IN November 1948 the Bulletin sent a photographer and a reporter to Blantyre’s Priory Pit, after learning of a move by the National Coal Board’s Scottish division. In effect, “wives of young miners in Lanarkshire are to be guaranteed a modern home by the NCB - provided their husbands agree to ‘emigrate’ to collieries in Fife, Lothian and Ayrshire.”
The gesture was designed to encourage a flow of manpower from uneconomic pits in Lanarkshire to “rich new coalfields”on the east. The offer included lodging and settling-in allowances, free travel vouchers and free removal of furniture. At Blantyre, a NCB official said it was inevitable that some exhausted Clyde Valley pits would shut.
One Priory miner talked about coming home each lunchtime to what he called his “daily miracle” - a hot, three-course meal that his wife had prepared on a coal fire. This family’s modest “but and ben”had no bath, and no gas supply, By contrast, the Bulletin spoke to one miner’s family who were living in Danderhall, near Dalkeith. This family’s new home was a four-room-and-kitchen, steel-framed property with all mod cons; the kitchen was fully equipped.
An idea of the fate of mining in Blantyre comes from the Blantyre Project, which says that there were signs by the 1930s that the local industry was in decline, with pits becoming exhausted. The 1950s witnessed a number of closures in Blantyre. The last to close, in the early 1960s, was the Priory Pit.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here