Denholm, 5 Herdston Place, Cumnock

 Denholm, 5 Herdston Place, Cumnock

        

                                                                  Image - Chimnie - Nos 5 & 7 Herdston Place

        It was very unusual for a council house to be given a name, however, when the Robson Family moved into their newly constructed semi-detached bungalow, 5 Herdston Place, they named it Denholm.

        The Rev. Mark Newton Robson was born in the village of Denholm, Roxburgh, in 1861. He was an evangelist, a missionary and a very gifted public speaker. From 1913 until 1934 he was a popular minister at the Cumnock Congregational Church. 

        His first wife, Agnes Sibbald, died in 1888 when she was only 22 years old. The Rev. Robson married again in 1890 to Elizabeth Davidson and they had a daughter, Mary, who was born in 1894 in Durham. When they arrived in Cumnock they moved into the Congregational Manse. Poor health forced him to retire from the Ministry in 1934 so they had to vacate the Manse.

        A brand new scheme of council houses had just been built at Herdston Place. It consisted of eight blocks of four houses/apartments and seven semi-detached bungalows amounting to forty six new homes for council tenants. The Robsons were allocated Number Five. The bungalows in Herdston Place were very small with very large back gardens, however, the Robson bungalow was a larger and more attractive. 

        The Rev. Robson died at 5 Herdston Place in 1939. His widow Elizabeth and his daughter Mary remained there after his death. Elizabeth died there in 1947 and Mary, who was a spinster, moved away a few years later.

Braemar, 109 Glaisnock Street, Cumnock formerly Herdston Cottage

 Braemar, formerly Herdston Cottage, 109 Glaisnock Street, Cumnock

Braemar formerly Herdston Cottage
     

    Herdston Cottage was situated on the east side of Glaisnock Street a few yard from Pottery Row which was a row of six single story cottages adjacent to the Pottery and roughly opposite the Town Hall. These cottages were constructed to house the Pottery workers. In 1852 James McGavin Nicol was appointed the manager of the Cumnock Pottery & Tile Co. and four years later became the new proprietor. He also made bricks and drainage tiles. 

    By 1871 the Nicol family had moved into Herdston Cottage. James died there in 1885, followed by his wife Annie in 1906. Their son William, a coalmaster, continued to live there with his wife Mary Brydon Nicol. When William died in 1927 he left the cottage in Trust to his wife Mary Brydon Nicol liferentrix and three other Trustees - Alexander F Borland, ironmonger, Cumnock, John Strathdee Nicol, Kent and John T Torrance, Carnwath. Mary Brydon Nicol died in Herdston Cottage in 1938.

    In 1934 the slum clearances in Cumnock had begun. Herdston's Field, which lay behind Herdston Cottage, had been acquired by compulsory purchase from the Marquess of Bute and work had begun building a large scheme of houses. 

    After Mary B. Nicol's death the cottage was purchased by Herbert William Morton and renamed Braemar. Herbert had married Jeanie McGrady in 1922 at the Hotel Royal, Cumnock. Jeanie's family were shoemakers who lived in Breezyhill in Glaisnock Street. Herbert became the proprietor of the Cumnock and Auchinleck Picture Houses. He was the Director of the Ayrshire Bowling Association and a Scottish International team bowler having represented, along with three others, the Scottish team in the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. Their eldest daughter, Jean, married Don Ward who later took over the business.

Sources:

Valuation Rolls, Scotlands People

Scottish Censuses 

Cumnock History Group Website

Cumnock Connections Tree

Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society - The Cumnock Pottery, Gerald Quail

Ardossan & Saltcoalts Herald 4/3/1892

    

Hillside House

 

Hillside House - Image CHG Website 

    Hillside House, 2 Barrhill Road, Cumnock, a large and impressive villa, stood in extensive and beautifully kept gardens and included a conservatory, vinery and greenhouse. It was built by the Crichton family in 1846. Adam Crichton was the factor to the Marquess of Bute and his son, Hew  Crichton, became head of the Edinburgh firm Tait & Crichton, Writers to the Signet. Hew's son Hew Hamilton Crichton, who died unmarried, built Hamilton Place in Cumnock. Hillside House was tenanted by Hew Hamilton Crichton  and his sister Margaret. After her brother's death Margaret went on to fund the building of the Crichton West Memorial Church in Ayr Road in memory of her father and brother.

    Hillside House was purchased by the School Board for £1,500 after Margaret died in 1908 and by 1927 it had been renamed Cumnock Academy. By this time the gardens had almost disappeared and, as another wing was added in 1939 to form a U-plan, Hillside House itself was demolished. The old Academy buildings, sadly, are now abandoned and scheduled for demolition.

Cumnock Academy (latterly Greenmill Primary)

Sources:

Cumnock History Group - Researched by Bobby Grierson

New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn