Category: House History

  • Welcome, James

    After 44 years the Scott family had left number 7, Earlspark Avenue. Agnes,senior, died there; Agnes junior, died there, and George retired and left there for the Isle of Bute. The Scott family laid the foundations for the bulk of the legal documents that became the cornerstone of proof of ownership of the property. This…

  • George takes over

    The amount of legal paperwork and activity that George Scott had to be involved in seems extraordinary by today’s standards. This paperwork also had to be preserved in the archives of law offices both at the solicitor’s office and in Edinburgh legal offices. One document transferred No 7 from George Anderson, the builder, to Agnes…

  • Life begins at Number 7

    The Scotts’ moved in to 7 Earlspark Avenue in April 1910. That was just over 114 years ago. In 1987 I moved into 7 Earlspark Avenue with my wife and son. That was 37 years ago. The Scotts’ lived here for 45 years. We moved in 32 years later. I have a fascination with the…

  • First Residents

    I am writing this post in the smallest of the upstairs rooms. In all there are five rooms in the house plus a kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen was once the scullery, and it was built with a concrete floor with a gradient leading to a drain. This enabled any overflow of water from the…

  • George Anderson, Wright and Builder

    George built my house in Earlspark Avenue. He also built the whole of Earlspark, other than some new houses that went up in the 1960’s on the site of a farm where George had his offices. George was a prolific builder in the beginning of the 20th Century. He bought up land from Sir John…

  • The origins of Earlspark Avenue

    Last week I offered the legal origins of the house that I live in with descriptions of the Sasine Register entry and the Feu Ledger entry for No 7 Earlspark Avenue. Today I am looking at the early editions of the Ordnance Survey maps to try and establish when Earlspark Avenue was created. Two date-markers…

  • The Feu Register

    When I started out studying Scottish ancestry and house history, I was introduced to things such as the Sasine Register and Feu Duties. It was where property transfers and ownership were registered and where the registration of Feu Duties were made. It has taken my own research into the history of my house in Earlspark…

  • BE (Before Earlspark)

    Before Earlspark Avenue there was nothing but arable land. It lay at the bottom of the Parish Road from Millbrae to Langside Village, on the south side of the River Cart. The Parish Road is now Millbrae Hill and of course, there is no longer a Langside Village. That is a completely redeveloped (twice) Battlefield…

  • Plotting the Site of my House

    Where did it all begin? To find out I have arrive at the Glasgow City Archives based in the Mitchell Library. In the pre Covid Lockdown days it was possible to be able to walk in, have a discussion with an Archivist and have documents and  other material fetched from the basement and delivered to…

  • Feus, Sasines, Jus Mariti and Dispositions

    Medieval terminology dominates much of the house conveyancing language of the twentieth century in Scotland. Getting my head around some of it has been the result of research at the Glasgow Archives in the Mitchell Library and also examining the title deed of my house that I now have in my possession. I will try…