The Three Towns in old directories

[down south]

We've been making quite a few references lately to old directories from the 19th/early 20th century featuring the Three Towns.

Some at least of them have been brought to our attention in the past, mostly in the family history forum ( which may explain why their existence passed me by till lately... ). And on the threetowners.com part of our site, among the interesting archive material there have always been entries for Ardrossan

http://www.threetowners.com/ardrossan-1837/

and Saltcoats and Stevenston

http://www.threetowners.com/saltcoats-1837/
http://www.threetowners.com/stevenston-1837/

from Pigott's Directory of Scotland 1837, with descriptions of the town and lists of some of the more prominent residents and businesses.

But what I hadn't realised until recently, was just how many such directories there are available online (I reckon even the enthusiasts among us may not be familiar with them all !). And taken in sequence they give a fascinating insight into life in the towns, and how they developed through those years.

So I thought it might be a worthwhile idea to specifically highlight them again here, with direct links to the pages referring to Ardrossan , Saltcoats and Stevenston ; and take a little detailed look at them in turn. They all originate in the collection of the National Library of Scotland, and some are directly accessed from there; but others seem only to be available via the archive.org website.

The first one after the 1837 one is Slater's directory of Scotland for 1852. They were in fact the successors to Pigott's, and this was the first new one they had produced since 1837. It can be found here:

Ardrossan entry,
https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 2/mode/2up

Saltcoats and Stevenston entry,
https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 4/mode/2up

( If your computer tries to block archive.org, as it does with me, just override it, it seems perfectly harmless to me. )

Even if you didn't know, you could tell that Slater's were heirs to Pigott's, because the descriptions of the towns recycle a great deal of the old material. Ardrossan continues to get the rave reviews,with its new facilities, transport links and industries since 1837 duly noted; and primacy is still given to its status as a Bathing Place even ahead of its role as a port.

But there's no sign of Saltcoats being seen as a place to take a seaside holiday;the descriptions here, and for Stevenston, have changed hardly at all since 1837, with Saltcoats still described as " by no means prepossessing " and " an ancient place " given life only by its proximity to go-ahead Ardrossan...while Stevenston is dismissed as a one-horse, sorry one-street, town...

And not everything about the directory seems entirely up-to-date or accurate. Ardrossan became a burgh in 1846, but there's no mention of this fact. Its gasworks and the waterworks do get a mention; but Saltcoats gasworks, dating from 1836, is nowhere to be seen, and you'd hardly know it had a railway station. And the parish schoolmaster named, Edward Gibb, I can tell you died in 1837; another one had already been and gone by 1850 ( information source, the Memorial to parish schoolmasters ).In Stevenston, we can perhaps excuse them " Ardur "; but where on earth is " Carlom ", home of Gavin Fullerton Esq ? You'll be amazed to hear( from the source below ) that he actually lived at Kerelaw...

But fortunately there's another directory also available from this same date , which with the advantage of greater local knowledge seems a good deal more up with the times; and what's more, is a lot more interesting, because it includes a much wider range of inhabitants. This is the Ayrshire Directory for 1851/2, and it can be accessed directly from the National Library of Scotland. In this one , the towns are listed under their two parishes:

Ardrossan Parish, including part of Saltcoats 1851/2: http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=86563883

Stevenston Parish, including part of Saltcoats 1851/2: http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=86566727

and I'll take a longer look at it in my next post.In the meantime, any observations will be very welcome.Perhaps PT can tell us what a " residenter " was ?

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

A RESIDENTER, I believe, and unless you know better, was an "old inhabitant of a residence", probably someone who was retired and therefore without a current profession. Nowadays we refer, of course, to a RETIRED JOINER/PLUMBER, etc.

[Hughie]

Nice one, Susan.

[down south]

Thanks, Hughie ; I hope we can extract a fair bit of mileage and interest out of this. And thanks too, PT, for your definition; and ( as I neglected to mention ) for your role steering me in the direction of these directories in the first place.

The first thing to ask ourselves perhaps, is who are included in this directory.There's certainly a wide range of inhabitants, beyond the proprietors, portioners and residenters; and the " gentry and clergy ", shops and businesses of Slater's; but is it the entire working population as the NLS description has it, or at least those who are heads of household? I'm not so sure; I can find only one collier and one labourer listed, and there surely would have been lots of them. We have the likes of the colliery manager and clerk, the quarry overseer, and a farm " oversman " ( and lots of farmers of course ! ), but by and large not the hired help.

