Hi
Not sure how it was pronounced or spelled. It could have been full of daddy long legs ("Jeeny" long legs) or an old tale of a Genie from a lamp, or could have housed a woman called Jean ??
Its an amazing part of the village still, you can walk down the old st(Burnbrea, cobbles still visible) and see the old mill in ruins at the bottom. Not much left of it but the huge tunnel the burn runs under gives an idea of the scale of the origional mill. Once a very important part of the community.
"Duntocher Mill spanned the Duntocher Burn to the north of the Great Western Road Bridge. It was built in 1786 for the manufacture of coarse woollens, but it did not prosper and was unoccupied when William Dunn purchased it in 1808. Dunn converted it to produce cotton goods but, like his other mills, it ran into trouble in the 1860s when supplies of raw cotton dried up during the American Civil War. It continued under different owners, making yarn and thread until the 1920s."
I would imagine the Genny Houses were built for the workers of this mill or the Iron works situated at the other end of Burnbrea.
I will get on to My old Granda who has a wealth of local knowledge.
Speak to you soon
AC
