Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:23 am
Alycidon -
If you're researching the 'Brig, this might interest you.
As a kid, I lived in the flats at Sikeside (Grant Place). They were unusual flats in that they had up and downstairs. The block was surrounded by grassland (which seemed huge to me).
Concerns about abandoned mineworks led to heavy plant being installed on our "park" to drill down and pump concrete in. As they drilled in, the water came up like oil! The entire park was turned into a quagmire.
Some time later they drilled down again to confirm the concrete had set properly - no chance; it came bubbling up as fluid as the day it had gone in.
I would have been about 8 or 9 when we were moved out in a hurry; the block had started to sink.
My old uncle, who had worked in the mines between the wars, had always said the houses would go down because Palacecraig had been mined beyond the limits it was supposed to stick to (he used a term - the *something* line - which I can't recall). That might be shite, of course - he was old and bitter having been seriously injured in a mine collapse.
I was quite amused on a recent visit home to see the new "luxury" (well, by Sikey standards!) development on the site - I don't suppose the land's any more stable today than it was in 1975.
I've had a go at indicating where the flats and grass would have been on the current Multimap (which has "Vennachar Road" instead of "Sikeside Street"). Arran Avenue is still there, but it's pretty much a ghost road these days.
If you're researching the 'Brig, this might interest you.
As a kid, I lived in the flats at Sikeside (Grant Place). They were unusual flats in that they had up and downstairs. The block was surrounded by grassland (which seemed huge to me).
Concerns about abandoned mineworks led to heavy plant being installed on our "park" to drill down and pump concrete in. As they drilled in, the water came up like oil! The entire park was turned into a quagmire.
Some time later they drilled down again to confirm the concrete had set properly - no chance; it came bubbling up as fluid as the day it had gone in.
I would have been about 8 or 9 when we were moved out in a hurry; the block had started to sink.
My old uncle, who had worked in the mines between the wars, had always said the houses would go down because Palacecraig had been mined beyond the limits it was supposed to stick to (he used a term - the *something* line - which I can't recall). That might be shite, of course - he was old and bitter having been seriously injured in a mine collapse.
I was quite amused on a recent visit home to see the new "luxury" (well, by Sikey standards!) development on the site - I don't suppose the land's any more stable today than it was in 1975.
I've had a go at indicating where the flats and grass would have been on the current Multimap (which has "Vennachar Road" instead of "Sikeside Street"). Arran Avenue is still there, but it's pretty much a ghost road these days.