Inkerman, Renfrewshire
Inkerman was near Candrens, where Blackstone Road passes under the A737. It consisted of three rows of cottages (built by the mine owners Merry & Cunninghame Ltd) called Row One, Row Two and Row Three, plus a shop, a school and a schoolhouse. The school and schoolhouse still exist, the latter as a private house. A reading room was attached to the school. A Church of Scotland Mission Hall was erected and later the Inkerman Bowling Club (which still exists, on the Blackstoun Road) was formed. As the population increased, Oilwork Row and Store Row were added to the so-called "miners' raws" (sic). The Store was company-run, and much credit was extended to miners, often against the law (the Truck Acts). The Store was also the Post Office. The population of the hamlet grew from 723 (1871), to 948 (1881). As the mines became exhausted the population began to decline - for example to 699 (1891). There was an oilwork, (The Walkinshaw Oil Company) extracting oil from the shale, and a brickwork (part of Merry and Cunninghame's operation) was established to make bricks from the shale waste, - the blaes - but this disappeared with the mining industry. People drifted away and the last of the "miners’ raws" was demolished in the 1940s. Inkerman is no longer listed on maps but can be found on the historic Ordnance Survey series, as can Balaklava near Clippens.
References
- Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland : a survey of Scottish topography, statistical, biographical, and historical edited by Francis H.Groome. Edinburgh : T.C. Jack, 1885. ISBN 1-85506-572-X
- Paisley Directory and General Advertiser for 1889, (and others to 1924) Publisher J. & J. Cook, Paisley 1889 et seq.
External links
- [1] - rare photograph of old Inkerman