WORK

"Do you not know that your father brought me here long ago from Mr McNair's of the Green? Your father used to have merry meetings with Mr McNair, and one day he saw me and took a liking to me. At the same time Mr McNair had taken a fancy to a very nice pony belonging to your father, so they agreed on the subject, and I was niffered awa' for the pony. That's the way I came here."

In this way an aged miner, Moss Nook explained to James Dunlop how he had come to Fullarton. Until unconditional emancipation was effected in 1799, colliers were still subject to feudal laws which bound them in virtual slavery. The survival of this bondage arose from the importance of the miner to the production of salt in previous centuries, an industry so vital to the country that miners and salters had been specifically excluded from the changes in laws eliminating serfdom in Scotland.

When a mine changed hands the transaction included the collier and his family. An owner could hire out workers or move them elsewhere, as in the case of Moss Nook. Trying to escape such bondage resulted in severe punishment. It is unsurprising therefore that they came to be regarded as inferior people, and that no one became a miner by choice.

In the 17th and 18th centuries coal was not normally used as household fuel; wood and peat were burned but these became increasingly scarce with the expanding urban populations of Scotland. With the Industrial Revolution demand for coal by industry and population alike increased. Ironworks were being set up which sought large supplies for smelting, and it was also used in the manufacture of glass, paper and in chemical works.

Technology was still primitive by the end of the 18th century and most work was carried out by hand. In addition, the miner had to provide their own labourers to haul the coal back up to the surface. Most could only survive on the wages provided if they used their own families for this purpose. This at a time when fires, explosions and roof collapses were everyday hazards.

Older boys helped their fathers hew the coal while younger boys, their mothers and sisters hauled their weighty burdens to the surface. Although females and boys under ten years of age were eventually forbidden underground by law in 1842, the reality was that the family could not afford to live without undertaking this work. The law was widely ignored as late as the 1870s for women and until compulsory school attendance was introduced for children in 1872.

Most of the 18th century landowners of the area engaged in coal-mining. The mineral abounded in the district and all the riverside proprietors extracted coal from their lands. The Dunlops were particularly involved in the growing industry. It is suggested that James Dunlop became "the most powerful coalmaster in the west of Scotland". His largest mine was at Fullarton and from 1777-93 he invested £10,000 on improving its efficiency. Also notable was Thomas Hopkirk who mined Dalbeth and Easterhill, which still had a colliery into the 20th century.

Building of the Tollcross Works of the British Steel Corporation at 1300, Tollcross Rd were commenced in 1913 for the Clydeside Tube Co. Ltd., part of the then recently formed Stewarts & Lloyds company. Its original function was to make seamless tubes for the locomotive and boiler making industries. Plate 25, above, shows a group of draw bench workers. Plate 26, below, shows the original office block used by a variety of commercial concerns in 1992.

Mining and steel are now industries of the past for Tollcross. Sadly, another smaller enterprise to tread the same path in recent years was Govancroft Potteries Ltd which was sited at 1855 London Rd until 1981. The works started in 1911 and used to produce stoneware and jolleyed ware for ginger beer, jam, ink and stout, as well as wares for the chemical industry. After the Second World War production was concentrated on jugs for the whisky industry - including the nearby Long John International. A fire in 1954 destroyed most of the potteries, but it was rebuilt.

In its early days the clay was brought up the west coast in ships as ballast and was trundled out to the potteries from Queen's Dock, Princes' Dock and Shieldhall in two-wheel carts. It was said that it was obvious when a new load had arrived as there was a trail of clay all the way along the route!