The History of Lochee

Old Lochee Book 1911.

From "Lochee" - As it was and is - by Alexander Elliot - 1911

Chapter 1

ORIGIN OF LOCHEE AND ITS NAME. (Illustrations by Joseph Lee)

IT has been assumed by many who have taken, and who still take, an interest in Dundee and its material progress, that Lochee, an important suburb, is of compara­tively recent growth, the outcome of modern enterprise and latter-day circumstance. As far as it can be applied to Lochee of the present day, that assumption may be accepted as correct, but as regards Lochee of a bygone time it is not. As a matter of fact, long before that populous part of the burgh, as we know it, was endowed even with the semblance of a habitation, Lochee, or Locheye, as it is designated in old records, had an entirely different location, and it has been interesting to trace its evolution from stage to stage until it developed into a large and busy mercantile community. The name of Lochee and the source of its derivation for long have been subjects of much speculation. Generally, it is accepted that they indicated that a small lake or loch had existed at a bygone time in the neighbourhood Nothing is more likely. The formation of the ground upon which old Lochee was built favours the hypothesis. Acclivities of easy gradient arise from a shallow base, the centre of which is traversed by a small stream, and spread to the grounds of Camperdown on the north, and to Balgay and the lands of Invergowrie on the south. In a survey of the estate of Invergowrie, dated 1730, by a Thomas Winter, and long in the possession of the late Mr D. M. Watson, Bullionfield and Greystane, it is shown that the well-known farm of Charleston consisted in several parts of marsh land, marked "boggs." Easter Locheye, defined by two pendicles, included the terminal of Buttar's Loan and the ground now absorbed by Newtyle Railway and South Road. The conjecture, therefore, that a considerable portion of the area in the vicinity of old Lochee had at one time been partially submerged has been set at rest by Mr James Thomson, the author of the "History of Dundee." In a series of "Antiquarian Gleanings," adverting to this matter in an article on the estate of Balgay, he says, "On 19th May 1601 Mr John Lindsay of Balcarres, rector of the Church of Menmuir, near Brechin, secretary of the King, and one of the Clerical Lords of Session, was retoured in the lands and Barony of Balgay, comprehending Easter Balgay, Wester Balgay, Hillside of Balgay, and the lauds called Back Lands, with the Mill and Loch of Balgay." In a note Mr Thomson adds, "This loch was the north boundary of the Barony, where the populous and now extensive village of Lochee is situated. The loch was drained many years ago, but from the fact that the first of the houses, the nucleus of the village, having been erected at the place where a small stream issued from it, the name Lochee seems to have been derived, that is to say, Loch E'e (Locheye), the eye or opening of the loch. A streamlet rising towards the east end of the village of Lochee runs westward through it, thus affording water to several mills. Anciently this streamlet flowed into the Loch of Balgay." Subsequent to the drainage of the loch, sheets of water continued to accumulate in a large tract of low-lying ground which still bears the name of The Bog. When frozen over it was a favourite resort of those who engaged in outdoor pastimes. It was at this part of Lochee that the Mill of Balgay mentioned by Thomson stood, and it is here that the boundary of the estate terminates on the north. From that point westward the loch extended, in all likelihood, as far as Denmiln, where it emptied itself into the ravine at Denhead of Gray.

FOUNDING OF LOCHEE AS AN INDUSTRIAL CENTRE.

It is to the Rev. Dr Constable, the minister of Liff Parish, we are indebted for much of the information that bears upon the founding of Lochee as an industrial centre. It may be of interest at the outset to state that Dr Constable was nephew of Mr Constable of Wallace Craigie, the prototype of Sir Walter Scott's famous Monkbarns of "The Antiquary." It is also averred that the doctor was on terms of intimacy with the great wizard of romance, and there are some even who claim that during one or other of his sojourns in Dundee Sir Walter paid a visit to the Manse of Liff. In an article contributed to Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland (1792), Dr Constable records many notable facts, and felicitously describes the everyday life of the people entrusted to his pastoral care. He lifts the curtain as it were, and shows to

LOCHEE BURN-A PURE STREAM.

