The “Peephole” Location.

There has been much confusion over the years regarding the origin of the term “Peephole” and as to where exactly it was located within the Fairhill area of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Many people believe that it was the name given to the location of a viewpoint at the start of a pathway which was at the top of a set of stairs beginning at Mill Road leading down into the valley of the Cadzow Burn and up past the former Fairhill House (which the area is named after). It is also theorised that youngsters from this point would spy on courting couples who met each other on the nearby “Lovers Lane” , approximately between where Alness Street and Croftwood Road are now located.

I believe that the term “Peephole” was adopted during the Killing Time by the Covenanters and their supporters from Fairhill House and the nearby ancient village of Meikle Earnock. It would have been used to describe the intersection point between the Cadzow Burn and an old footbridge that formed part of a footpath leading from the Fairhill House Gate Lodge located on Mill Road down into the valley over the burn and up to the House. The Peephole footbridge was raised above the ground, so that you could travel over the burn. It would have had a fence or wall on either of it’s sides, with a spyhole or the said “Peephole” providing a long view point down through the Cadzow Burn Valley. So that they could see if the King’s soldiers were advancing towards them! In later years another small footbridge was installed just a few feet away and in line with this one. It was linked to the fore mentioned path and stairs beginning at Mill Road that people confuse with being the Peephole location. You can easily reference this on old maps.

There is also the nearby Neilsland Burn that runs down past the former Laigh Stonehall farmstead, which is now the location of Buchanan Crescent, Fraser Crescent, Westwood Crescent and Hardie Street. The confluence point (where the Neilsland Burn flows into the Cadzow Burn) is marked by another small footbridge at the bottom of the lane at the side of the Mill Inn Bar. The house I grew up in overlooks this area and it was my playground!

It is further along the same valley that the Laighstonehall Covenanter lies in an unmarked grave! I believe that he was making his way towards the Peephole and ultimately Fairhill House to seek refuge with the “Laird Old James Strang”: Brother to Covenanter Martyr Christopher Strang. During the Killing Time the landscape was open as this was long before the housing, streets and even collieries were developed. The length of the Cadzow Burn that the Peephole footbridge and path intersected also lay open during this time and it wasn’t until long after all of the local housing areas were established that the burn was enclosed within an underground tunnel pipeline. Starting at the foot of the bing (bottom of Neilsland Colliery area) and ending on the other side of Millgate Road. The Cadzow Burn tunnel exit point at Millgate Road was built from local blonde sandstone during the Victorian era to originally support the Fairhill Colliery railway line and subsequently Millgate Road!

Approximately two thirds of the length of the Cadzow Burn tunnel lies beneath Fairhill Football Park (the pavilion/changing room is where the Fairhill House Gate Lodge was located). The location of the football park is the lowest centre of gravity within the valley as is the area which used to be a small ash covered 5 a-side pitch behind the Millgate Road tunnel exit point. Hence the reason why many matches are cancelled due to flooding!

The topography of the Cadzow Burn valley has not changed much in hundreds of years and it is the nucleus of the area. There is a Roman Tumulus located near the edge of this valley suggesting that there may well have been some small kind of Roman settlement in the area. My theory is that a Roman centurion/soldier may have broke away from the garrison stationed at Bothwellhaugh and formed his own homestead here. And, when he and his kin died they were cremated and their ashes were placed in the terracotta (earth-baked) urns that were interred in the tumulus many years ago.

Written By

Hamilton Historian.

Terry Murphy.

Meikle Earnock Graveyard.

Meikle Earnock Graveyard

by Walter Gowans c. 1907.

Photo Credit: South Lanarkshire Council, Low Parks Museum.

An oil painting on canvas depicting the Meikle Earnock Graveyard (Burial Ground). The miniature mausoleum with three headstones and flat tombstone are in the foreground. The rough landscape of Fairhill Park can be seen beyond the parameter wall.

The graveyard which is now a raised grass area is located just off the top end section of Neilsland Road, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It can be accessed via Millgate Road at it’s opposite end with the remains of a Roman Tumulus in the foreground.

Written By

Hamilton Historian.

Terence (Terry) Murphy.

Meikle Earnock Village.

Meikle Earnock Village

By William Glover c. 1877.

Photo Credit: South Lanarkshire Council, Low Parks Museum.

An oil painting on canvas depicting a family with their dog eating at a table in the centre of Meikle Earnock village. The old farm entrance is on the left with a clutch of chickens just outside it. A woman and child draw water from the pump well that a horse is tethered to.

Beyond there is another woman and boy pulling a small cart past the miner’s row of cottages. The village centre which is now a well developed housing area is located at the top of Neilsland road, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. There is a mini roundabout in the centre of the junction with the entrance to Scotia Gardens behind the roundabout and Meikle Earnock Road cuts through it.

Written by

Hamilton Historian.

Terence (Terry) Murphy.

The Sisters Of Scio statue at Earnock.

The Sisters Of Scio statue that was created by Carluke sculptor Robert Forrest sits in its original position within the former Earnock Estate (now private grounds), Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Sculpted from Craigleith stone the actual date that the statue was created is not documented but it was most likely during the early c. 1830’s. As that would have coincided with the publication of the artwork and poem that clearly gave Forrest the inspiration for his remarkable piece.

The statue was purchased for Sir John Watson Bt of Neisland and Earnock by his Estates Factor Mr. Mitchell during c. 1876 at a Lyon & Turnbull auction.

During c. 1829 The Sisters Of Scio was first depicted as a painting by French Artist Adolphe Phalipon and was then subsequently reproduced as an etched engraving by Henry Rolls. The original Henry Rolls plate engraving was purchased by Henry F. Sewall of New York during c. 1897. It is now housed at the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.

During c. 1830 the engraving was published in ” The Literary Souvenir ” alongside a poem also entitled; ” The Sisters Of Scio ” which was written by Felicia Hemans. The artwork and poem are both tragedies based on the Turkish Massacre of the inhabitants of Scios (or ” Chios “) Island , Greece during c. 1822.

The Turks captured the sisters after killing their family. Whilst perched on a bank of the island’s rocky coastline, the younger sister expresses her distress as the elder attempts to comfort her. Before they are shipped away to another island within the Ottoman Empire.

THE SISTERS OF SCIO.

” As are our hearts, our way is one,

And cannot be divided. Strong affection

Contends with all things and o’ercometh all things,

Will I not live with thee? will I not cheer thee?

Would’st though be lonely then? would’st thou be sad? “

Joanna Baillie.

” Sister, Sweet sister! Let me weep awhile!

Bear with me—give the sudden passion way!

Thoughts of our own lost home, our sunny isle,

Come, as a wind that o’er a reed hath sway;

Till my heart dies with yearnings and sick fears;—

Oh! could my life melt from me in these tears!

“Our father’s voice, our mother’s gentle eye,

Our brother’s bounding step—Where are they,

where?

Desolate, desolate our chambers lie!

—How hast thou won thy spirit from despair?

O’er mine swift shadows, gusts of terror, sweep;—

I sink away—bear with me—let me weep!”

” Yes! weep my sister! weep, till from thy heart

The weight flow forth in tears! yet sink thou not;

I bind my sorrow to a lofty part,

For thee, my gentle one! our orphan lot

To meet in quenchless trust; my soul is strong—

Thou, too, wilt rise in holy might ere long.

” A breath of our free heavens and noble sires,

A memory of our old victorious dead,—

These mantle me with power! and though their fires

In a frail censer briefly may be shed,

Yet shall they light us onward, side by side;—

Have the wild birds, and have not we, a guide?

” Cheer, then beloved! on whose meek brow is set

Our mother’s image—in whose voice a tone,

A faint sweet sound of hers is lingering yet,

An echo of our childhood’s music gone;—

Cheer thee! thy sister’s heart and faith are high:

Our path is one—with thee I live and die! “

Felicia Hemans.

At a later date during c. 1833 Charlotte Bronte painted a watercolour copy on paper of the original Henry Rolls engraving.

Written By

Hamilton Historian.

Terence (Terry) Murphy.

ref; The John Watson Journals. The Sisters Of Scio|Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston. The Art Of The Brontes, Google eBook. The Complete Works of Mrs. Hemans: Reprinted Entire from the last….,Volume 2 Google eBook.

The Swiss Cottage, Neilsland.

A picture is worth a thousand words! This elaborately ornate Swiss Cottage was located in the grounds of the former Neilsland (Mid Stonehall) Estate, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The area is now known as ” Neilsland Park”.

The building was constructed during c. 1873 and was first used as a holiday cottage for visiting guests and later as an office for Thomas Watson Esquire, who was the owner of the estate and 2nd oldest son of Sir John Watson Bt of Neilsland and Earnock.

In the photograph Just left of the Swiss Cottage (which lent it’s name to the nearby local housing estate; “Swisscot”), is a statue of Lord Byron. Gathering up his cloak with his left hand and clasping a book in his right, he settles down in a seated position within the tranquil surroundings to take rest and gaze out on the pond, in an afternoon’s repose.

Three swans drift along the pond (which was fed by the Neilsland Burn) heading towards the man-made weir/waterfall with a small footbridge over it. On the right-hand side is a footpath that leads away from the Summer-House which is out of shot.

Sadly, the Swiss Cottage was burned to the ground by vandals during the early 1950’s. And, it is only the foundations of the Swiss Cottage, Weir and the Rockery that are left. The Lord Byron Statue has been moved several feet away from his original position, and, he is now headless!

You can still clearly see the shape of where the pond was in the present day landscape. And, over the years it has reduced back to the original single course of the Neilsland Burn that runs through the estate. The original small Victorian stone bridge, which was where the photograph was taken has been replaced by a present-day wooden and metal structure that sadly, is being regularly vandalised. If only the younger generation would appreciate their history and heritage!

Written By

Hamilton Historian.

Terence (Terry) Murphy.

The Royal Bar & Royal Hotel.

The Royal Bar and Royal Hotel Building is located at the corner of Duke Street/Quarry Street, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. During the Victorian Era the building was owned by Mr G. Dodd. In later years the bar became “The British Linen Bank” and the downstairs section of the hotel was then modified to house the Hotel Bar.

In more recent years the Royal Bar section of the building on Duke Street functioned as “Eleganza” which was a specialist wedding dress shop but nowadays it is a licensed cafe/bistro bar. The Royal Hotel continued to function and serve food in it’s small restaurant up until the 1990’s when it was converted into flats. The downstairs section of the building which was the hotel bar is now a unisex hair dressing salon and three sets of steps have been added to the structure below each of the three windows, one of which is an entrance doorway for the salon, separate from the original hotel (flats) entrance.

Written By

Hamilton Historian.

Terence (Terry) Murphy.