A few days ago I visited what remains of the Woodhall estate, on the north side of the M8 by Calderbank.
The green space that survives [beside the main motorway between Edinburgh and Glasgow] is beautiful.
Woodhall Lilly pond:
Woodhall House was Palladian in style: tasteful and beautiful it had a sorrowful fate: mobbed by rioters in the early 18c and then destroyed by fire in the mid 19c:
Woodhall Estate was owned by the Campbell family of Shawfield and Islay. In my research of this family I visited Bothwell Churchyard. There were a lot of tombstones, many unreadable, but this one stopped me because of the inscription:
I found myself wondering who the friends of Edwin Taylor Adams were and why he was buried here in a solitary grave and not beside any of his family? This is what I have been able to find in the archives, in an attempt to put together some of his story.
Edwin’s death certificate confirms that he died of pulmonary Tuberculosis in his home, Silverwells, Bothwell. His sister ‘S. Hill’ was the informant.
Edwin’s death was announced in the Glasgow Herald. This confirms that he was the Keeper of the Garrick Hotel, Dunlop Street, Glasgow:
The 1859 Ordance Survey map of Dunlop Street reveals that the Garrick Hotel [or Tavern] was directly opposite the Theatre Royal:
This is an old photograph of the Dunlop Street, Theatre Royal [I have not been able to establish the date of this photograph, it may be a ‘later’ architectural edition of the Theatre]:
This is a plan of the First floor of the Theatre Royal:
This is a programme for the Theatre Royal, dated 26 April 1843:
11 May 1911, Daily Record:
The 1865 Valuation Roll reveals that Edwin was a tenant of the Garrick Hotel/Tavern. The proprietor being the Campbells of Woodhall:
A few months after Edwin died this appeared in the Glasgow Herald. It would seem that Edwin had not left in Testamentary instructions:
27 April 1809, Glasgow Herald:
Footnote: I was not able to find out who the friends of Edwin Taylor Adams were. However, I would suggest that they included: the Campbell family of Woodhall and Islay, the Hill family and perhaps also some of the Garrick Theatre community.
For me, Edwin helped bring alive some of the old life of Woodhall and also to help “see” a bit of Glasgow before it was removed to make way for the railway.
Additional archive material: