Laid out below is an extract from the Third Statistical Account of Scotland. This excerpt, written in 1961, was published in 1966 for volume 18 of the accounts, this volume entitled "County of Stirling and County of Clackmannan". Sauchie, located within the County of Clackmannan, comes under the editorship of The Rev. T. Crouther Gordon, with overall organisation being carried out via Glasgow University.
The Third Statistical Account of Scotland – Volume 18, (1966)
Chapter 16
SAUCHIE
(County of Clackmannan.)
By the Rev. Dr. Crouther Gordon.
Sauchie has never been at any time part of Alloa. Before and after the Reformation it was part of Clackmannan parish and in the sixteenth century coal was being extracted there, since when it has been closely identified with the industry. To meet the convenience of the growing population in that part of the parish, the minister, the Rev. Peter Balfour, raised money and built a church in 1842 and this mission was raised to the status of a quoad sacra charge in 1877. To-day the roll stands at over 1,000 members, who are adults in full communion.
At first the area was made up of small groups of mining communities, like Collyland - now extinct - and Fishcross, which tended to make the miners a distinct and lower caste. The sordid conditions for both the miner and his wife and family in the pits debased their natures, but the Erskines and Robert Bald started ameliorative measures last century; 'truck stores' were abolished, church-going and Bible reading were encouraged and the level of living rose steadily. New workers in the woollen mills and other trades moved in to dilute the closely packed family units and fresh blood and outlook have made Sauchie to-day, not only one of the most numerous, but also one of the most socially and politically minded communities in the whole county.
A streak of bitterness still lingers from the old times, when in 1843, 1s. 8d. was the wage for each shift; in 1880 it was 3s. 4d. and in 1914 it was only 8s.
The local rhyme was:
'Eight hours work, eight hours play,
Eight hours sleep and eight bob a day.'
To-day the average wage for a miner is £15 a week. Textile workers who lived in Sauchie were in those pre-war days obliged to walk to Alva and Tillicoultry to begin at 6 a.m. and work till 6 p.m.
Each alternate Wednesday the beginner was paid 10s. Nowadays in the knitwear factory the average woman worker is paid about £6.
Changes in the social set-up have been marked by the disappearance of the 'Equity Court,' mentioned in the New Statistical Account, the annual fair, the playing with quoits and the peripatetic 'Geggies.' The old drill hall is now a club and the new and attractive public hall, built by the Miners’ Welfare Scheme, is the centre for dances and youth activities. Alloa is now so near, that both for work and for pleasure, it attracts more than 50 per cent of the inhabitants.
The old custom of steak and kidney pie for Sunday breakfast has vanished, being replaced by bacon and egg.
Extensive housing Schemes, such as at Beechwood, Williamwood and Posthill, have broken up the old pattern of work and movement and now the Main street, almost wholly re-built, presents a smart and fresh appearance to the through-traveller. In 1911 the combined population of Sauchie and Fishcross totalled 2,076, in 1921, 2,349, and in 1931 2,835, but in 1951 this figure had risen to the surprising total of 4,817. To-day the figure stands at 5,691. There has always been, and still is, a slight preponderance of females over males, but this constitutes no problem economically, as there is an abundance of work for women in the mills and factories around. It was reckoned ten years ago that another 500 houses would be required to meet the future needs of Sauchie and already much progress has been made towards this target. Steady demolition of the old properties has been a mark of progress recently, more than 150 having been cleared away in the past decade.
In 1835 the Alloa Coal Company was formed and it continued to be the chief employer of miners up to the vesting date of the National Coal Board. Pits were close at hand to Sauchie at Devon, in Sauchie itself, Tillicoultry and Sheardale. In 1902 as much as 282,000 tons of coal was shipped from Alloa harbour. The Survey points out that the estimated upper seams contain 56 million tons and the lower seams 300 million tons. The sinking and development of the new Glenochil mine are supposed to have cost £2 millions and the total county output in 1951 was 410,000 tons.
The making of bricks is a side-line of the Coal Board, but it is worth noting that at the Meta works, which employ 44 men, there is an annual output of 8 million bricks, besides 34,000 tons of briquettes. Between the owners and the miners a tolerably good relationship has always existed and the Sauchie miner, with all his grumbles, has been an excellent worker. In 1942, for instance, when the average output for each man-shift for Scotland was 21.35 cwt., the Sauchie miner was averaging no less than 38.9 cwt. Compared with other areas there have been few strikes and no demonstrations of a menacing nature. Now that the private owner has gone, the acrimony of the miner is slowly disappearing and in its place a kind of despair regarding the future of the whole industry is developing, especially in view of the rapid increase in the use of oil for fuel in industry and in the homes of the people. Sons no longer follow their fathers into the pit and even fathers are steadily seeking employment out of the industry altogether.
