350 graves to be exhumed

[gerryfarrell]

Hi All,

Thought you maybe interested in an update regards this topic. Taken from an article in the local paper.......

To clarify the position regarding the council’s application to disinter the former graveyard in Old Wellwynd Church.
The council is concerned that there may be a misapprehension that the affected area lies in the current cemetery.
The site to which the application refers lies to the rear and side of the church building and has been derelict for some time, having previously been built on.
Until recently the site included a tarmacadam surfaced parking area and a church hall. The cemetery in front of the church will not be disturbed - in fact, some enhancements are planned as part of this development.
Development of the site was well under way when the remains were discovered. The council immediately began the proper procedures to determine the extent of the remains, and the most sensitive and appropriate way to treat them.
It is important to stress that there are no headstones in this area, and therefore there is no way to identify the individuals buried in the area, or any of their surviving relatives.
As a result public notices were placed to allow anyone with an interest in the site to contact the council for more information.

North Lanarkshire Council understands residents’ concerns, and apologises for any distress the application has caused. We offer our assurances that our intention is to create a fitting and appropriate setting for these remains.
A specially-designated area in New Monkland Cemetery, which will be marked by a new memorial, will be made available if exhumation is granted, and the Minister of New Wellwynd Church will conduct a ceremony at reinterment.
We absolutely understand that these remains are deserving of every possible respect, and that is what we intend to offer.

Ewan Green, Physical Regeneration and Funding Manager, North Lanarkshire Council.

Gerry

[Ogleway]

That interesting and informative information is much appreciated.

Thanks for posting
Ogleway

[scarpadog]

Just by sheer co-incidence, I have been pestering both the owners and the architects who are 'dealing' (for lack of a better expression) with Wellwynd Church for access to photograph the War Memorial Plaques which are still within this church.

I shall keep pestering requesting access as I'd hate to think these plaques will conveniently vanish along with so many others which have ended up on scrap heaps etc.

Anne

As Architect 'dealing' with the project, I have never been contacted regarding access to photograph the War Memorial. I have documented the building thoroughly photographically and have had the utmost consideration for retaining as much of this historic building as practically possible. It is a shame that the process has taken so long and so much vandalism and deterioration has been incurred in the meantime. The parties involved have done a tremendous job in order to ensure the long term sustainability of the building as an important part of Airdrie Town Centre.

The War Memorial is to be carefully removed and stored in order to be re-incorporated in the foyer of the new building, something which was given prioriy from the outset.

Jon-Marc Creaney GCA Architecture+Design

[lanarkshire lassie]

Hello folks.

I have just read this post, and hadn't realised that this was happening. I know that a  good few years back, NLC, as they are now, exhumed a number of graves from the graveyard of St Andrews church, at Bellshill cross. This was to allow a widening of North Road, at it's junction with Main Street. I seem to remember hearing something about the remains from the graveyard, being re-interred in other local cemeteries, but I may be mistaken.

Regarding lodger's kind offer of look ups, if the offer is still there, could I possibly have a look up for Wylie and Stirling. I am trying to look up which of my rellies was born in Wellwynd. I will PM lodger when I have a definate name and dates.

Thanks

Gail

Have found who I am looking for. My great grandmother, Jane Stirling Wylie, was born at 36 Wellwynd, on 28th April 1880.

[Maggie1895]

I was really sad to read these postings, but thank you to everyone who has added information.   
I know that my Great Uncle Thomas Porter was buried there in 1857 - he was only 7 himself, and had died of TB.  His father, Thomas Porter snr, had been a miner who was injured in a pit accident and died himself before Thomas - all I can be sure of is that Thomas snr was alive around 1850 the year before his son's birth, but gone by the census of 1851.    He may well have been one of the many who arrived in Lanarkshire from Ireland, but family lore has him moving from Larkhall so I can't be sure.
The family lived just around the corner in Aitcheson Street, and Thomas's widow Margaret (Wilson) was left with just her 2 boys, James, my great grandfather, and poor young Thomas.  I can't find the adult Thomas's death records, and had planned to try and visit Well Wynd in the near future in the hopes that father and son were in the same churchyard, and I could find them that way.
From what I'm reading the 1850s were the earlier part of the graveyard and may already have been a car park for some time..
Frustrating is a polite way of putting it..
Maggie

[Lodger]

Hi Maggie,

There is no monumental inscription with Porter on it in the surviving stones in Wellwynd churchyard.  I would doubt very much if any existed to begin with.  Conditions for miners families were horrendous at that time, I remember seeing an 1851 census entry for Airdrie where both parents and their 3 young children (under the age of 15 years) were all employed in the coal mine. They would have been living in a one-roomed hovel with no inside toilet and no running water.

No burial records have survived from Wellwynd and apart from the inscriptions themselves, the only 19th century information is from a list of lairowners and the Treasurers book.
According to the list of owners, a Mrs Porter purchased one lair in 1840, but that doesn't tell you anything, there could easily have been more than one family of that name in the congregation. No Porters in the Treasurers book.

Good luck,
Lodger

[Maggie1895]

Lodger, I really appreciate your help on this.
I always knew it was a long shot, with Thomas snr injured down the pit and then dying, and James, the elder boy, losing his hand in an accident the chances of money for gravestones was always highly unlikely.
James, my great grandfather, grew up to be a respected city missionary in Brickfield Open, Sydney Place / East Campbell Street, and I reckon managing that from losing a hand as a child in Airdrie is a good enough memorial.
The frustration is just not being able to find out where Thomas snr came from - the churchyard was always going to be a vain hope.   I can only assume poor little Thomas, age 7, just had a pauper's grave, and just hope it was near his father's.
Thanks again, and good luck to everyone else who is still trying to search there, beginning to sound as if Joni Mitchell was quite prophetic
Maggie

[crookedtail]

Hi,

Have you tried the Poor Relief Records...I'm sure that
with all the medical expenses they would have applied

I have learned alot from some of my familys Records....
Try it what have you got to loose...Crookedtail

[Maggie1895]

Thank you - what a brilliant idea.
I thought I was doing quite well, building my family knowledge from Ancestry and the Scottish Govt site, and it's only since I discovered this board that I've realised what an amateur I am, and how many resources there are that I've never even considered.
A visit to Aidrie Library seems like a plan, and thank you so much for the advice.
Maggie