A century-old family connection has led to a special meeting of two women at Plean Country Park as an exhibition into the area’s historic house gets into full swing.
Tanya Gardiner, originally from Plean and who now lives in France, met with Elaine Bell in Plean Country Park in front of the ruined Plean House where their grandmothers used to work 100 years ago. Tanya’s gran, Mary Scott, worked in the house as a cook, while Elaine’s gran Mary Inglis worked as a scullery maid.
The connection was made as part of research into Plean House and Stables by the newly formed charity of the same name and features in a travelling exhibition of libraries in the Stirling area.
Discovery of the Family Link
Alan Marshall, who is leading the history team for Plean House and Stables, said: “It was a lovely discovery to make and we were able to bring the two ladies together to meet and talk about their grans and what they did.”
The two Marys worked for Wallace Thorneycroft and his family. He was the owner of Plean Colliery and lived in Plean House from 1897 until he moved away in 1929, but his son Thomas lived in the house until he died in 1970. After that, the house and estate transferred to the National Coal Board and then eventually to Stirling Council when it was turned into a country park in the 1980s.
Stories of the Grandmothers
Mary Scott worked in the house as a cook in the kitchen and when she got married she gave up work. When the Thorneycrofts went north during the summer months and shooting season, she was called on to go with them and cook for them there.
Meanwhile, Mary Inglis was a teenager when she began working as a scullery maid in the kitchen at the ‘big house’. During the summer months, she helped load the cars that took the Thorneycroft family to the train station for their long journey south to Bournemouth for their holidays.
Their full stories are featured in the travelling exhibition at Fallin, Bannockburn, Cowie and Plean libraries.
Exhibition Details
Alan said: “These stories are so important and we want to be able to capture more of them and bring them to life as we progress with our aim to restore and rebuild both buildings. We would love to be able to build a picture of who worked for the Thorneycrofts and when. A lot of work has gone into this exhibition and our thanks goes to Stirling Council for helping make this happen in their libraries. We hope people will visit our very first exhibition and share their stories with us. We want to help bring the past to life.”
Elaine said: “It was lovely to meet Tanya and share stories about what both our grans did. It was amazing to stand in front of the old house and imagine our grans working there.”
Tanya added: “I’ve often looked at the house and wondered what life would have been like for them and to imagine what the house would have been like back in its day.”
The exhibition will visit Fallin Library between June 15 and July 7, before moving on to Bannockburn (July 7-31), Cowie (July 31-August 28) and finally Plean (August 28-October 2).
