Hi, I am a local historian for the Calderwood/St Leonards/Calderglen districts of East Kilbride & High Blantyre. I am also an artist who has been involved in a number of local exhibitions, my forte being modern pre-raphaelite work. For 8 years as of January 2009 I have been exploring the long lost nooks and dells of our forgotten local countryside and have decided that this district has so much to offer in terms of romantic beauty that it should be shared with anyone who seeks it. I have been compiling a comprehensive history of the district for publication in coming years, this work will represent my countless and exhaustive adventures into my local area, and along the way I have consequently taken thousands of photographs! I have also given out numerous pamphlets on local history in the EK area, and presented several talks on it's beauty & history. I am also currently trying to negotiate the saving of many features of the former Calderwood Estate before they are lost forever.

Through this Flickr page I want to create an online treasure trove of these images which will be supplemented with my own maps which I have created from my countless journeys. I have reached the conclusion that if Calderwood Glen's lost glories were realised in their entirety, then they would easily rival anything to be seen at Culzean, Pollok, Chatelherault/Avon Gorge, Bothwell Castle or the Clyde Valley etc... The 'Glen' represents a romantic fantasy wilderness with curiosities around every corner, but sadly the place has become so overgrown that it is now truly hidden, and very innacessable. Of the hundreds of paths which were once used, only a handful are used today, and most people who remember the Glen's former glories are now sadly no longer with us. It is a true 'Secret Garden' and then some!!! Whatever the place lacks in scale, it more than makes up for in terms of variety, romance, rugged grandeur and lushness of vegetation.

All the adjuncts of a magical landscape are there and through the photographs on this page I hope to inspire further awareness of this lost wonder. There is nowhere else like it in britain, and the place was so popular in the past, that 1500 day trippers on a summer saturday was not an unusual figure during the early 1900's!! Calderwood Glen was also described as 'the loveliest of western glens' and one of the 'finest estates in Scotland'!

If you have a memory or useful piece of information which relates in any way to Calderglen, ancient or modern, crucial or obscure I would simply love to know more. Feel free to mail me or leave a comment with any picture. I love DETAIL, so please babble on as much as you like. I have gathered a pile of paperwork about 25cm thick of info on Calderglen and I am still learning new things everyday! That pile of papers does not include my database of about 5GB on my PC. I must have at least 1500 documents which are text records! lol

ALSO - PLEASE CORRECT ME ON ANY POINTS YOU CAN.

Enjoy, and be inspired.... :-)