What we do certainly have, are a wide range of the skilled workmen ( and in a few cases women ) of the towns, wider than in the shop and business section of Slater's. Ardrossan has its shipbuilders and its ancillary trades like sailmakers; Saltcoats and Stevenston their weavers. There are plenty of shipowners and shipmasters, seamen and mariners. The captains of the local steamers are all specifically noted: the Isle of Arran, the Glowworm and The Firefly ( good to see that the Firefly apparently survived this mishap in the late 1840s ; see here. )

Others in what might be called official local positions are also represented. We have the correct parish schoolmaster for Saltcoats...and the porter and clerk from the Railway Depot ( in those days still at the bottom of Kyleshill ). Both Ardrossan and Saltcoats have their gasworks managers. There's an Inland Revenue officer, and plenty of harbour officials, including those long-lost professions of " landwaiter " and " tidewaiter ".

John Stevens, Ardrossan postmaster, has an unusual combination of jobs; he's also a surgeon. Alexander Campbell in Saltcoats meanwhile combines his postmaster's role with running the Saracen's Head Inn . He, and his father before him had run the Saracen's Head from way back, as this Herald Files extract from April 1862 describes on the occasion of his retirement. And another well-kent figure in the postal service locally ( also listed ) was honoured then too:

A large number of inhabitants of Saltcoats, Ardrossan and Stevenston, and friends from a distance, met in the Saracen Head Inn Hall to honour Mr Alex Campbell, who was about to retire into private life. The inn was run by Mr Campbell's father for forty years and he himself has been in possession of it for thirty-four years.

John Welsh, Letter Carrier, Saltcoats, was met at the Saracen Head Inn by friends and well-wishers who presented him with a sovereign and a suit of clothes edged with red.

John Welsh didn't retire until 1899, when he was proudly claimed to be the oldest postman in Scotland; see here ( 8th December 1899 entry ). He's also fondly remembered in " Saltcoats Old and New. "

There are some even more familiar names from the local past to be found too. Ardrossan's burgh status may not be overtly mentioned, but John Barr is duly noted as Provost, though they haven't yet begun naming the streets after him...and there's a bailie or two on the lists as well. Major Duncan Graham is living at Graham's Castle , and according to Slater's the School of Industry he promoted has begun, quite likely under the charge of one of his female relatives; there's also one in Stevenston. Dr McFadzean's widow is still living at the Baths , and Dr David Landsborough is to be found in Hamilton Street. And most famous of all, Miss Betsey Miller, shipowner, still resides in Quay Street.

But this is all getting rather long, so I'll continue on another day.

Susan

[down south]

You'll have noticed perhaps that some of the residents listed have the small letter c after their names, and for a while I was puzzled as to what it signified.

But I think I have the answer now; not least because the little lists at the end, of County Voters not resident in Ayrshire, all have that letter c. And look at the list in the same directory for somewhere like Ayr, and you'll find people listed with one , or both, of c and b...b being for burgh. ( Whether this refers to voters in Ayr burgh elections, or voters for an Ayr Burgh constituency, I've no idea...at any rate there's been no attempt to indicate burgh voters in Ardrossan. )

But who is, and isn't, in this exclusive voting group doesn't seem to follow any kind of logical pattern in terms of social status ( except, of course, that none of the ladies are... ) . Plenty of solid tradesmen aren't; other very similar ones are. There are apparent gentry not on the list; but the lone labourer qualifies ! ( Maybe that's why he's in the directory in the first place. ) But perhaps this rather embarrassed statement in the introduction to the directory gives a bit of a clue; it seems the voting list was hopelessly out-of-date...

"The indication of the voters, though attempted carefully, had better perhaps in the present edition have been omitted, as the Official Registers from which they are taken have never since the Reform Bill been purged of " dead " and " absent " , while at the date when consulted, this year's electors had not been added. "

And what the qualifying conditions were for being on it before the Great Reform Acts of 1832, were as these articles indicate very much a matter of local taste...The Scottish Reform act article gives a fairly straightforward idea at least of who were qualified after the Act.

