Jerviston Coalfield Son John Drysdale, a Kirkaldy Lawyer, Succeeded :Ael Compar Matched That of the Estate
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Jerviston \Ihen Williar the property Dnsdale, a n 'n'hose death \Iarv- W'atson l8-0. at the : ' \cptembe .rghr tlte -' .,. Leased r-t-tson. rr'l t]l)lln\'. illtr ' I11\( ) t-l tO( -.inre chei i ()\t Of \ ,-:rccl Tl-tt . id (-olr il -.:r. mtldc . -.ar)Irltinq ., rr-ritstantr .. lth hi\ lrr ,rlr-ille q.as ,:rlr-iIIe rr,4ro hrrid. formr The well-wooded lands of Jerviston, Urklewood later Sheriff-Clerk of Lanarkshire, James Cunison nd began pr and Braidhirst, pleasantly situated on the River who in 1782 rcplaced a "tolerable mansion" on pened Da'lz, Calder two miles east of Motherwell, had been in the estate with a modern neo-classical structure to rrnmission r the possession of the Baillie family for 200 or 300 designs by Robert andJames Adam. Standing east of ridge disastt years when they were purchased in the 18th century the old tower, and commanding extensive view of le iron bea by George Nicolson, newly returned from Holland, Clydesdale, the new house was an elegant 3-storey, : rhe 1880: where his father Lieutenant-Colonel William 3-bay building, flanked by single-story pavilions. The r-mufacturin Nicolson and his uncle Sir Thomas Nicolson of front facade was dominatedby a first-floor Venetian lor-ingfiom' Carnock were mercenaries in a Scottish regiment in window. rospered thr the service of the Dutch. An old three-storey tower r:her in 189 dating from the late 16th century later known as After Cunison's death atJerviston in 1816, his widow rce behind Old House, stood on the property at the lived on in the house until the 1830s. Jerviston was Jerviston lodernizatio time. The year before his death in 1759 Nicolson inherited by his daughter Anne, the wife of l7illiam rr made tht put his 75O-acre Jerviston estate on the market. Drysdale, Town Clerkof Kirkcaldy, who had acquired idusm' and There were two active coal pits on the property at the estate of Pitteuchar in Fife in the eady 1800s. reat Britain. the time. Subsequent owners would extend mining The Drysdales cleady believed in keeping lucrative operations on the lands, so that by 1858 it was public posts in the family. Iflilliam Drysdale's eldest -r\-errrrnent's eel output, noted that the boundary of the Jerviston coalfield son John Drysdale, a Kirkaldy lawyer, succeeded :ael Compar matched that of the estate. his grandfather James Cunison as Sheriff-Clerk of :d Steel Lanarkshire in 1812, and held the post for 61 years Cor "IEres[ in thr lo 1773 Jerviston was acquired in a judicial sale till his death in 1873. He also succeeded to the post jhillg 66llal from Nicolson's trustees by Hamilton lawyer, and of Town Clerk of Kirkcaldy on the death of his father. 52 tal +{ tr) C) o0 E roo c,) c E o =c :) (r)lal ot!- cl aC ola ol- q: \X/hen ril/illiam Drysdale died at Jerviston in 1.825, Jerviston House the property was inherited by his second son James Drysdale, a rnajor in the East India Company upon Following his death the third generation of Colvilles whose death Jerviston was inherited by his widow donated the 75-acre Jerviston estate, then a Colville Mary Watson Pew Drysdale, who died atJerviston in possession, to the workers of Dalzell Iron and Steel 1870, atthe age of84. works for a leisure and recreational facllity, as a memorial to their fathers. Named Colville Park it In September 1872 John Hamilton of Dalzell, Mf; opened in May 1923 and comprised a golf course, 5 bought the 560-acre Jerviston estate. The mansion tennis courts, 2 bowling greens, a football Iield and was leased to Motherwell physician Dr. Samuel lots of mature, green, open space. Jerviston House Thomson, who was also owner of the '$Tishaw Coal became the clubhouse for the golf club and over Company, arrd a partner in a colliery in Leicestershire. the years became increasingly popular as a venue Thomson took a leading part in public affairs, and for wedding receptions and social functions. In became chairman of Dalzell School Board and 1966, when the woodwork in the house was said provost of Motherwell in 1885, the year before to have deteriorated and the cost of restoration was he died. The new tenant of Jerviston in 1887 was considered prohibitive, and in spite of the efforts of David Colville (1860-1916), who renovated the the Scottish Development Department to preserve it, house, modernising the drainage and water supply, one ofthe finest RobertAdam houses in Lanarkshire redecorating the interior and generally fitting it up was demolished after planning permission for a in a substantial and elegant mannel before moving country club, estimated to cost 5100,000, was given in with his new bride. by Motherwell and Vzishaw Town Council. It was replaced with a new facility, called New Jerviston Colville was a son of Campbeltown-born David House. The old 16th century Jerviston House, by Colville who, with his sons John, Archibald and then dilapidated and sinking because of collapsed Cunison David, formed David Colville and Sons in 1871 mine workings, was demolished at the same time. sion" on and began producing malleable iron at their newly ucrure to opened Dalzell plant in 1872. The f,rm's flrst big Colville & Sons grew and prospered as the ng east of commission came in 1879 in the wake of the Thy 20th century progressed, supplying steel for e r-iew of Bridge disaster, when the contract for manufacturing the consruction, engineering, and shipbuilding the new secured. industries as as munitions wodd t 3-storey, iron beams for the bridge was well during two [ons. The In the 1880s the company ventured into steel wars. After l954,whenthe firm began to invest S20m '\-enedan manufacturing, just as Clydeside shipyards were in the construction of the Ravenscraig Steelworks, moving from wrought iron to mild steel. As business it would go on to repeatedly smash steel industry prospered the works extended. On the death of his production records, and make Motherwell the steel tiswidow father in 1898, David Colville became the driving production capital of Scotland, in the process earning iston was force behind a policy of expansion and continuous the burgh the nickname Steelopolis. Nationalised fY/i11iam modernization which by the eve of the First'Wodd in 1967 under the Iron and Steel Act, Colville's 'War Iacquired made the firm the largest in the Scottish steel became part of the British Steel Corporation, which industry and second only Dorman Long in eventually closed the Ravenscraig W'orks in 1992. !s 1800s. to Great lfucrative Britain. During'World War One, to meet the e's eldest govefnment's fequest for a massive increase of ucceeded steel output, Colville's took over the Clydebridge FClerk of Steel Company in l9l5 and the Glengarnock Iron r 61 years and Steel Company in 1,91,6, and took a conrolling ) the post interest in the Fullwood Foundry Comparyr David his father. Colville collapsed and died on 16 October, l)L6, at 53.