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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Lanarkshire => Topic started by: L23 on Wednesday 08 February 06 10:59 GMT (UK)
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Does anyone know anything about the Glasgow Corporation womens Model which was situated in Muse Lane?
I believe it was referred to as the "Rat Pit".
Thanks :)
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there is a photograph of the interior at the Virtual Mitchell
(obviously a publicity shot)
a more realistic view is also there
Virtual Mitchell Library Muse Lane (http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/cgi-bin/vm/main.plx?srcpage=advancedsearch&street=Muse+La)
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Hi
Just checked out photographs on Mitchell site. I believe it may have been a place where poor women lived who had nowhere to go. One step between Barnhill and Hell by the sounds. Very sad. :'(
I am very familiar with all of Glasgow, but I have never heard of Muse Lane. I guess it has been built over or name changed. Have you any idea what street it would be in or near now?
Thanks
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Hi there,
From the virtual mitchell site, it looks like it was in Cowcaddens. I have looked up Douglas Brown's site for renamed streets (http://www.douglasbrown.co.uk/stindex.html) and it now seems to be called Larbert Street. This is located not far from the Theatre Royal - from what I can tell, just behind the Piping Cente.
Cheers,
Clare
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Yes, it was renamed Larbert Street,
The "Model Lodging Houses" were probably well intentioned when first set up but through underfunding they fell into disrepair. The people who used them were often homeless and travelled from neighbourhood to neighbourhood either living on the streets or if they could afford it spending a night in the Models. (although this cannot be said for 100% of the occupants)
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Extracts froma report involving the "Rat Pit" can be read at
Lodging houses, public health and moral hygiene: Glasgow 1850-1911 (http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:A_mXCF2TCMsJ:www.enhr2004.org/files/papers/Smyth,%2520J.%2520cambridgepaper2004.pdf+%22Rat+Pit%22+glasgow&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=4)
Page 15 is where "The Rat Pit" is specifically mentioned
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my grandmother was registered born 39 muse lane b:1902 d:1971
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There is a book Called the RAT PIT by PATRICK MCGILL.
It is about the Glasgow lodging house for women.
You can download to a kindle or buy the book from amazon,
It is very sad :'(
regards Rosie
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r05575 I also have a relative born at 39 Muse Lane. Was this the rat pit?
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r05575 I also have a relative born at 39 Muse Lane. Was this the rat pit?
Unfortunately I can find nothing which gives the full street address of the Model (it's not listed in any of the post office directories although those ran and owned by Glasgow Corporation are) but looking at the street plans for Muse Lane no. 39 appears to be a tenement building.
(Although in other areas of the City the Corporation did build and run "Model Tenement" blocks - there is nothing to suggest that was the case here.)
The term Model Lodging House was originally coined to describe purpose built units which were intended to show the benefits of better quality accomodation for the "poor" & working class to provide a "model" for their future way of life. However the term was basically hijacked and came to mean any Dormitory type of accomodation whether provided by charities or the Corporation.
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According to VR's, number 39 was a house but part of a tenement
Lodging house was Number 6
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If you read the book The Rat Pit you will find that it was a slum tenement. The poorest of the poor resided there mostly a lot of Irish immigrants.
I had ancestors that resided at Muse Lane , not 39 but I'm sure the other tenements would not have been in any better condition.
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Muse Lane was a horrific, over-crowded slum in the Cowcaddens. It was cleared around 1923 with most of the residents going to the new Hamiltonhill slum clearance housing scheme. Details in: Seán Damer (2018): "Scheming: A Social History of Glasgow Council Housing 1919-1956," Edinburgh University Press, Chapter 3, pp. 30-55. As many contributors have said, the Rat-Pit was a female lodging-house in Muse Lane graphically described in Patrick MacGill's novel "The Rat-Pit," first published in 1915, and republished subsequently several times.
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Just found out from the 1921 census that my Grandfather ( Samuel McNeill ) also live in 39 Muse Lane with my Grandmother, Mother in Law and Sister in Law. No doubt soon to be decanted to the Possil area.
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r05575,
In 1902, the residents of Muse Lane were...
Number 3: Mrs Jane Kinloch
25: Mrs Helen Campbell
60: Isabella Docherty
44: Mrs Margaret Polland
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Muse Lane was the address on my grandad's baptism record in 1909. :(
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Thank you so much for this series of posts. I stumbled on this quite by accident but many of my FIL's family were born/ lived in Muse Lane so it give an interesting insight into the terrible conditions.
Indeed. the family were moved to Bonhill Street near Hamiltonhill. thank you all for anothe piece of my jigsaw!
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A few photos here of interest from Virtual Mitchell https://vm.colinwaddell.com/search/?&tags=Muse%20Lane
'The Wife of Muse Lane' https://vimeo.com/477390832 - no hiding place on how miserable conditions were in the 19th C.
Monica
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So interesting to read all your history. I discovered that my fathers great grandmother died at 25 Muse Lane. Im assuming she was in the Rat Pit because she was alone. Her husband had died in 1888 in the Infirmary in Glasgow. They had come down to Glasgow from Ross and Cromarty years before. Her name was Helen Fraser nee Robertson. Discovered my dad paternal family came to Glasgow from braade and Lifford Donegal, the last two years of the Famine. They settled in Bishop Street in Anderson, the daughter getting work as weavers, the father a labourer and the son a mould apprentice. Must have been very hard. Agnes, the youngest though died in Barnhill Poor House in 1883. Very poor people. All my dads family came from Cowcaddens, he grew up there. Its been a fascinating project so far but very sad for the women. they seem to have suffered terribly.