Great Reform Act 1832: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Act_1832

Scottish Reform Act of 1832 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Reform_Act_1832

Susan

[down south]

As well as the people, it's interesting to look at some of the locations; and this map, surveyed only a few years later in 1856, and showing all three towns, is quite a good guide.

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74425803

All of the farms are included in the directory, and while some of the names are very familiar ( even if they've long ceased to be farms ), others aren't. Some of them it turns out were way out in the country, because Ardrossan Parish stretched nearly as far as Dalry; Drumastle Mill is also out there, and not to be confused with Ardrossan's old mill near Mill Farm. I would guess though that " Thrashly " farm must be Rashley.

You don't need the map to guess that the likes of Bogend, and just plain Bog ( ! ), were in the neighbourhood of latter-day Bogside; you don't envy the farmers who tried to scratch a living out of those. Look closely enough and you can also find other less familiar names, like Wandhouse.Holm Farm, near the Plantation in Ardrossan, is shown as including a nursery, and sure enough a seedsman is listed as living there.Interestingly,as well as Stanley Farm, there's also a Stanley Burn farm; I wonder if Stanley Burn Cottage was actually the farmhouse, and the farm included some of the land near the Plantation later built over.

Back in town, it's gratifying to see that Stevenston does in spite of Slater's have several named streets; Boglemart Street, Townhead Street, Main Street, and even New Street, are all present and correct in the directory. But there are more general locations of residence too, like the Muir, which you can see marked on the map, along with " Muir Houses". Most of Stevenston's grand houses too , like Kerelaw, Ardeer, Hullerhirst, Mayville and Seafield/ Auchenharvie, are there; some of their owners, though, are listed as absentees, with the houses let out.

" Canal Street " isn't yet an address; the inhabitants of that district, and the businesses like the ropeworks and the magnesia works are mostly listed under " Sandylands " . There's no specific mention of the brewery, in this or even any later directory; but then lots of the smaller vintners will have been brewing their own beer too, so there may have seemed no reason to mark it out.

The directory varies in its up-to-dateness on Saltcoats street names. Countess Street, newly labelled as separate from Raise Street, is there; residents of what later became Vernon Street appear under the " proper " old name of Chapel Street, rather than the more commonly-used Drakemire. Note here a name well-known later ; Borland the carter. But Manse Street dosn't figure, though it's marked on the map. Instead the inhabitants of this area ( except for the Manse itself ) use the old name of Crofthead. Nobody is listed as living in Ardrossan Road either yet, but there are a few at " Bankside "...which must be the area around Bankside House, and possibly including too the houses at that end of Manse Street; among them is the Rev Alexander Cook, Gaelic preacher,who will surely have been minister of the Gaelic North Church at the end of Hamilton Street.

Ardrossan town meanwhile still consists of only a few streets; the map shows that even South Crescent is not yet completed. It's interesting to see that the directory does call it South Crescent, unlike Slater's in which it is just The Crescent; because North Crescent won't be built for some years; its first directory mention isn't till 1878.

A couple of residents have the intriguing address " Old Ardrossan " , fairly well-to-do ones by the sound of them: George Sangster, shipmaster, and Daniel Stewart, residenter. I wonder where exactly they would have lived; one would think of that perhaps being somewhere in the Kirkhall area ? But since they don't appear in any earlier or later directories, there are no clues to be found there.

Susan

[down south]

Moving on now, the next directory available is Slater's directory for 1861. Again we have entries for Ardrossan:

http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=90205464

and Saltcoats plus Stevenston:

http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=90206088

The first thing to say is that Slater's haven't taken much trouble to rewrite their descriptions of the three towns; only the odd alteration or addition of a phrase or a sentence reflects the changes there have been.

And sometimes not even that; only in the body of the directory entry do you discover that Merry and Cunningham's ironworks has arrived in Stevenston. There's also an Ironworks School associated with it, whether for employees' children, young workers, or both. But it's hard to discover much else about developments in Stevenston , given that Slater's still list most entries there as just " Stevenston " or " Ardeer".

The other towns' entries are more informative. Ardrossan has already built its memorial to Dr McFadzean, only a few years after his death. It also has three new churches since last time; the Free Church , later St John's ,built 1857 ( see here ) ; the UP Church ( Park Church on Glasgow Street, later the Church of the Nazarene) , built 1857 ( see here ); and an Independent Chapel, aka the original EU Church , built 1860 in Bute Place; see here . ( Though the directory hasn't quite caught up with this yet, and still lists an earlier premises in Glasgow Street ).

