IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Main Street, ALEXANDRIA, G83 0DY

This stone appears above an old entrance to the bowling club (which was founded in 1867) from Main Street; see also Image

Image is in the foreground. The Christie Park is in the foreground. The building at the left was originally the park keeper's lodge: Image The two plaques on the fence railings refer to a special pipe installed for the United Turkey Red Company in 1926: Image

See Image for context. Of the two plaques visible there, this is the one on the left; the other one is not worth showing separately, since the wording is the same, except that "STOP VALVE 7¾ FT" is replaced by "AIR VALVE 25 FEET". The meaning of the abbreviations will be clear enough to people from the area, but for the benefit of other readers: "V.L.W.W." – Vale of Leven Water Works; "U.T.R.Co" – United Turkey Red Company. The UTR Company was one of the two main amalgamations of textile and dyeing works in the Vale of Leven. The other group came under the control of the Manchester-based Calico Printers Association. The UTR was formed in 1897, partly in an attempt to resist takeover by the parent organisation of the CPA; the CPA would eventually take over the assets of the UTR Company in 1960, and fairly soon afterwards they closed the local UTR works. These matters are discussed in much more detail at http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/valeindustry.html (Vale of Leven website).

North Street is on the left. The large building on the right is on McAllister Road, and is built along much the same lines as nearby Creveul Court (Image).

For context, see Image, which shows the building (originally the park keeper's lodge) on which this inscription is carved. The text appears on the eastern wall (the side facing the main road), and is as follows (reproduced here so that it can be found by searches): "This park was gifted to the inhabitants of the parish of Bonhill by John Christie Esqr. of John Orr Ewing & Co : Alexandria 5th July 1902". In order to create the park, Christie purchased (in 1900) what had formerly been known as Notman's Park, and the area of woodland behind it. In 1902, he made known his intentions to donate the park to the parish, and to provide the sum of £2000 for its upkeep. However, see the entry for "Christie Park" at http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/scottishplacenames/Cvale_names.html (at the Vale of Leven website) for the actual source of the money used to fund the park's creation. The park was officially opened on the date mentioned on the inscription; a procession was part of the festivities. At three in the afternoon, Mrs Christie (née Jessie Fulton – see below) opened the Image using a golden key. By that time, not everything had yet been completed: the bandstand (no longer present – see below) had not been painted, a shelter had not been erected, and the proposed woodland paths at the back of the park had not been created (in the meantime, the public were asked not to wander off into the woods). The park was laid out in accordance with designs by Mr Whitton (James Whitton, superintendent of Glasgow Parks); these designs were carried out by a certain Mr J Leith of Rothesay. In 1952 the park's 50th Jubilee was celebrated here. The Christie Park Veterans' Bowling Club had their green and club house within the park from 1916 onwards (they are now located nearby). As mentioned above, there was originally a bandstand within the park; it was sold off in the 1980s, supposedly to be re-erected elsewhere. The donor of the park is sometimes referred to as John Christie of Gallangad. He was John Hyde Christie, born at Barrhead (Image) in 1836. He studied chemistry at Glasgow, and was first employed by his cousin's firm, Hay and Hyde, silk manufacturers and dyers at Port Dundas (Image). In 1859 he left to take up the post of chemist at John Orr Ewing and Company's Alexandria Works (see Image and Image for the remnants of the buildings). He became assistant manager of the works fifteen years later, and then manager. In 1878 he became a partner in the firm. In 1898 several firms (John Orr Ewing & Co, Archibald Orr Ewing & Co, and William Stirling & Sons) amalgamated to form the United Turkey Red Company Ltd., and Christie became chairman of the combined operation. He held that position until 1922, when he retired (his eldest son Henry William Christie succeeded him as UTRC chairman). John Christie was also interested in the production of synthetic dyes, and was a director of the British Alizarine Company. In 1872 he married Jessie Fulton, the third daughter of the farmer John Fulton. Christie purchased the Gallangad estate (Image) from Mr Cunningham Graham in 1895, and the adjoining Croftfoot (Image) in the following year. Mrs Christie died in 1924, and her husband died in 1926 at his Alexandria residence of Levenfield [the biographical information above is taken from his obituary in the Lennox Herald].

The picture was taken from the junction with Middleton Street (Image). The Christie Park is on the left: Image One of the entrances of the park is located out of shot, just to the left of the photographer's position; a drinking fountain topped with a statue is located there: Image

This is the south-eastern corner of the park; the Image are visible on the left. The building that is visible ahead was originally the keeper's lodge (at the Image); like the main gates, the lodge was the work of the architect James Miller. An inscription on its eastern wall describes the circumstances of the park's creation: Image

See Image for a view from beside another entrance to the park. Christie Park was officially opened on the 5th of July, 1902. Mrs Christie ceremonially opened the gates of the new park with a golden key; see Image for further details about the park, its opening, and its donor. These gates are at the far end of the footpath that is visible on the right in Image

This is the northern part of the site, on the eastern side of Main Street. The building in the right background is on McAllister Road: compare Image The road leading towards it runs through the middle of the construction site, and is called Alexander Street.