In the next place, it was essential, if the success of the under­taking was to be assured, that the water supply should be adequate. That element was found in the now contemned Lochee Burn, a flowing stream then free of impurities. Years afterwards Dr Constable, emphasizing his views on this important detail, explained that "what above every other advantage has tended to enhance the value of this spot to manufacturers, and without which it would have remained in its original unimproved state, is a small brook or stream that passes westward through Lochee, and furnishes a supply of water for boiling and bleaching." Still another advantage was adduced. The ground lay full towards the sun at all seasons, and this exposure was found to be of material service in the purification of certain fabrics. The area besides was environed with much natural beauty. A prettier or cosier spot could not have been selected. With the fine-foliaged demesne of the Duncans as a background, its attractions were enhanced by an expanse of fair land, encircled by hill and dale, and stretching afar into a perspective of rich and variegated scenery.

EXPANSION OF LOCHEE-MANUFACTURERS SHREWD MEN OF BUSINESS.

Eventually feus and sub-feus were taken, and a healthy stimulus was given to trade. In a few years the ground from Pitalpin Road on the east to the old ford in the vicinity of Myrekirk on the west, and from the burn on the south to Lift' Road on the north, was filled in with an array of cottages, well-cultivated gardens, and workshops wherein industrious craftsmen plied their various callings. As things went in those days expansion was fairly rapid, and the population, drawn from a wide area, numbered by and by close upon a thousand. Indeed, the influx was so great that it was estimated that Lochee contained more inhabitants than the whole of the parish of Liff put together. The head men of the community, the chief merchant-manufacturers, collectively were a distinct outstanding type, plain, shrewd, far-seeing. In the inner working of the markets they were as well versed as those who frequent the Exchange to-day, and in their transactions as keen. In due course fully three hundred looms, detached and in groups, were in operation, and the processes of bleaching and the preparation of yarns were conducted on a large scale. In fact, the latter formed a separate industry, for which provision was made by the Cox family. As many as twenty-five acres were devoted to that purpose at one time. All known appliances were introduced, and a plash-mill, the remains of which existed up till a few years since, was erected over the burn. In conjunction with bleaching other textile branches were fostered, though most of the employers directed their attention principally to weaving. In this way operative residenters were kept engaged. The purchase of goods, too, finished and unfinished, was followed on a large scale. With the view of facilitating the work in that direction depots were established in such widely-separated places as Perth, Coupar Angus, Inchture, and other townlets of the Carse of Gowrie. This arrangement was maintained for a lengthened period, and even was in vogue until after railways were opened and old Lochee had given place to the new.

CLASS OF FABRIC PRODUCED.

It may be explained that the class of fabric produced was confined principally to the coarser qualities. Woven stuff's of fine texture were not in demand. Other places supplied them. The looms of Dundee and neighbourhood seldom rose above the standard of osnaburgs. Social life, narrow and unconventional, was unfavourable to the expert production of the finer fabrics. Comparatively few even of the better class cared to indulge in the wearing of rich apparel, and stuffs less costly clothed the people generally. Dr Constable has explained the nature of the products of Lochee in his time. The reverend gentleman even has gone the length of giving the actual output for a specific period. "The household linen,'' he says, " made in this district is not worth mentioning. The staple manufactures are coarse linens. They are named from their breadth as yard-wides, three-quarter-wides, and wide-thin linens. A very small proportion of the yarn made use of is spun in the district, though several women apply themselves to it, every weaver for the most part being supplied with that article from Dundee. Some of the cloth manufactured is sold at first hand at Dundee or Inchture, but the quantity thus sold does not amount to more than is purchased by the merchant-weaver in this district." As showing how Lochee had developed in a comparatively short time, this intelligent chronicler states that in 1792 or thereabout there were five merchant-weavers in Lochee, who, besides, were included in the list of operative manufacturers. That is to say, they purchased finished goods and at the same time were actively engaged in producing them in their own establishments. "All of these," he continues, "with one exception, who buys to the greatest extent, dispose of the whole of their stock either in Dundee, Perth, or Coupar of Angus."
The appended tabulated statement gives a fairly accurate approximation of the number of webs manufactured in Lochee in a single year, and the prices at which they were commonly sold by the manufacturers, viz.