There are also three banks now instead of one, with the building of the Royal Bank and the City of Glasgow Bank; the Mack family seem to be well in here, with two of the three managers being Macks; one of them is also town clerk. And as well as the Eglinton Arms, the Railway Tavern has now also upgraded to a hotel.The original Town Hall ( 1858 ) has also just been built, though it's not mentioned here.

These are clear indication of how the town is growing, and indeed so the directory says: " The town is gradually expanding in all directions...there are a large number of villas, many of which exhibit considerable taste in design. " The list of Nobility ( ie the Earl of Eglinton ! ), Gentry and Clergy has almost doubled in size, though it's the extension of the existing streets like The Crescent and Montgomerie Street rather than the building of new ones that's accomodated them. Strange for those of us who remember the drab industrial scene of Montgomerie Street in the 1960s to think of it as having once been such an elegant and desirable address. Actually I see from Streetview that it's looking quite a good deal more residential again these days; and I was astonished to see all the smart new streets that have been built leading off it, on the old harbourside land. ( Who lives in all these houses ? What do they do ? )

Moreover, Arthur Guthrie has arrived in town, and started the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald. Interesting to see that his stationery and printing business also extended to a branch in Saltcoats in those days.

Interesting too to see among the grocers' shops of Glasgow Street the " Ardrossan Company Store "; presumably the Dock Company. That might have meant the workers were subject to the kind of limitations on their spending opportunities later outlawed by the Truck Acts , where they had to shop at the Company Store, but let's give the benefit of the doubt and hope it was more like the Co-op, using buying power to give them cheap deals on the basics.

I'll take a look at how things were in Saltcoats, in my next post.

Susan

[down south]

Slater's description of Saltcoats at this era is at its most downbeat yet . It now has no maritime trade left; its commerce is " entirely reduced. " But look a little closer, and the picture doesn't seem quite so bad.The ropeworks and the tannery are still going; so too is the saltworks at Pan Brae, which is now run by Robert Maxton, last heard of as the manager of Stevenston's colliery. There are also still weekly markets for both cattle and grain. The grandly-named Corn Exchange was in the vicinity of the Saracen's Head, and in charge is local baker Daniel McAllister; now there's a familiar surname in the local bakery world.

A great deal of the other official business of the town is also carried on at the Saracen's Head. Alexander Campbell is still postmaster; he's also in charge of the Inland Revenue Office there, dealing with stamps and taxes.And the headquarters of Ardrossan Parochial Board is also there, with the parish schoolmaster Charles Marshall acting at Registrar of births, marriages and deaths. Another Campbell beginning to be active in the official business of the town is James Campbell; founder of the dynasty of solicitors whose firm is still going in Saltcoats today. In later years his list of roles would be as long as your arm, but for the present he figures just as collector of rates and secretary and treasurer of Saltcoats gasworks. I just wonder if he was Alexander Campbell's son, or another close relative ?

One role James Campbell doesn't yet fill is that of bank manager. Instead, it's a member of another well-known family in local commerce, James Fullerton, who is Agent of the City of Glasgow Bank in Dockhead Street, as well as for various insurance companies; combining this job with running the family ironmongery firm ( which also at this date includes plumbing, gasfitting, and ship's chandlery. )The ironmongery Fullertons have been around in the directories for years, and even in the earliest local censuses; but they are definitely taking a big step upwards here, from Quay Street to Dockhead Street, and into the handsome new building on the corner of Victoria Place that was still Fullerton's ironmongery in our day. As http://www.threetowners.com/old-new/chapter-14/ describes, this remained the bank until the even more impressive building opposite, that we knew as the Bank of Scotland building, was built in 1872 .

The Royal Bank of Scotland had also arrived in town, for the present operating in Raise Street; I would guess they may have taken over the Ayrshire Bank whose branch was there previously. Raise Street too, of course, was a much classier address than it was in our day, and housed a number of the Gentry and Clergy; the list of whom has increased In Saltcoats too.

