stirling-1963-vol-1/05_084

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER
Another very useful account of the older working-class housing is given in a description of
Larbert parish written in 1841. ¹ This reads: "The houses of the country people generally
consist of a ground floor, without any upper floor -- This ground floor is about 30 feet by 15,
divided by a transverse wall into two rooms of about 15 feet square each. The entrance is in
the middle of one of the 30 feet sides. The outer door enters into a small lobby. From this lobby
there is on one hand a door into the kitchen, and on the other hand a door into the other room.
In the old dwellings -- the outer door was near one end of the house, and gave entrance to
the first room; from this first room there was a door which led to the inner room. The house
consisted of a but and a ben in the language of the country -- A few of the present dwelling-
houses -- have -- a ground floor and an upper floor. The roofs -- are most commonly
covered with pan tile, and many of the new ones are covered with slate." In many cases,
however, it could be seen that the original roofs were of thatch, and the same passage goes on
to describe various methods of thatching - with straw, lint, bracken and divots. Lime mortar
seems to have been in fairly general use.
Though described specifically as the dwellings of the "country people", cottages of these
types can be seen very commonly in most parts of the county, and when strung out in con-
tinuous rows they are typical of the streets of the small towns and villages that were built in
the later 18th and earlier 19th centuries. Examples have been noted at Kilsyth (No. 254),
Laurieston (No. 267), Polmont (No. 268) and elsewhere, and the old "miner's raws" at the
collieries, now everywhere demolished or improved beyond recognition, must have been
essentially similar. ² A constant feature of houses of this type is the provision of crooks for
outside shutters, but the shutters themselves have almost all disappeared, and only two
examples of original shutters have been found for inclusion in the Inventory (Nos. 152 and
268). It is difficult to say when cottages of this kind were first built, but some examples
at Gargunnock (No. 286) probably go back to the middle of the 18th century, and others at
Cambusbarron (No. 258) and Beancross (No. 400) may well be older. The industrial flats
at Lennoxtown (No. 276) and Fintry (No. 282), and houses with forestairs such as are seen at
Airth (p. 309) and elsewhere, seem to have been evolved through the placing of one pair of
but-and-ben units on top of another and providing separate access; though these buildings
must not be confused with better-class, two-storeyed houses which have been divided into
working-class tenements after suffering a decline in status. Another type of industrial dwelling
is seen at Bannockburn (No. 264). None of the factory buildings with which the early industrial
flats and houses were associated has survived in anything like pristine condition; those
which have not been demolished or gone to ruin have been so greatly altered that no suitable
example could be found for detailed description in the Inventory. Brief notice, however, is
given of hand-loom mills at Bannockburn (No. 264) and Cambusbarron (No. 258), of a cotton-
mill at Fintry (No. 282), of an engineering shop at Carron (No. 265) and of nail-making under
No. 263.
The country cottages at Larbert, mentioned above, are described as being "more roomy
and more convenient, - better built and better roofed, - the walls and the doors higher, and the

1 N.S.A., viii (Stirlingshire), 378 n.
2 An unexpected tribute to the colliery row is paid by the minister of Denny parish (N.S.A., viii (Stirlingshire), 122). He
writes, "The most remarkable erection at Hags is a handsome row of collier cottages, amounting to twelve in number, terminated
on the east with a large building as a store for the workers at the colliery. These were built in 1836."

-- 48