Lambhill was a small village outwith the boundaries of Glasgow until 1926 when it became part of the ‘big city’. Most of the men worked in the nearby coalmines, quarries and foundries and lived in small stone cottages. Lambhill House was built in 1788 by William Graham and his descendants lived there until the early part of the 20th century when the Glasgow Corporation took possession. In 1947 Scottish Special Housing laid out the Cadder Scheme on the lands of Lambhill House. The tenement houses in the village built before 1900 were torn down and replaced by modern flats.
A Clippie remembers
Strachur Street previously known as Drummond Street. was the Lambhill terminus for Glasgow Corporation trams. The first service was route 4b to Lint house and the last
route was 31 to Merrylee on 5th December 1959. On the corner there was ‘The Terminus
Café’ were the clippies would exchange their many coins for 10 shilling notes and pound notes to lighten the load from their heavy money bag. One clippie Annie Millson recalls
“I popped into the cafe to change coins for notes, unfortunately for me the driver did not realise I had not returned to the tram when he took off on the outward journey. It was not until he got to Saracen Cross that it occurred to him I was missing (I did like a wee gab
With him during the journey, so he must have been missing me). He waited until I
arrived on the next tram and we went on our merry way - my takings were a bit lower that day!”
December 07: Cadder Pit Disaster
At this time of year it is important to remember others that are no longer with us. Therefore we are dedicating this page to the memory of the twenty-two men who lost their lives in the mine shafts of Cadder No 15 and No 17 Colliery. The pits were situated near to the Cadder Woods.
On the afternoon of Sunday 3rd August 1913, at around 4.30pm, a fire broke out in a cabin near to one of the shafts. Within a few hours most of the back shift of No 15 colliery, consisting of a maintenance squad of 26 men, had been overcome by fire and smoke. Fireman Charles Riley died attempting to warn the miners. Three men escaped by another passage and one, Michael McDonald, was found alive after 21 hours in the burning pit.
The tragedy took the lives of 22 men – 14 of these men were from Lambhill, 11 were members of St Agnes chapel. Three brothers – Alexander Brown, John Brown and William Brown were among the men that perished. The funerals took place on Wednesday 6th of August when around 50,000 mourners turned up to pay their respects. A memorial stone to the victims can be seen in St Kentigern Cemetery in Lambhill.
The King awarded an ‘Edward Medal of the Second Class’ to Robert Dunbar for bravery. He succeeded in saving two of his fellow workmen. After saving the two men he again descended underground to assist in the rescue.
The Carron Company, who owned the mines, were found to be in default in the provision of rescue apparatus and both shafts were closed down after the disaster.