A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

[down south]

You get a great idea of how rocky the bed of the harbour is, in this view of it at low tide:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterdays/6302248830/

and in this map from around 1909/10, previously shown to us by Hughie:


http://maps.nls.uk/view/82867041#zoom=4 ... &layers=BT


It's known as The Hirst; and also marked on the map are the names of some of the other rock features in and around the harbour, like the reef called the Shott on which the pier was based; the Inner and Outer Nebbocks; and the Rock of the Reid that stands at the entrance.

You can also see that in those days the shoreline wasn't all that far behind the back of Dockhead Street , and there was hardly a way at all round the shore to Windmill Street; the open ground of the Braes was really only of much extent up at the Quay Street end .

But when the sea wall was built the opportunity was taken to reclaim much more land behind it to enlarge the Braes, and you can see what a difference it made in this map from 1937:

http://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-2nd-and-la ... 7&layers=B

I see it's even the case that one side of old Quay Street had been demolished by then, making the Braes even more of a wide open expanse; I didn't think that had happened till the fifties.

You can also see by comparing the two maps how much reclamation of land there had been over by the bathing pond, to build the Pavilion; that might even have been done as part of the same works, with that next big project in mind.

And by the way John, while we're over at the Castlewirock end again, I've found this further note about the reputed Saltcoats castle which suggests that maybe after all there was some tradition of a remnant of that too having survived:

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/41 ... saltcoats/

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

The map circa 1909/1910 has excellent detail, including that of Saltcoats Harbour which I've always imagined as a wee harbour for wee boats. I was surprised recently therefore to see that on the 10th of August 1912, the Royal Navy reported that HMS Falmouth had arrived there.

This is the HMS Falmouth of that period:

http://www.directart.co.uk/bmall/images/mpl1051.jpg

Has anyone ever seen any photographs of large ships in Saltcoats Harbour?

I'm still not sure that a ship of that apparent size could berth at Saltcoats? May it just lay off and the sailors came ashore?

[John Donnelly]

As a child, my mother lived in the building next to the station, on the right, next to the footbridge, at the foot of Sharphill Rd. I remember her telling of seeing all the masts in the harbour from the window at the top of the house. That would have been around the same time, (1905 1910).

JD.

[westendcafe]

Hi Susan

It seems from reading that report that a castle did once stand in that vicinity, which makes sense of the Castlewirock name, although it talks only of one stone with a loop hole. So I guess what I the thick wall which I saw would have been part of the much later Windmill.

Thanks for the links.

John.

[down south]

A bit like this perhaps, JD :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterdays/6302076471/

Great to have both JD's posting at once , by the way ! I have to confess there was a time, back when I was a very new member, when I thought you were one and the same person.

And I'll be coming back to the seafaring aspects of the harbour, and the days when the Braes had a thriving shipbuilding industry, later , when we get further round towards the quayside.

But to us twentieth century locals, the Braes was famous for one thing only: as the site of Saltcoats Fair. And while the summer still lasts, it seems like high time we paid it a proper visit.

It had been there in fact , back since times immemorial; though as this description ( rather flowery as usual ! ) by Charles Carragher in " Saltcoats Old and New " makes clear, back in its beginnings it was a rather different and briefer affair, more of an annual market with entertainments thrown in. What's a mashlum scone, I wonder ?

For many a day, and until only a few years ago indeed, Quay Street did honour to the burgh's baronial charter as the scene of the annual Fair, founded on a long and respectable antiquity. Booths occupied both sides of the street. At the sea end were the coopers and tinsmiths. The concourse of visitors from the Arran shore along with the townspeople, human and livestock in inextricable confusion; pigs , hens and goats; showmen and somersaulters, tricksters and thimble-riggers; sailors in an ecstasy of wild exhilaration; penny trumpets, glittering trinkets, and tin cans; made a glorious din and hubbub which nothing since has been able to equal. The sailors radiant in fluttering ribbons, sewn by admiring " Nancy Lees ", floated along the cobbled causeways. There was a devouring consumption of curds and cream and "mashlum scones"; and the Fair, which lasted for the better part of a week, left upon native and visitor an impression that took long to fade. The Fair of today is mild compared with the frantic whirl of enjoyments that can never again be so exquisitely realised.

By the late 19th century though, the showmen had taken over, and started coming for the season. And particularly after the extension of the Braes, the stage was set for the Fair as we knew it. How familiar this huddle of vans looks, setting up camp on the Braes as it did every May to September; thanks for this picture to our poster Maggie in Australia , to whom it belongs :

And how infinitely more exciting were the rides and sideshows that came out of them. Perhaps we could have a go at listing them all ? Many of you will remember back better than me, to the time before Braes Road was built in the early sixties and cut down the available space; did the Fair fill the whole big area, back in the fifties ?