At least 230 of the webs were bleached, and the sum total is a gratifying evidence of  commercial activity.

SCOTTISH WOMEN AND THEIR "PROVIDIN'."

Having regard to the manufacture of household linen and its relatively small output, it has to be explained that Dundee and many parts of the East of Scotland were affected in that direction. The coarser qualities were their specialties. Never­theless, linen manufacture in the good old-fashioned way of our great-grandames was an art largely practised in private life. The average Scottish woman had been, and still was, no matter the class to which she belonged, justifiably proud of the purity and quality of her "providin'." Amongst the working folks it was the custom of females in their spare hours, and on their own account, to spin, weave, and superintend the preparation of certain cherished articles, the evolution of which was solicitously watched until finished, when they were carefully placed within the recesses of a roomy bureau or family chest. The fineness of texture and the {lawlessness throughout of these desiderated fabrics were esteemed as points of honour, and no more fitting testimony to the qualities claimed for them can be adduced than the fact that after the lapse of a century such as remain are valued, not specifically as heirlooms, but rather as souvenirs of the skill and good taste of the ladies of a former generation.

THE WAGE OF THE HANDLOOM WEAVER, THE SIMPLE LIFE.

Weaving as a remunerative handicraft, even in its heyday, was not superlatively encouraging. The wage-standard of the past could not bear to be compared with the average rate awarded to skilled and unskilled labour that obtains in our own time. Working from an early hour in the morning till night was well advanced, an expert considered himself well oft" if he earned ten shillings per week with any degree of certainty. If married, that meagre income, in many instances, was augmented by a few shillings derived from the labour of some other member of the family. But, taken as a whole, the household earnings were relatively small, and as we would now regard them, quite inadequate as a living wage. If, however, the income was limited, wants were few. Modern methods had not dawned, nor in that respect were people expectant. In their way they were comfortable, and more they did not want. Luxuries were heard of only in the abstract. The simple life was lived because no other was known. The elegancies and dainties of existence lay far beyond common reach, and where was the operative who hankered after them? Attached to every house in old Lochee was a garden filled with fruit and vegetables, and not a few of the residenters owned a cow. Compared with their modern pro­totypes, particularly town dwellers, their lot might well be envied. From all that can be learned, the inhabitants were a staid, sturdy, hardworking race, who in their clay did well by kith and kin.

PLOUGHMEN AND DOMESTIC SERVANTS, THEIR FINANCIAL VALUE.

Apart from weaving, some of the people at certain seasons followed other avocations, such as masons, labourers, and field workers. These subsidiary callings were only engaged in during the mildest parts of the year—summer and autumn. In winter the loom was resumed. On that account the average wage of these workers cannot be accurately gauged; but taking all extraneous contingencies into consideration, it is estimated it would not amount to more than twelve shillings per week. Labour of all kinds was rated low. The financial value of a ploughman was far under that of the artisan. For an able-bodied man from £8 to £10 per annum was paid. That individual, in the disposal of his meals, had two alter­natives—he could elect to go home, or he could arrange to have them at the table of his employer. If he adopted the former course there were allocated to him a weekly allowance of two pecks of oatmeal and a proportionate quantity of milk, though the latter was then a rather scarce commodity. Plough­men, too, were not a numerous body, and farmers often had difficulty in securing suitable men. The maid-servant question in those days never reached the importance of a burning one. At the same time it can readily be conceived that between mistress and maid lively interludes were of everyday occurrence, and quite after the modern fashion, too. The remuneration of a hand-maiden a century ago would shock the sensibilities of the domestic attendant of our time. It ranged from about £3 per annum ! There were, however, certain accompanying provisos as elastic as they were contentious. One of these was known as "bounty money ", that is to say, extra pay for specific work, a privilege which was tenaciously adhered to by the Abigail. Any infringement thereof was keenly resented. It may therefore be inferred that the relations between parties—sometimes ludicrous and always exasperating—would often be strained to the breaking point. The labourer, too, was not highly rewarded. Including rations, such as they were, he received from 9d to l0d per diem. Nevertheless, on these scanty earnings, many a robust family was reared; and thrifty people, with true Scottish con­servatism, even saved a moiety for old age or the day of adversity.

ANTIQUE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS.