What else is new ? At the other end of the financial spectrum from the banks, several pawnbrokers are now listed, including the one in Countess Street ( erroneously named as County Street by Slater's ! ). The King's Arms in Bradshaw Street has now become the Queen's Arms; and there are of course plenty of other inns and pubs. But the Temperance movement is on the rise; all three towns have a branch of the Ayrshire Temperance Union, and there are Temperance Coffee Houses in both Saltcoats and Ardrossan. Here's a picture of the one on Quay Street, still going at a much later date:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 2752946059

And though there hasn't been much more expansion of the town yet, there are signs of growth beginning at the westward end. Melbourne Terrace is new, even since the last map surveyed in the mid-1850s; and there's a scattering of residents listed too along Ardrossan Road now. Among them is apparently a grocer's and spirit merchant, which seems odd if they really mean the shop was there; but the same Matthew Thornton is listed in Dockhead Street in the next directory, so perhaps that implication was erroneous and he just lived in Ardrossan Road.

Ardrossan Road also has a boarding school ! But there's no need to get too excited about this ( or the other one listed in Ardrossan's Montgomerie Street ); such establishments could be quite small. My greatx3-grandfather's sister Amelia kept just such a school at around that date in the neighbourhood of Dudley in Staffordshire, grandly named the Mount Pleasant Seminary for Young Ladies, no less ; but the censuses show there were only ever two or three boarders at a time . No doubt there would be a few local day pupils as well . ( Incidentally, Amelia's school lasted a good deal longer than these two, which appear to have vanished by the time of the next directory. )

Susan

[down south]

The next directory is Slater's for 1867:

Ardrossan entry: https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 4/mode/2up

Saltcoats/Stevenston entry: https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 4/mode/2up

And understandably, not a lot has changed since their previous volume; but there are a few things worth noticing.

In Ardrossan, there are both a " mason and sculptor " and a " marble and stone engraver " listed in Princes Street; surely the beginnings of the monumental mason's business next door to the SMT bus station that still existed in our day. And, at this still quite early date, the town now has two photographers. There's also a rival newspaper office, for the Ayrshire Weekly News. We get our first sight of street numbers, though only in Montgomerie Street as yet; well, they were simple enough to sort out there, with there being only one side to the street...

In Saltcoats, John Grimwood has now replaced Alexander Campbell as postmaster, and the Post Office has moved to Dockhead Street; as " Old and New " Chapter 14 ( linked to above ) mentions, it was housed at this time in the picturesque old building that once stood just where the street becomes narrow and winding, and which in this photo from the 1960s, taken just before it was demolished, is occupied by Jack Boyd's photography shop:

http://www.workinglives.org.uk/show_ite ... tem_id=241

John Grimwood also acts as registrar for the Saltcoats part of Ardrossan Parish; the Ardrossan part now has its own, Hugh Willock the ironmonger of Princes Street. Some of the other local administrative functions though are now located separately from the post office: the Parochial Board offices at the Town Buildings, the stamp and tax office at James Campbell's solicitors' office in Bradshaw Street. Wearing a few more of his various local hats, he was now also secretary of Stevenston as well as Saltcoats gasworks; collector of Stevenston as well as Ardrossan parochial board; and now in charge of the City of Glasgow Bank. James Fullerton may have given up this role, but he is still agent for several insurance companies as well as ironmonger; and he's also president of Saltcoats Total Abstinence Society.

Saltcoats' list of churches has now been added to by the EU Church in Hamilton Street, here described as an Independent Chapel. And among the shops that are newly-mentioned, a familiar name: there's now a Herdman's the bakers, though as yet only in Quay Street, not Dockhead Street.

And Stevenston still isn't getting much attention... but I can't resist noting the full resplendent name of the current generation's Cunningham of Auchenharvie House: Arthur Wellesley Robertson Cunningham Esq ( so named of course in honour of the Duke of Wellington ) .

Susan

[down south]

The next directory is Slater's from 1878:

Ardrossan entry: http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=90193600

Saltcoats and Stevenston entry: http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=90194596

We've moved on ten years or so, and what a transformation there has been in the fortunes of Saltcoats ! Or at any rate in Slaters' perception of them; so impressed are they, that they've completely rewritten their description of the place. So let's start by looking at what's been going on there.