John Bald built the Carsebridge distillery in 1797, it was changed to a grain distillery in 1850 and it was acquired by the Distillers Company in 1877. Ample water was secured from Gartmorn Dam and coal was readily available. Barley at first was obtained locally, but when this supply failed large quantities of foreign barley and maize were brought via Leith and transported in boxcarts to Carsebridge. A dozen horses pulled these loads up Broad Street.
In 1902 a serious fire broke out and destroyed much of the central building, but the distillery has recovered and developed to such a pitch of efficiency and prosperity that 250 men are now employed, each taking out a pay packet of at least £10 each week; there is an annual output of 6 million gallons of proof spirit and with the additional storage now available at Hilton there is a capacity of 20 million gallons of proof spirit in the establishment. An important by-product is the feeding stuff available for cattle and so scarce is this at the present time that vehicles from Cumberland and Northumberland in England are found regularly at the Distillery waiting to load up.
The knitwear factory of Donaldson Brothers at Sauchie, producing chiefly ladies' knitted jumpers, cardigans and underwear, continued at Hallpark until 1956, when the large new works were built at Lornshill, but the Hallpark building is now being used as a store and for other ancillary purposes. Many of the 750 workers still travel from Sauchie each day.
Sauchie’s main shopping centre is occupied for the most part with the premises of the Newtonshaw Co-operative Society, which offers a full variety of merchandise to its members and does a prosperous trade. Private traders are few and struggling. In the large housing schemes the housewives are richly supplied by travelling shops, which give excellent service and make their rounds once or twice each week. Recently an amalgamation has taken place with the Coalsnaughton Society and there is a move to have an even greater ‘merger,’ but so far local loyalties and the pull of a higher dividend have prevented this.
The story of education in Sauchie follows the usual pattern. Before the 1872 Act a colliery school was carried on in the drill hall at Keilars Brae, a large room 36 feet by 27 feet, to which later a smaller room was added for infants. The flooring was made of stone flags. Private schools also existed. Ultimately in 1887 the School Board erected a new school on the site of the old 'Equity Courthouse,' but by 1905 another school, Fairfield, was required to relieve overcrowding. Parallel with this arose the need for a school for Fishcross, which was duly erected along with a schoolmaster’s house (in 1875).
The situation was altered further by the building of the large and impressive Junior Secondary School at Forebraes in 1955, which absorbs now all the children of Sauchie in the post-control stage who do not attend Alloa Academy. Even so, the rapid increase in Sauchie’s population demands another new school at Posthill and this at present is being negotiated by the authorities. Both the Sauchie and the Fairfield schools require radical modernising and it is a moot point whether it would not be better to build completely new structures rather than try to alter the present buildings. The Roman Catholic children from Fishcross and Sauchie travel to the central St. Mungo’s School in Alloa — the old Academy buildings - and the senior secondary pupils travel to St. Modan's school in Stirling.
The religious life of Sauchie is clearly divided and yet is very vigorous and aggressive. The quoad sacra parish church, under the leadership of the Rev. T. W. Lund, has recently erected a luxurious church hall, valued at £10,000, where activities for young and old take place every evening. In 1929, under the influence of the late Rev. John Dunn, the majority of the United Free Church congregation chose to remain out of the greater Union and formed a congregation, building their own new church in 1932 and enjoying a succession of faithful ministries, the present incumbent being the Rev. A. Rose Rankine. The Plymouth Brethren have erected a pleasing hall for their meetings and maintain an active life. The Roman Catholics attend the chapel in Alloa.
Besides the churches Sauchie is rich in voluntary societies and enjoys a vigorous week-night life. Each church has its Boy's Brigade and Women's Guild, the numbers ranging from 30 to 60. Men's Clubs too, are in evidence. An outstanding success is the work of the guide movement, under the inspiration of the Misses Buick, who for forty years have organised and developed a fine esprit de corps and a complete Guide system, including Brownies, Guides, Rangers and Trefoil Guild, totalling more than 150 girls and women. The influence of the Guide ideals is felt throughout the whole district.