With reference to the all-important subject of education, Scotland has been justly famed for the high standard it maintained. Since the days of the Reformation educational facilities of a kind were part of the equipment of every well-regulated parish. It may be inferred, however, that our academic prestige was due rather to the capacity of the pupil and the staunchness of the preceptor than to the brightness and salutary influence of the environments. It is well known that it was largely to Knox and the leaders of the Reformation we owed the formula­tion of a policy which became a powerful factor in the formation of our national character. A competent authority states that the great Reformer and his coadjutors "devised and carried into effect the simple yet comprehensive machinery of an admirable system which proved, next to the Reformation itself, the greatest blessing they could have conferred upon Scotland. By means of schools," it is added, "a taste for education became universal in the nation, and many of the pupils continued their studies in the grammar schools and universities." Adverting to the conditions of schools throughout the country, the writer draws a rather unpleasant picture, and animadverts rather plainly thereupon. "The schoolhouse," he says, "was usually of one storey. The floor in many cases was of earth or clay, damp and cold; the roof low, and the room ill ventilated, to the great injury of the health of the scholars and their teachers. In most cases neither health nor comfort was studied in the construction of these useful establishments; but despite that many of them were conducted by intelligent, accomplished, painstaking, and good, worthy men, who sent forth pupils who have done credit to their preceptors and conferred honour upon their country." Any tumbledown building, weather-worn and almost ruinous, was considered suitable for the important purpose of a seminary. The structural conditions of parish schools generally less than a century back were a blot upon the reputation of a nation which boasted that academically it was more enlightened than others. The parish school of Liff was no exception to those in other parts of the country. Indeed, it may be taken as a fair sample of the common lot. Situated at Denmill of Gray, near the margin of the burn, it consisted of a single apartment—an old but-and-ben thrown into one. The back wall, lip to the eaves, was almost on a level with the main road. When it rained heavily it was not unusual for the surface water to percolate through apertures and spread over the floor in long muddy streaks. This ram­shackle structure, after serving for several generations, was vacated in 1835, when the school near the church was built.

EMOLUMENTS OF SCHOOLMASTERS, A PITTANCE.

The accommodation afforded schoolmasters was scarcely superior to their schoolrooms, and their remuneration would be indignantly resented by the educationists of ourtime. The salary of the teacher at Denmill was somewhere about £7 per annum, inclusive of free house. To help him to eke out existence there was superadded a dole of two bolls of oatmeal. As session-clerk his emoluments, which were precarious, averaged £1 15s yearly, and it was considered that at least £3 as fees should accrue from baptisms and marriages, that is to say, when these paltry dues were honoured. Verily the lines of an educated man, holding an official position of much responsibility, and entrusted with the all-important duty of forming the mind of youth, were not cast in pleasant places. It is small wonder, therefore, that the dominie of Liff, if he wished to make both ends meet, ot necessity was compelled to reside in a domicile that would have been spurned by a hind.

MARRIAGE AT A DISCOUNT.

Upon matters marital Dr Constable sheds a rather lugubrious light. The conduct of the single men of the parish in general, but of that section of it occupied by Lochee in particular, towards the fair sex did not meet with his approval. The marriage market, in fact, was at a discount. "In cases of marriage," he recounts, "it often happens that the man is far less advanced in life than the woman. The former depends much upon the experience of the latter, and generally, too, upon the savings of her industry, to enable him to begin with some comfort a married life." Dr Constable, in his day, may have had cause to complain of this rather unmanly conduct; but we, with our boasted progressiveness, feel that matters are now so altered that a mistake is being made all the other way.

TERRIBLE VISITATIONS—CONSUMPTION SELDOM ABSENT.

