The Climpy road, from Forth to Shotts, passes through a landscape shaped by 250 years of industrial history. A small ruined stone building in a field to the north of Climpy village holds a special mystery. Among the tumbledown walls there is a broken stone window sill that bears an unusual carved inscription, far more purposeful than casual graffiti. It implores us to “Pass not by, but shed a tear, Jocky Shiels aince dwellit here”. This cryptic message from the past raises many questions; Who was Jocky Shiels? Who carved the inscription? When? And why?
The building formed part of the Climpy tile and brick works, described in 1846 of: “capable of burning about 18,000 tiles with ample drying sheds and a field of clay of considerable extent and easily wrought”. The 1860 O.S. map describes the works as “disused” and shows the surviving stone building, along with a kiln and a long L-shaped building which was presumably a timber-framed drying shed. The remaining plant seems to have been sold off in 1859, consisting of “sheds, shelving, tile machine, clay mill, moulds, and also seven scores of black face ewes”. The surviving ruin would have been a sturdy little building, constructed from squared ashlar masonry and may perhaps have housed the clay mill or other machinery.
While other traces of the tile works disappeared, the little stone building seems to have remained intact and is shown on maps – as recently as the 1940’s – as an isolated roofed building, served by a footpath, Unfortunately we’ve found nothing more about what the building was used for, and have failed to find any local Jock, John or Joseph Shiels in any of the usual genealogical records.
On a window sill just three miles away in the ghost village of Haywood, there is a similar style of inscription. In similarly inscribed capital letters, one of the sills of the ruined licenced grocer at Greenbank exclaims “Oh Annie, wert thou here tae see, a waefu woman thou wad be”. It seems that the subject of the inscription was Annie Little (1889- 1956) who was proprietor and licensee of Greenbank store, and campaigned for the people of Haywood during the last days of the village. Annie remained at Greenbank into the 1940’s, and the store continued trading within the derelict village for several more years. It seems therefore that the inscription would have been carved no earlier than the 1950’s when Greenbank was falling into a woeful state of decay.
It might also be the case that the similar and seemingly time-worn inscription on the old Climpy tile-works building may have been carved within living memory, when the building was first derelict.
1.) Some campaigns of Annie Little, to release a local minister from an institution, and to have new council housing built at Haywood rather than Forth. 2.) Robert Crawford’s book of poetry; (you’ve got to love the epitaph.) 3.) George Donaldson’s poem includes tales of drunken times outside the Greenbank store.
The questions of whodunit? and why? remain. The coothie witticisms of the inscriptions bring to mind the poetry of collier-poet Robert Crawford, who went to school in the village of Haywood but died in 1931. Of course many burst into the Scots vernacular to express witty, thoughtful or political ideas, and Clydesdale was well known for its amateur poets. These included George “Dod” Donaldson, who had various witty rhymes published in local newspapers, often relating to his home village of Haywood and (in at least one work), to the store at Greenbank. He also authored a book on “Reminiscences of Haywood”. When he died in 1949, it was said that “the village has lost a kenspeckle, lovable figure, hard working in its social interests and activities.”
Whoever it was that spent considerable time and effort in carving the window-sill inscriptions seems to have been part of this wider tradition. If the inscriptions were carved as recently as the 1950’s, might there still be those with local insight who can spread light on their story? Might there be other ruins in the Forth district that are embellished with similar witty and wistful inscriptions?
Robin Chesters, 4th March 2025
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