Notes on the Clydebank Blitz and the Carbeth Hut Community

Clydebank

In 1941 Clydebank was a medium-sized industrial town close to Glasgow in Scotland. It had a population of well over 50,000 most of whom were employed in the local John Brown’s shipyards or Beardmore’s Diesel Works and related industries, or making sewing machines in the Singer factory or whisky in Auchentoshan and Yoker. The people of Clydebank had a long tradition of socialist conviction and a close sense of community and belonging.

On two consecutive nights in 1941, the 13th and 14th March, Clydebank was savaged by the worst episode of bombing to take place in Scotland during the Second World War. The Clydebank bombing had certain characteristics that indicated planning and precision on the part of the Luftwaffe, and expertise learned from experience. Prior to the bombing, an enemy plane flew over at height taking reconnaissance photographs. Then on 13th March, the night of the full moon or ‘bombers’ moon’ as it became known, the Luftwaffe checked the weather, and while most of Britain lay under cloud, Clydebank saw a glorious sunset followed by a beautiful clear night sky. Guided by the silvery moonlight which glanced off the River Clyde, advance bombers made their approach along Great Western Road, the road that runs out from Glasgow, past Clydebank to the West Highlands and lovely Loch Lomond. They dropped their first cargo of bombs on Singer’s timber yard and Yoker Distillery. The beacons of fire which this created drew further enemy aircraft to their target, and the town was set on fire.

Over the two days of bombing, 439 bombers dropped over 4,000 bombs including 2,411 incendiary bombs; 35,000 people were made homeless with 4,000 houses completely destroyed and only 7 remaining untouched; more than 600 people were seriously injured and over 500 others killed, although many estimate the dead at much more than this.

Carbeth

North of Glasgow and Clydebank and with close connections to both, Carbeth is a hut community which sits beside the West Highland Way. Nestling amongst the lowland hills and woodlands, its history of temporary dwellings dates back to the late nineteenth century when the Clarion Cyclists established their Sunday Socialist Camps. These lasted into the 1960s and boasted, in addition to tents, concrete plinths with removable wooden floors for the tents to sit on, a community hall in which to hold entertainments, a tennis court and a cookhouse.

The first huts went up after the First World War when the benevolent landowner of the day, Allan Barnes-Graham, allowed a shell-shocked soldier to build a hut on his land. More followed, an outdoor swimming pool was built, and the numbers gradually rose until the Second World War when many children were evacuated there or, like Lenny and her friends, sought refuge there after the bombing in Clydebank. Barnes-Graham assigned another piece of land to the hutters at that time to accommodate these people, and so the community grew. By the 1960s, six double-decker buses regularly arrived at the Halfway House pub (now the Carbeth Inn) on a Sunday evening to take the hutters back to their homes in the city. Other people walked to and from Milngavie where trams left for Glasgow, while ‘Bankies’ from Clydebank would walk, as Lenny did, over the Kilpatrick Hills via Craigton.

The area is a paradise for children, offering the kind of outdoor freedom that is no longer possible in other places due to the soaring number of cars. The rope swing tree still stands with its rope swing an ongoing enticement to the children of each new generation. The various paths are popular with Sunday strollers and more serious walkers pass by on the West Highland Way.

The huts themselves are temporary homes designed for holidays and weekends. In the past they offered many an inexpensive escape from the filth and toil of the industrial areas. There is no electricity supply and no mains water allowed, although attempts have been made to subvert the supply from the standpipes. The land has always remained the property of the landowner while the hut belongs to its owner.

While a benevolent and generous man, Barnes-Graham also laid down strict rules and strolled regularly round his land making sure they were upheld. The current generation of Barnes-Grahams have sought to change his ethos somewhat and there is now a buy-out underway by the hutters. Their website can be found at http://www.carbethhuts.com.