In addition to the usual Burns, badminton, rifle, pigeon-racing and country dancing clubs, there is the beautiful and testing Schawpark Golf Course, laid out by the notable James Braid, which commands a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape. The Old Age Pensioners have a strong branch of 200 members and the political parties have branches also, the Labour Party being strong and the Communist relatively weaker.
Although there is a keen social and political life in Sauchie and Fishcross, there is very little sense of historical background in the minds of of the people, and yet close beside Fishcross still stands the ancient Devon Tower, built about 1420, the seat of the Schaws of Sauchie. The Inventory of Ancient Monuments preserves the features of the delightful seventeenth century houses that once flanked the courtyard of the Tower. The estate of Sauchie or ‘The Willow-Copse’ can be traced back by charter to 10 June 1321. Sir James Schaw was in 1471 the king’s ‘Controller’ and sheriff of Stirling.
Later he was appointed to the ‘constabularyship of Stirling Castle,’ with the custody of the Duke of Rothesay. When James III, prior to Sauchieburn, sought access to his son in Stirling Castle, Schaw refused and handed over the young Duke to the rebel lords, - poor gratitude for many favours received. The Schaws continued to supply the royal table at Stirling Castle with provisions. At Queen Mary’s court another Sir James Schaw was implicated in the theft of 4,500 Crowns from a French nobleman and also in the murder of Darnley. The estate remained in the same family of Schaw into the late eighteenth century, when William Schaw, Lord Cathcart, was in possession. In 1784 the first cricket match to be played in in Scotland was staged at Schawpark House, an event that was placed on on canvas by David Allan of Alloa, the Scottish Hogarth. William, Earl of Mansfield, succeeded to the estate in 1826, being a kinsman, in which family it remained until 1898. Schaw of Sauchie, goes the story, once quarrelled with Bruce of Kennet for shooting his hawk and demanded an apology, but Bruce retorted, 'I did not shoot your hawk, but rather than apologise I would shoot it!'
But the people of Sauchie know little and care less about the feudal days. Indeed to mention towers and lairds only infuriates many of them. After centuries of oppression, they feel, their time has come and they have 'never had it so good.' In mining their jobs are secure, for if one pit closes they are given posts in an adjacent one, and since labour is scarce workers in mills, factories and shops are assured of full employment. With two or three wage-earners in most of the homes, large incomes are being received. One housewife is quoted as having a weekly income of £65 and hire-purchase commitments of £46 a week. But this is very exceptional. Dancing, gambling and ‘housey-housey’ are the preoccupations of many and newly licensed betting-shops are the 'howff' for many of the single, young men, who have a margin of money to waste. On the other hand, a determined minority of young men study seriously at the evening classes for their National Certificates in various trades and professions and they are notably successful. In the home the old discipline has vanished, but there is much affection and family loyalty, the marking of birthdays and anniversaries, Mother’s Day and Christmas. Few parents have the vision to value advanced education and are happy enough to see their young folk out working for a pay at 15 years of age. Others desire their children to qualify for Alloa Academy only for the éclat, because these mostly leave school about 15 years of age, and only the tiniest percentage of those capable ever attain university grade.
A Miners’ Training Centre, sponsored by the National Coal Board and the County Education Committee, has been running for more than ten years and provides a six week course for youths preparing to start mining as a career. Boys are drawn from beyond as well as within the county and it is fully residential. The quality of youth varies enormously but the serious lad gets an excellent introduction into the duties and opportunities offered by the National Coal Board. The numbers of each intake vary from fifty to a hundred boys.
The homes are generally well-appointed with modern furnishings, a few floors have fitted carpets and the rooms are spotlessly clean and dusted. All houses have television sets and many have refrigerators and Washing machines with spin-driers, not to mention electric polishers and carpet-sweepers. If the vogue of the cinema seems to be passing, the interest in pool-betting and horse-racing is as keen as ever. Outdoor gambling schools survive, one of which recently had no less than £107 in the 'kitty.' Whist drives, beetle drives and dances are the recognised forms of raising money for charitable purposes and even for religious causes, and since the law now allows the game of ‘ housey-housey ’ for specific purposes this is likely to increase greatly. There is little doubt that life is happier for the average person in Sauchie and the burdens of life are lighter. Crime and delinquency of a serious nature are rare, although the usual percentage of petty theft and misdemeanours is unavoidably present. In the midst of all these contending pressures the churches and religious people maintain the ideals of Christian living and, except for a few hard-bitten politicians, the influence of teaching, preaching and of congregational life and witness tells for good on the minds and behaviour of the community.
Written 1961.