Gone are the dismal suggestions that the town is a backwater whose best days are long gone. Instead, " Saltcoats is now a much more flourishing town than ever it was in former days" . The seaside holiday industry has taken off in no uncertain terms: it is now " a place of great resort for summer residents from all quarters, the accomodation in neat comfortable cottages having been greatly increased in recent years, and the communication by express and ordinary trains offering special facilities for daily travellers in summer." And its proximity to the booming industries of Ardrossan and Stevenston has " not only increased the trade of the place , but has also increased the population, and stimulated building to a very large extent " .

And Slater's goes on to describe how " in the west-end quite a new town of private residences and summer quarters has been built of late " . We can see the results of this in the directory entries; for a start, there's now a whole list of lodging houses, most of them in that area; and the list of gentry and clergy residing there has also grown. Eglinton Street and Eglinton Place are getting their first mentions, Melbourne Terrace is clearly also now complete; but most impressive of all is the growth of the number of houses in Ardrossan Road .

At a guess I would say that the seaward ( west ) side at least was now virtually all built up, though since the " cottages " all have names rather than numbers it's not possible to be certain. If you look at the houses on Streetview, you'll see that some of them are one single detatched home, others contain two or even three separate dwellings, and this is reflected in these early names for the " cottages " , which must have been given by the original builders.Some of them reflect the local topography , eg Greenside and Greenhead Cottage, Burnside and Springburn Cottage, Bay View Cottage and Craig View; you can tell the last two have been built before Montgomerie Crescent was built up and blocked the view !

Others are more generally local or just picturesque, or give a nod to royalty; but Yokohama Cottage was obviously a more personal choice by someone who'd sailed the seven seas. Was Henry Allan possibly one of theAllan Line shipping family , I wonder ? Many of these names didn't survive and were changed by later owners, but Stanleybank ( later the Stanley Hotel ) kept its old name , and so too down to our day did Glencairn Cottage, which was the one next door to us at No 72.

Other developments in Saltcoats' rise as a seaside resort are also recorded in Slater's description. The Saracen's Head has opened a bathing establishment; and the Mission Coast Home has been founded, and is described in some detail. ( You can find some of the people most associated with it elsewhere in the lists too; William Bryden's drapery in Quay Street; Dr Kinnier , who gave generously of his medical services, living in Hamilton Street. ) Another Home has also opened ; the Home for the Destitute at Canal Bank House in Canal Street. And while we're on the subject of Good Works, the Good Templars' organisation has now taken up the temperance banner; as well as its hall in Raise Street here, it has branches in Ardrossan and Stevenston too.

Saltcoats' civic development in general is also impressing Slater's ; " perhaps no town in the west of Scotland has made more progress in the last twenty years in internal improvement " . The progress in paving the streets and building of sewers is noted with much approval, and all the many churches, manses and schools built in recent years totted up. New additions to the churches since the last directory are the Erskine Church ( 1866 ) and the Free Gaelic Church on Ardrossan Road ( 1867 ). Pride of place among the schools goes to the Public School, recently built on Caledonia Road ( a road that already existed on the 1850s map, but wasn't yet built up and presumably didn't have that name )...whose headmaster Edward Wilson had been poached from the Free Church School , and replaced by Charles Duguid. St Mary's RC School had also just been built, and Kyleshill also gets its first mention, though that had existed since 1839. At the same time the Parish School is still going, and also in Green Street is the Saltcoats School of Industry...confimation that there was indeed one in Saltcoats once.

Among the shops, there aren't yet many more familiar names, but here's one that's new; William Howie, baker, in Countess Street. ( But curiously, over the next few directories Howie the baker will be found everywhere but their eventual Countess Street home ! ) Herdman's has also moved into Dockhead Street. And interesting to see that a few years after the founding of Ardrossan Co-op in 1870, it already has a branch in Saltcoats, in Countess Street.

But amid all that's new, a few things are still defiantly old. Several shops and businesses still give their address as Drakemire Street, and Crofthead Street also appears alongside Manse Street as an address. And Saltcoats still, just, has its salt industry; vaunted by Slater's for the quality it imparts to the local cheeses.

Susan

[down south]

Moving on to Stevenston, and while Slater's may still have that town lumped in with Saltcoats, they've revised their description here too, and are giving good deal more favourable picture of the town and its progress this time.

Well, up to a point; the remarks about the sands between Saltcoats and Stevenston having been frequently suggested as the ideal spot to dispose of Glasgow's sewage, represent a decidedly backhanded compliment...

