In the days when the turnpike road of advancement lay far
from the old town and scarcely a whisper from the outer world broke the
stillness of its old-fashioned dingy street, there came to Saltcoats a poor
weaver man carrying his loom and gear. He - so the legend runs - ascended the
then new street which the Earl had made through Grisel How's ground. What with
fatigue and long travel, his whole gear fell and smashed. Looking ruefully at
the result of the disaster, he exclaimed, "Ma Guidness, I've broken the
race road", for , you must understand, the "race road" is the
long wooden trough or cradle through which the shuttle flies and the poor
weaver started his trade and initiated that wonderful colony of loom bavour
that became Saltcoats' Weaverland. The name of the colony became the
"Race Road", although a more literal explanation is given by its
gradual incline, corresponding to its more modern designation - the Raise
Road. For many a day there stood at the foot, on the right hand beyond the
railway, an odd-looking structure with steps projecting on the street line in
such a way as to compel a climb up and a climb down. This was known as
"Henry's Steps", taking the name from the old seafaring worthy who
owned the property. Now, it occupied the site of the historic Bog House. Only
a small piece of the ground remains, for the new street,, Glencairn Street,
was broke through it by the railway; and a fence hems in the drowsy enclosure.
Through this, the thoughtful today peer curiously, wondering at that mass of
neglected vegetation, with an old sundial giving back a sense of its one-time
country charm and restfulness.
There were two wells in Raise Street; one at the head, the
other at the foot opposite the Steeple, the latter of old called
"Cunningham's Well", because Cunningham, the carrier's house sat
there, beside the Burgher Church. Latterly it was the Steeple Well.
Springvale, to the westward, received its poetic name when
it came to the Jacks of Chapelhill. When the Glebe was still unbuilt on, the
land went backwards with occasional rises forming "terraced" ground,
the last surviving vestiges of monastic gardens. The locality bears the memory
of James Mitchell, of Dykes. "Gentle" Dykes, now Laigh Dykes, was
its name when identified with Dr Millar a figure of old Raise Street, familiar
to a past generation as he took his rounds in his suit of spotless black. He
was punctilious in dress and the nocturnal bang of his knocker never disturbed
his equanimity.
The huge drums of the Gas Works remind us that the first
buildings were erected and the main pipes laid during the summer and autumn of
1836. Andrew Aitken was the first gas manager. The watchful supervision and
skill of Mr John Napier Myers have done much to maintain the later prestige of
the Corporation. The more modern part of the Gas Works was acquired on 25
February 1865. A copy of the rules and regulations of the Saltcoats Gas Light
Company, printed at Irvine, bears that these were adopted on February 26 1836.
The back way, leading past the Anti - Burgher Meeting -
House of Meikleyett, remained free from the intrusion of the builder until
1824. It was called Raise Lane or the Meikleyett. Beyond was a continuous
hedge, leading to the Raise park yards, now turned into Wellpark Road.
The uniting of Springvale and the Raise Street in 1883 is
memorialised sufficiently in the name of the little cross street, "Union"Street.
Now buried in the enclosures of the Gas Works and leaving not a trace behind,
was the Anti Burgher's house of pray-er- "the Pea Doo Kirk" - a
quaint little edifice, which derived its name from a dove with out-stretched
wings on a sounding board above the pulpit.
The corner of Springvale encloses the Catholic Seminary,
opened in October, 1868 and described in a contemporary record as a model of
medieval domestic architecture. It was produced to the designs of Mr Ingram,
Kilmarnock. The body of later days were fortunate in the erection of a fine
hall, called the "League of the Cross" Hall.
In the ancient well-meadow, from which Wellpark derived its
name, was a curious draw well, the only one in the town which could keep the
leeches alive and the waters of which were there-fore much sought for by the
local apothecaries.
Every step of the Raise Street is full of hallowed
memories. The landmarks here need little resurrection and the informed vision
can trace the vanished figures all the way up. On the right, at the foot,
"Strange's Land", "Granny Orr's" and "Henry's
Steps" have departed, but the rest tell the plain story of happier days.
At the corner of Factory Lane is still the house where
Ronald the cleric lodged; below it the habitation of Hugh Young of psalmody
fame; and the now unroofed cottage (with a thatch at the rear) in front of
which the weavers held their "Parliament of the Plain-Stones". On
the left hand, beginning at the foot, is the old Western Band, built by Mr
Gilfillan, to which the Royal removed on 4 January, 1858 and reminiscent of
King Barbour, whose stately figure gave the "callants" so striking
an impression of his sover-eignty. Past a wee house which clung of the Bank
came the house of the Ritchies, famous in the shipping and curing industries;
next the Armours, equally noted in the biographical records of old Saltcoats;
then the house of Millers, In one of the two unroofed houses, at the corner of
Union Street, was the dwelling place of Danny Kerr. Further on was the house
of the McKillops, with the hall "through the Back", the centre of
social interest in the town's better days. Davie Howie's beaming room.
