Geograph - photograph every grid square

The seat is shown in a very poor state of repair; in better days (both before and after this picture was taken), there was another line of writing above the one shown here; the text then read:

CALDERVALE
FIN ME OUT

The seat drew my attention whenever I passed, although in the state shown here (before renovation) it might be taken for an example of fly-tipping, and for a long time I did nothing with my picture of it (again, I should stress that it has been maintained and renovated over the years; I simply came across it when its physical condition was at a low).

Only later did I learn of its significance: it is intended to commemorate and mark the position of the "lost" mining village of Caldervale, nicknamed Fin Me Oot because of its out-of-the-way location. The village provided housing for workers at Blantyreferme Colliery and (according to the Secret Scotland link given below) the nearby brickworks (for which, see NS6860 : Clyde Walkway enters Brickworks Hill woodland).

The 1910 revision — Link — of the OS map shows Caldervale, with two rows (end-to-end, with a short space between them) of tenement housing extending SSW from the location of this seat; in other words, the houses extended in a line directly behind the photographer. The 1934 revision — Link — of the OS map makes the layout of the buildings a little clearer.

At the time of writing (mid-2018), satellite imagery shows the former location of those rows of houses as a clearing that runs SSW—NNE through a small area of woodland.

See Link (Archive Link ) (at Secret Scotland) for an article about the mining village of Caldervale, with useful comments on what was located beside the houses, and on what remains are (or were) visible here.