Though Lochee was healthy, many of the inhabitants reaching venerable ages, a blight often fell upon it. Despite its salubrity, it shared the disastrous fate of most towns and villages of the period. Virulent disease was a frequent visitor. Epidemics were common, and ruthless in their severity. The great, almost ever-present bane was consumption. Few households were scathless. The cause was not difficult to find. Primarily, it lay in inadequate housing. To structural defects, bad ventilation, personal contact, and the sickly odour emanating from damp, mud-built walls, clay floors, and sodden, thatched roofs, there had to be superadded the somewhat unsavoury habits of the people. Cleanliness in the home and in the person, so essential to health, was not too scrupulously observed. Sleeping accommodation, even amongst well-to-do people, received scanty consideration. The old heavily-draped tester and" tent beds, huge, cumbrous, unwieldy articles of furniture,we're regarded with a degree of ostentatious pride. Health conditions, however, were left out of count.
When the owners retired to rest they were careful to draw the curtains together in such a way as to prevent the intrusion of even a whiff of fresh air. Amongst working people, in tenement and in cottage, a more pernicious system obtained. Any small room, odd corner, or dingy attic was deemed suitable as a sleeping place. But the worst method of all was the hideous box-bed. These were common to all types of houses. Generally there were two in a room, and accommodated from two to three persons each. Constructed of timber they were often "built against a damp wall, which added to their unwholesomeness. As a rule, and as a matter of privacy or expediency, they were pro­vided with doors, which could be fastened from the inside. In some houses in town, but in particular in country districts, this undesirable custom is still observed. The box-bed, and its fellow-companion, the modern folding-bed, are responsible for the spread of a vast amount of disease and attendant fatal consequences. Within a few feet of each cottage door garbage was purposely collected, and domestic refuse augmented the heap sans ceremony. To the people ailments were visitations, and hygiene an enigma. Dr Constable deplored the ravages of tuberculosis, and the faculty was powerless to stem it. Scientific research, which has unveiled such marvellous ameliorative secrets, had not then got beyond even the threshold of beneficent inquiry. Medical men in the past, most of whom were unselfish and pains­taking in their circumscribed knowledge, could only be expected to administer according to prevailing lights.

AULD CLAY BIGGIN'S AND THE HAND-LOOM and the PIRN-WHEEL.

Lochee originally could not be called a village, nor could it be called a hamlet. It consisted rather of a series of the latter genera, if such edifices as "auld clay biggin's" could be characterised by that term. It seems to have been broken up into groups of separate and independent communities, and, put together, covered fully a mile from point to point. The dwellings, as a rule, were constructed after the "but-an'-ben " pattern. In almost every instance they were at once a home and a workshop. Two hand-looms, sometimes four, if space permitted, were huddled at one end, whilst the other was held sacred as being the family sanctum. The latter was devoted to all manner of domestic utility—eating, sleeping, and the ordinary routine of daily life. Here the busy housewife, when not engaged attending to household affairs, in her spare moments acted as an auxiliary to her husband. In those days yarn spools were wound after quite a different fashion from that which now obtains. A "pirn-wheel," a rotary machine similar hi principle to a spinning-wheel, but much larger, and actuated by hand, was the method by which weft was prepared for the shuttle. This operation, therefore, generally fell to the lot of the guidwife or some of the junior members of the family. When these individuals were not available the services of some poor worn-out person were enlisted. The spinning-wheel, ironically dubbed the "weaver's organ" , and multitudes there were who well knew the music of it—was an object of much solicitude. Great care was taken of the cranky thing, which often was an heirloom—handed down, in fact, from mother to daughter, even to granddaughter. Frequently, too, when young women of the operative class were wedded, a pirn-wheel was one of the marital gifts. Apart from the loom, when the proverbial rainy day came, it was regarded as a means by which a woman could earn a scanty but honest penny. Alas! how many in the course of their humble lives had to eke out a miserable existence by its aid! In the routine of everyday life this machine, simple and useful, was invested with no sentimentality. Rather, in its stern realism, more often it was the emblem of embittered penury, the companion of grinding privation.

EMPLOYERS' HOMES KNOWN AS "CASTLES."

In those days, in such communities as Lochee. it was unusual even for the better class of employers to dwell in houses of a type much superior to the rank and file of everyday workers. The gentility of the masters had not risen to any appreciable extent above the habits and manners of their servants. Lochee perhaps formed an exception, as it could boast of two goodly dwellings of two storeys each. These domiciles were tenanted by the principal manufacturers. Though not by any means imposing, they were regarded as outwith the common run, and termed 'castles'. One was thatched and the other was covered with grey slates. One is still standing; the other was raised nearly a century since.