"The Weavers' House O' Commons", has its windows much the same as
they were in the older life. The house of Tom Miller lies above it, beside the
house of Laird Stirrat. Half-way up Raise Street stood the house of Robert
Workman, a staunch Anti-Burgher in Ronald's time. Opposite Ronald's lodging
was the little Raise Street school; beyond it, the house of Mrs Stevenson of
Coalhill, second last at the top, still approached by outside stairs, the
place of Robert Brown who brought the letters from Kilmarnock to Saltcoats in
his "Shandrum Dan". Latterly it was the house of Colin McGregor, who
was so "Heelant" that when exhorted by the Sheriff to speak in plain
English, "Ach ach", he guttered, remonstratively, and sure an' deet
ma English is all dune"! But for the all-compelling restriction upon
space, what stories one could tell of Neil Downie, ShoeMaker; what glowing
legends and comicalities concerning the weaving shops of Ephraim Spiers and
Tom Sharp; the "sixteen-loom shop of Jamie Gemmel and Willie Langlands;
the home of the onetime industrious gardener and weaver, Willie Barclay; and
the two-storey thatch and weaver's shop which was Archie Burns'; of the
weaving place of Hugh Young (whose son became headmaster of the state School
at Camperdown, Australia); of the house where he lived, until his death in
1863, Jack Ardrossan, the famous beadle of the old Church; of Willie Kane's at
the head of the street; of tailor Bennet, the Liberal of the Raise Road, who
took part in the Radical agitation of 1820; of John McBride, weaver, who took
part in the Radical had served on board the Bellarophen when Napoleon as a
"wee clean-shaven priestly-lookin' body we' a piercin' eye". Stories
also are plentiful of Robert Irvine, the silk weaver, of John Hamilton, maker
of heddles and of Robert Barclay who went to superintend the kiln department
of the Magnesia Work, where he served for over a quarter of a century. He was
a great droughts player and in 1849 was Champion of Scotland.
Daniel Kerr took a prominent part in the local agitation
over the Reform Bill. In music he was a tower of strength, only equalled by
Hugh Young, the "prince of precentors". Dauny was of real old Raise
Street stock and took part in all the public concerts of the Fifties. He was
so ardent a disciple of Orpheus that after a day's hard work, he once walked
to Kilmarnock to hear Madame Malibran. He was precentor of the Burgher Kirk
and was credited as the composer of "Saltcoats" and "Inkerman",
two tunes that have escaped from the Psalter. A later psalm tune, name
"Saltcoats" was composed by Mr Gillon, precentor of Landsborough
United Free Church and the composer was greatly surprised to find that a tune
of that name had had a venerable priority. Another Raise Road worthy was
Alexander Grimwood, father of the Postmaster and Inspector of Poor, who was a
leading member of the Raise Street "Political Trade Parliament". In
the Sixties Alexander Armour and Henry Barclay, joiners, were active leaders
of Raise Road life.
Impossible is it to give due expression to the fascination
of the old Tan Yard, even in its state of pitiful dejection, with nothing left
of its handlers and spenders, its lime-pits and water-holes, steam engine and
bark mill, lime stores, drying sheds, currying shops and offices - all gone
into the past, leaving only the shells of the old houses to tell its story.
How often will the ponderer on the past call up the memory of that old engine
which, before the days of steam, was moved by the docile "Denty-truly"
a "one-horse" power. There existed in the midst of the tannery,
unsullied by its surroundings, two very old draw-wells and from a well in the
middle there gushed forth a fountain of the purest water. Additional water was
taken in by drain pipes from the "Hedges". Situated about the centre
of the street, on the left hand coming from the town, the industries were
carried on from 1794 or so till 1894 a full centenary. A venerable man 0'
hides tell us that in early days it took eighteen months to tan that did
credit alike to the beast whose skin it was; to the tanner who splashed the
skin; to the son of St Crispin who wrought the leather into sturdy boots and
shoes; and to the weaver and their prancing boys, winsome girls, or older
women who make the felt coverings last the proper time. The last craft of any
size that came into Saltcoats harbour was a sloop with barks for the Tannery.
John Anderson, whose land bordered Lady Montgomerie's at the end of the
Eighteenth Century, was the forbear of the tanners Robert and Thomas, the
first the tanner proper and the second the conductor of the currying. Both
were staunch Anti-Burghers.
