadrant seems to have been built up right at the end of the 19th century. On the 1895 25 inch map the area is still undeveloped, although the roads that define the shape are already there (as they are on a map from 1860, not linked here). This emphasises the quadrant (quarter circle) nature of the plot.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/82867617#zoom=5.3&lat=2412&lon=13197&layers=BT

On the 1909 25 inch map the area is fully developed:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/82867620#zoom=5.5&lat=2701&lon=13469&layers=BT

And the first newspaper item that I have found dates from 1899. I didn't find anything with a search for "7 Bruce Quadrant".

[AlanBoyd]

This is a view looking north towards the Red Lion Hotel on the corner of Crofthead Road, so the buildings at the extreme right are at the north end of Bruce Quadrant – notice the bank, which is also shown on the 1909 map that I linked to above. I have a feeling that no 7 may be just cut off again.

Is the bank listed on the valuation roll from 1915?

[AlanBoyd]

Added: no 7 is marked on the map. Looking at streetview, I think this is Stewart Travel.

Lots of ads in newspapers for Stewart Travel, 7 Main Street, Prestwick, so I think that I got this right assuming that Bruce Quadrant numbering corresponds to Bruce Quadrant numbering.

[AlanBoyd]

1905 valuation rolls
Bank office, 3 Bruce Quadrant, Main Street
proprietor: Trustees of the late Gavin Girdwood, baker
tenant: Clydesdale bank, Glasgow, per Charles Smith, bank agent
occupier: same
(no 3 also has two other occupants, a shop (chemist), and a house.)

There is no mention that I can see of no 7, but some entries for Bruce Quadrant have no associated house number..

At no. 1 Gavin and John Girdwood, bakers, are tenants and occupiers (proprietor as no. 3)  Looking at the photo in reply #5 I think I can make this out on the sign of shop on the corner.

[Doddie]

Hi Alan, thank you so much for all the information you are forwarding me. It is very much appreciated.

Regards

Doddie