Susan

[Retsum]

I remember the fair in the late forties and throughout the fifties. There was a stir of excitment when the word went round "The fair is here." And yes I think it did occupy the whole braes area. As a youngster my parents often took me there on a Saturday afternoon and as a teenager in the fifties I remember the ritual of the waltzer. The guys would string out around the perimeter while girls piled into the carriages. The attendants who controlled the speed of spin focussed on the carriages containing girls and sent them spinning extra fast so that the girls had to grab the hand rails with both hands. An inevitable gust of wind would then blow their flaired skirts over their faces to reveal underwear. One got to recognize the regulars by their - I almost said faces! The shocked horror on the faces of the innocents was even more entertaining.

[wellparkno9]

Hi Susan,I worked at the showground from the age of 7 or 8 usually with the Merricks or Billy Coates. I remember the sea wall side best cause thats where I worked.At the end nearest the pavillion there were Irvin's showboats,then a fortune teller Madam Bosswell ??,Johnny Evans' Arcade,Billy Irvin's Arcade,then Tommy Newtons side stalls ,one was the clowns with rotating heads,then the old Rostram sisters ,they had a pair of .22 rifles that you shot down a tube,then Sammy Rostram's side stallsand then old Herby Knowles,he had a darts and ball in the pail stall after that it was Kitty Merrick's shooter,Alex Merrick's Arcade then Nielson's shooter,darts ,Hannley's side stalls, Carl Pinder had a couple of things ,cant remember what,Billy Coates had a stall with mirrors ,then the Testo family had their stalls right round to the entrance at Quay's St end.Over the gap was old Mrs McGurk with a wee novelty stall then Newsome's wee stall then a few stalls ran by the Cullis's,shooter ,darts etc.then the McIndoes had a few things ,Dan Blockley was next and I think it ended with an other fortune teller and Smith's wee novelty stall.A lot of these owners would have had other stalls in the center of the ground, roll-a penny, hook a duck ,kiddies rides ,swings and hotdog kiosks.Tommy Newton had a bingo and so did Billy Cullis.Billy Coates had his Gallopers and his s0n-in law Alan McIndoe had a wee train ride in the middle.And the Whites who rented the ground from the council and then sub-let it to the other showmen had the Waltzer, Dodgems and a kiddies car track.Most showmen stayed for the season, but some for only a wee while and moved on.

[westendcafe]

Hi Sam, that is a comprehensive list. Is that Mrs Merrick who lived in Union Street and had the hut that hired deckchairs on the beach?

John

[Retsum]

Was there not also a circus that came to the braes? I think I recall being taken to a circus there - not at the same time as the fair. Was it Billy Smart's Circus?

[morag]

There was a circus came to Saltcoats mid to late 60's

[wellparkno9]

Hi, The Mrs Merrick that lived below your gran in Union St was not off the showfolk.She married Billy Merrick ,she had the deck chairs along the Stevenston shore or Saltcoats east shore to give it its proper name.Billy had a scrap yard in Wellpark Rd ,but only for a wee while ,then he ran a Taxi out of Pringles Garage.The couple slpit up Mrs Merrick stayed in Saltcoats and Billy went to Glasgow and started a waste paper firm.He came back to Largs years later and ran a wee hot dog stall in the Cumbrian Arcade that was managed by his brother Alex

[peterm1711]

Hi Susan,I worked at the showground from the age of 7 or 8 usually with the Merricks or Billy Coates. I remember the sea wall side best cause thats where I worked.At the end nearest the pavillion there were Irvin's showboats,then a fortune teller Madam Bosswell ??,Johnny Evans' Arcade,Billy Irvin's Arcade,then Tommy Newtons side stalls ,one was the clowns with rotating heads,then the old Rostram sisters ,they had a pair of .22 rifles that you shot down a tube,then Sammy Rostram's side stallsand then old Herby Knowles,he had a darts and ball in the pail stall after that it was Kitty Merrick's shooter,Alex Merrick's Arcade then Nielson's shooter,darts ,Hannley's side stalls, Carl Pinder had a couple of things ,cant remember what,Billy Coates had a stall with mirrors ,then the Testo family had their stalls right round to the entrance at Quay's St end.Over the gap was old Mrs McGurk with a wee novelty stall then Newsome's wee stall then a few stalls ran by the Cullis's,shooter ,darts etc.then the McIndoes had a few things ,Dan Blockley was next and I think it ended with an other fortune teller and Smith's wee novelty stall.A lot of these owners would have had other stalls in the center of the ground, roll-a penny, hook a duck ,kiddies rides ,swings and hotdog kiosks.Tommy Newton had a bingo and so did Billy Cullis.Billy Coates had his Gallopers and his s0n-in law Alan McIndoe had a wee train ride in the middle.And the Whites who rented the ground from the council and then sub-let it to the other showmen had the Waltzer, Dodgems and a kiddies car track.Most showmen stayed for the season, but some for only a wee while and moved on.

Sam,

I think you need to elaborate a wee bit on the Saltcoats Fair as your post is a shade in vague it's description of things.






Only jesting of course. Great memory!

I've sent a PM to you.