A Lot o Genuine Folk and A Wheen o Rogues &ndash Catrine

Author : Richard Stenlake
ISBN : 9781840335347
Cover : paperback
Price : £16.00

Produced in association with Catrine Community Trust, Ayrshire. Great excitement in the office at the fruition of a very special project. This 128 page full colour book provides a fascinating peek into the life cycle of a small, rural Scottish village... OUR village. Born of the drive, ambition and hurly-burly which accompanied the industrial revolution of the late eighteenth century, Catrine's rise to industrial prominence was meteoric. As the cotton mill took shape, the population went from from a mere 11 rustic dwellings to over 1200 residents in no time and soon boasted not only houses but shops, a brewery, a church and schools. Eventually a gas works provided the village with street lighting before even London acquired it. The truly gigantic pair of water wheels which eventually drove her spinning mills and weaving sheds became famous throughout Britain and the Victorian middle classes would take coach trips just to see the 'Catrine Lions' and hear them roar.

Folk were brought from all over to work in the mill and over time they formed a community whose spirit survived the demise of the industry which had given birth to their village. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Catrine is a quiet rural backwater on the beautiful Ayr, but the bustling industrial township of yesteryear lives on in the memories of her oldest residents. This is their story and the story of eighteenth century entrepreneurship and industrial risk-taking at the height of one of the most exiting and often controversial periods of British and Scottish history. From original sources, letters between David Dale, Claude Alexander and others and photographs in collections throughout Scotland, the book also incorporates oral history gathered from Catrine residents and transcribed over time by Catrine Community Trust.

£16.00  

ADD TO ORDER