3 Bridgehaugh

It is sad in a way that the Woollen Mill, Brighae and Bridgehaugh Farm are referred to and recognised prettywell anywhere one chooses to research but the 6 flat tenement block at No. 3 is ignored entirely.

The building, like almost all others in this part of the World is built on ground that had as its Feu Superior, Cowanes Hospital.

The ground, consisting of 1 acre 35 falls and 12 ells, was disponed to Robert Smith and Thomas Graham by Daniel McLachlan on 2nd May 1837.

Within the first burden of that transaction there is reference to “…they shall have full and free access to the said river at all times and power to use the water for their manufactories and to convey the same from the river in pipes…” This would appear to suggest that the ground changed hands full in the knowledge that it was to be developed for business purposes.

The 1895 Valuation Roll lists a “Manufactory” at the Old Bridge Stirling as being owned by Archibald Forrest and William Forrest, Cabinetmakers, Stirling.

The listing continues with six individual records of “House, Forth Bridge, Stirling” all in the ownership of Archibald and William. It is not difficult to leap to the conclusion that these are the six flats at number 3 Bridgehaugh although they are not identified as such. They are however occupied by: –

Henry Hogg, Millworker.
William Burden, (No occupation).
Archibald Forrest, cabinetmaker.
James Sneddon, wool sorter.
James Ogilvie, engine keeper.
John McFarlane, warehouseman.

Later in the disponement document, in 1906 Archibald Forrest is recorded as disponing to Alexander Lauder (Listed in a street directory of the time as being a “guard”) an area undescribed but referring to “…the gable separating the said subjects … from the other subjects belonging to us shall be mutual to us and our foresaids…”

This suggests that the tenement itself is the subject of the transaction and the gable of what at that time would have been a Cabinet Maker’s business was the “mutual” gable referred to. When the Cabinet Maker’s Business stopped and the building was utilised as a Confectionery Works, which subsequently burned down in 1911, Brighae was built on the vacant site. The Dean of Guild drawings for Brighae show the proposed building sandwiched between the tenement at No 3 and the Mill building.

Within the same document there is reserved a right of access to property behind these buildings nearer the river as follows: –

That there shall be reserved to us…a perpetual right of entrance and passage of the space of not less than ten feet wide reserved for a road and branch road … from Bridgehaugh Road along the south west and north west of the tenement erected on the said subjects … to the said other subjects belonging to us and the right of passage over the said subjects … to the Store and Confectionery Works … belonging to us!

The red line superimposed on the 1899 map above represents the area of ground that is associated with the Flats at 3 Bridgehaugh as shown in present day legal transactions. The yellow line shows the right of access to “…Store and Confectionery Works…” referred to in the archaic burdens which actually gave access to the rear of the Confectionery works which was a four storey building that lay between 3 Bridgehaugh and the Woollen Mill. The Store is likely to have been the building at the rear.

The Confectionery works were variously described as “Leslie’s Confectionery Works” and “Kennedy & Co. (Stirling), Ltd., Confectioners.”

In 1911 the occupants of number 3 Bridgehaugh were temporarily evacuated across the road in Bridgehaugh when the Confectionery works next door was destroyed by fire. Their possessions were stored in the premises of a Mr Esslemont across the street. There is a Newspaper report of the time telling of one of the volunteers who assisted in the transport of their belongings having stolen a watch in the process.

It is reported that the only damage to the houses was by water from the fire fighting which successfully contained the fire.

It was the vacant site resulting from that fire upon which Brighae was built.