But Stevenston's industries , old and new, are listed with approval : the coalmines, the ironworks, the quarry, the brickworks, and above all the new Dynamite Works. And again, there is a brand new Public School , the future Stevenston High School, to take note of . Stevenston also has its police station, its cemetery, a Good Templars' Lodge and its own Co-operative Society; but as yet no bank branches.

The streets in the town centre appear in Slater's for the first time; including the first mention of Fullarton Place. John Dickie, the baker whose shop is there ( he also has a shop in Saltcoats' Dockhead Street ) , seems to be the most prominent citizen of the town in terms of civic involvement; he's also registrar of BMD, inspector of poor, clerk of the school board, cemetery inspector and sanitary inspector, and has a sideline as stationer and insurance agent. Interesting that a similar prominence was effectively passed down in the next century along with the bakery to James Morrison , Stevenston's first provost.

Out of the town centre it's mainly just the big houses that get a mention, though there is an appearance of Woodburn Cottages, Ardeer; is that still a known location ? There's also a cow dealer at Mill Hill, reminding us that Stevenston had a plentiful rural element as well ; in this directory Slater's also list all the farmers of the three towns for the first time.

Interesting to note that there are two quite separate listings of gentry resident at Rock Vale ; one presumably Saltcoats, and presumably the place we know as Rock Vale House ( Mr James Ferguson ); the other described as Stevenston ( Mr Adam Thomson ). A little mysterious.

Susan

[down south]

On to Ardrossan now, and that town's port and associated industries continue to prosper. There's now a foundry, and several timber yards; three ship and boat builders plus ancillary activities. The lists of shipowners and merchants; shipping agents and ships' chandlers; coal merchants' and other firms' agents; insurance agents, writers and notaries; all get longer and attest to the port's increasing commercial activities.

Among new developments mentioned are the building of what's described as the English Episcopal Church ( St Andrew's ), and , as with the other towns, the new Public School (Eglinton School ) at the top of Glasgow Street; and the extension of the railway proceeding towards West Kilbride and beyond. The grain market has also moved from Saltcoats to Ardrossan. And a look in the body of the directory indicates the arrival of some other institutions; the Good Templars, headquartered at this time in Bute Place ( not the Gospel Hall as later ), and also in Bute Place, the local Volunteers.

The housing area of the town has expanded now to include some building in North Crescent ( though South Crescent is still The Crescent ). Among the houses there is the UP ( St John's ) Manse, and the Free Church Manse, set back on the main road , has also been there for a while, though there's no sign of other building on what will become Eglinton Road. Also on North Crescent are Annfield Villa and " Salver ray " ...better known to future years as Silverae. On Montgomerie Street we find mention of Yarborough Place, and the pair of houses described as Clyde View are ( it turns out from the next directory ) also there. Montgomerie Street is also the home of a good proportion of Ardrossan's newly-listed lodging houses; and Slater's rather surprisingly still gives Ardrossan's status as Watering-Place, pride of place in its description ahead of its role as a port.

We saw that Montgomerie Street had its numbers in the last directory, and Ardrossan has steamed ahead with numbering its streets since then, with all the older main streets now having them; unlike in Saltcoats where only one or two streets seem yet to have been numbered. The numbers in Glasgow Street and Princes Street seem to correspond well with those of later days, so this allows us to locate some of the shops and businesses and make comparisons. For example, there's already a butcher's shop at No 6 Glasgow Street, and a chemist's on the Glasgow Street/Princes Street corner. The Ardrossan Co-op has begun since we were last here, and that's at No 38 Glasgow Street; rather lower down than its future home, but then that site was occupied by the Gasworks at this date.

On Princes Street Arthur Guthrie is listed as being at No 50; not the same place as the future Guthrie's shop, which was at No 64. The rival printer and newspaper publisher, James Mearns, is at No 68. At No 56 in future years would be Allison's drapery, and that business has already begun in a small way; John Allison, draper, is at 14 Glasgow Street. But in 1878 No 56 was an ironmonger's shop, belonging to James Fullerton, who has branched out from Saltcoats to Ardrossan. He's also become the Registrar for Ardrossan; perhaps " inheriting " the post along with the ironmongery from Hugh Willock, the previous holder as mentioned above.The Fullerton family would keep that job for some years into the future.

Susan