Blocks at Barleith

Further to the request about information about the Blocks, we have received the following comments;

I saw that someone was asking about the Barleith Blocks. I have some memories of them as I spent a couple of summers there with my Grandmother when I was around 7, which would have been 1959.

My Grandmother, Janet Lundie (nee Cunningham), lived at 32 C Block. She had lived there all her life as her father started living there after he married and she remained there after she married my Grandfather. The Cunningham family was already living there in the 1891 census.

I remember the building well. She lived in the block nearest the railway and at the end of the block nearest the main road.

Her house was on the 1st floor, accessed by external stairs with metal railings. At the top of the stairs on the left was the outside toilet. Her house consisted of two main rooms with a short passageway between them.

The main room was a kitchenette/sitting-room. It had two alcoves for beds. I slept in one of these in a double bed with my Grandmother. Her other alcove did not have a bed in it as she normally lived alone. She used it for storage.

The second room was used as a bedroom. I think it may also have had an alcove but I am not sure. The window looked out on the railway line.

There were outside wash-houses.

Norma Watt