My House

Not quite in the middle of the street but quite close to the end of the street and not far from the bollards that prevent heavy traffic using my road to access a factory at the far end of the road. The bollards were always a boundary line to which our children could go and play when they were young.

This week I am preparing to close the doors on the history of my house.

Over the past three years I have been researching and writing about the history of No. 7 Earlspark Avenue where I have lived since 1987. Over several chapters I have told the story of how one of the wealthiest landowners in Glasgow, Sir John Stirling Maxwell, began to sell  off large areas of mainly agricultural land to a house developer, George Anderson.

The beginning of the 20^th Century saw an increasing population in the city needing more accommodation. The developing wealth during the 19^th Century had created a demand for better, and by that time, more modern housing. Suburbs such as Langside and Newlands were becoming popular with the new middle classes and Sir John Stirling Maxwell would have been well aware of investment opportunities especially given that the old Scottish Feudal system would enable him to continue to take rent from the new houses being built on the land that he was selling.

My house was built by George Anderson who was a successful contractor at the beginning of the 20^th Century. He had the advantage of the new Cathcart Circle Railway that created a semi-circle around the southern districts of Glasgow. From Pollokshaws the railway line runs parallel to the River White Cart as far as Cathcart before working its way back in to the City via Queens Park. This creates a natural land corridor that Anderson had utilised well to build hundreds of houses. Some were terraces but many were semi detached such as ours. All of them made with local red sandstone.

Researching the history of No.7 was relatively easy because I was able to access all the original conveyancing documents. From these I could work out exactly who lived here and how much each paid at the point of purchase. You can check out all of the stories that I have created about this in this category of House History.

Once the contract to sell the parcel of land to Anderson was agreed it had to be described in accurate detail The precise location and the precise measurements and a precise description of the location, each were important to prevent future legal arguments. The document was handwritten by a Writer, a solicitor, and after signing the document was lodged with the General Register of Sasines in Edinburgh.

If you have been watching the excellent television series “A House Through Time”, by David Olusoga, you will be enjoying the current story which is about a house in Edinburgh. Initially, Olusoga must find out who first purchased the house and he describes searching the register of Sasines. What interested and amused me was that he had pronounced it (correctly) as say-zins. I studied house history on a short course at Glasgow University under Dr Ronnie Scott, a well-known researcher a nd social historian. In class we all talked about sas-seens as if it was a French derivative. Thanks to this TV series, I have been corrected.

The Register of Sasines was the place where a Sasine, the legal document used in Scots law to record the formal transfer or delivery of feudal property and land ownership.

When the Stirling Maxwell family sold our land to Anderson, the sasine also stipulated the amount of feu duties – a quarterly rent payable by the new owner for the land that the house was built upon. This archaic method of making money from the land after selling it continued throughout Scotland until 1974.I have found the records of nearly all the owners of this house until they ceased by law. They are handwritten in a beautiful copperplate handwriting in enormous ledgers which are kept in the Glasgow Archives in the Mitchell Library.

So, when five years ago, I discussed the conveyancing records and where they were kept, with a solicitor, she was able to track them down by finding what happened to the previous law firm that helped us with the purchase of No 7. They had been kept in an archive envelope in the basement of an office somewhere in Glasgow and when I received them it gave me the complete story as I had researched it using other records such as: Valuation records, postal registers and Electoral Rolls. The package included a photocopy of the original handwritten sasine signed by Stirling Maxwell and Anderson and witnessed by a footman in the Maxwell household.

These documents are no longer required by lawyers for conveyancing purposes. Proof of ownership of No.7 is found in the Land Registry of Scotland which since 1981 has been the place for proof of ownership of land and property in Scotland. However, I keep these documents in a fireproof metal box. My intention is is to leave this box in the loft for the time when the house changes hands to a new owner.

First, I must print off all the posts from this blog that I have written about the house to add to the box. Then I shall write a detailed letter about how we came from London in 1987 to live in this house, working in this City and raise our family. Then the story of No.7 will be complete.