Author Topic: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell  (Read 574 times)

Offline jimmyspike

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Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« on: Monday 07 November 22 17:38 GMT (UK) »
Anyone know where the Knowetop Quarries, owned by the King family,  were situated..
.obvious answer is Knowetop i know   :-\ :-\ :-\
Paterson - Greenock
MacFarlane - Clackmannan
Strang - Clackmannan
Watchman - Torryburn
Forsyth - Stirling
Feely - Ireland
Milligan - Ireland( Down and Armagh )

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #1 on: Monday 07 November 22 18:50 GMT (UK) »
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline jimmyspike

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #2 on: Monday 07 November 22 20:42 GMT (UK) »
thanks for reply Forfarian, already looked out old maps etc but can't find quarries marked anywhere.
i'm wondering if they were outside Knowetop area of Motherwell
Paterson - Greenock
MacFarlane - Clackmannan
Strang - Clackmannan
Watchman - Torryburn
Forsyth - Stirling
Feely - Ireland
Milligan - Ireland( Down and Armagh )

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #3 on: Monday 07 November 22 21:52 GMT (UK) »
I wonder if it could be the bit north of Knowehead on this map https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=55.78369&lon=-3.98173&layers=5&b=1&marker=55.77675,-3.98645 - there's a pond that might indicate a quarry, and a house called Quarryhowe, and a line that looks like an escarpment that might have to do with quarrying?
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.


Offline GR2

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #4 on: Monday 07 November 22 21:58 GMT (UK) »
It's also marked on

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=55.78299&lon=-3.98476&layers=168&b=1&marker=55.77675,-3.98645 but no quarry is shown.

This map does in fact show the quarry. If you look at where it says Knowetop, go south to the football ground, then east, through Fir Park, you come to the quarry.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #5 on: Monday 07 November 22 22:17 GMT (UK) »
This map does in fact show the quarry. If you look at where it says Knowetop, go south to the football ground, then east, through Fir Park, you come to the quarry.
The problem is that the quarry there isn't shown on the earlier six-inch map, so is it the one that Jimmy Spike's King family owned in the 1850s, or is it a later quarry?
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline GR2

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #6 on: Monday 07 November 22 22:58 GMT (UK) »
I think it is the same one. See the following snippets.

Motherwell Times 10-9-1909:

Offers were opened for the widening of Wind-
mill Street at Knowetop Quarry, and remit-
ted to the Burgh Surveyor to check and accept
the lowest.

Motherwell Times 2-9-1921:

Speaking about the late "Granny Tamson" -

Her husband, the late Thomas Thomson,
was quarry foreman to the late Mr King,
when Knowetop Quarry was in operation.

Motherwell Times 3-2-1939:

John Park telling the Rotary Club about his boyhood in Motherwell -

Knowetop quarry was an adventurous
hunting ground for youngsters in those days,
not only for the peculiar terrain it pro-
vided, but because of the picturesque work-
men who were employed there, men who
used a forceful and colourful dialect. When
the main road was being constructed part
of the quarry was bridged over to carry the
road: a splendid A.R.P. shelter for anyone
who can find it.

Motherwell Times 14-6-1929 - William Law recalls his youth -

                                      He remembers
when "Homey" King was killed at Knowe-
top Quarry. The latter was a member of
the well-known King family, who have
been intimately concerned in the growth
and expansion of the town. [he describes his elaborate funeral]

Motherwell Times 30-7-1954:

The first treasurer was a
son of Mr James King who
owned Knowetop and other
quarries in the neighbourhood.

Online Lodger

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 08 November 22 01:26 GMT (UK) »
Exactly where the National Tyre place is on Windmillhill St, next to the empty Taggarts garage.
(That's without looking at a wheeny auld maps!)
Paterson, Torrance, Gilchrist - Hamilton Lanarkshire. 
McCallum - Oban, McKechnie - Ross of Mull Argyll.
Scrim - Perthshire. 
Liddell - Polmont,
Binnie - Muiravonside Stirlingshire.
Curran, McCafferty, Stevenson, McCue - Co Donegal
Gibbons, Weldon - Co Mayo.
Devlin - Co Tyrone.
Leonard - County Donegal & Glasgow.

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Re: Knowetop Quarries, Motherwell
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 08 November 22 02:16 GMT (UK) »
Modern map shows Knowetop http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NS7555

https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/lanarkshire-os-name-books-1858-1861/lanarkshire-volume-21/44 says that it was formally Knowhead but the local residents called it Knowetop.

It's also marked on https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=55.78299&lon=-3.98476&layers=168&b=1&marker=55.77675,-3.98645 but no quarry is shown.

Have you seen http://www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=380.0 ?

Does that help, or is it stuff you already know?

The quarry was to the right of the word "Knowhead", the lodge on this map was just recently demolished and a fast-food drive-through built on the site! That is the corner of Windmillhill Street/Knowtop Avenue. A little further along the main road (W/hill St) is the number 284. The quarry was just below that number.

As for the query on the LFHS webpage, James King senior (married to Catherine Clark) had not one, but two "by-names". He was known as Homie King, a nickname he acquired, it was said, from his courting of Miss Clark, who lived at the Home Farm in the parish of Hamilton and his frequent visits to that place before his marriage. His more popular by-name was Cork King. It appears that Cork was applied to anyone who was the boss, especially is the business that King was involved in (in a very large way) that of mason.
All this family of King's are buried in Dalziel old parish burial ground (mistakenly called St Patrick's burial ground) near the river Clyde. On Cork's tombstone there is the inscription "James (Homie) King, railway contractor, quarrymaster and builder, died 8th March 1855. ..................
There is a large family plot with at least 4 headstones but James' brother "Moleskin" King is buried at the opposite side of the burial ground.
Paterson, Torrance, Gilchrist - Hamilton Lanarkshire. 
McCallum - Oban, McKechnie - Ross of Mull Argyll.
Scrim - Perthshire. 
Liddell - Polmont,
Binnie - Muiravonside Stirlingshire.
Curran, McCafferty, Stevenson, McCue - Co Donegal
Gibbons, Weldon - Co Mayo.
Devlin - Co Tyrone.
Leonard - County Donegal & Glasgow.