Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

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Bob Bryden
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Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Bob Bryden »

I'm not sure whether I've mentioned this before - hope not - but I'm interested on locating & getting a photo of the South Beach house occupied by the Cowie family in the 1920s - 1930s. After leaving the Academy in 1928 my Mum spent about 10 years as a cook for this family & she was joined for a time by her sister Mary. From what Mum told me I believe Mr. Cowie had some managerial role at ICI's Ardeer factory which is where Mum went after leaving Cowie's - first in the office & then in charge of one of the staff canteens. I never thought to ask Mum this before she died or had her heart attack & stroke. I've googled this subject several times from different angles without success so can anyone help ?
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Penny Tray »

Bob,

The 1937 Ayrshire Directory shows Mr. Thomas F. Cowie, Chemist, living at 17 South Crescent, Ardrossan.

Since there was no local pharmacy with this family name we can perhaps assume that he was an industrial chemist, and that would lead us to ICI.

A family intimation in the Glasgow Herald shows that Mr. Thomas Field Cowie, 'Broompark', 17 South Crescent, Ardrossan, died on 30 July 1965.

Broompark, I think, is two houses towards Saltcoats from the Lauriston Hotel.
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by s_eastes »

This was the home of my grandparents Thomas Cowie and Mary Cowie and their 5 children.
I would like to find out more about it and believe it has now been split into flats.
Can anyone please help with up to date information since I now live in England ?
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by meekan »

Are we looking for South Beach Road which is across from Holm plantation and South Beach station or South Beach House 7 South Crescent?
South Beach House is now a Church of Scotland care home.
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by s_eastes »

I think the house was called Broompark and I think it was number 17 South Beach Crescent.
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Penny Tray »

The photographs in the following link may be of interest: -

https://www.onthemarket.com/details/4449964/
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by s_eastes »

Penny Thank you for the details.Any ideas what has happened to the rest of it? The top floor had a full length of the house double room and I think I remember 4 bedrooms. There was also a large garage with workshop and attics plus various out buildings.
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Bob Bryden »

Sorry for my very belated reply. Since having an Ultra Fast Fibre Broadband connection installed a year or so back I’ve been concentrating more on You Tube amongst other things. Anyway I have Google Earth Pro on my computer so went into it & inserted 17 South Crescent , Ardrossan in the search box. It came up with a great aerial shot of the property & it’s surroundings but couldn’t get a ground level view as I can with my own place here in NZ so presume the Google camera vehicle hasn’t photographed that street.
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Bob Bryden »

Penny Tray wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 11:18 pm The photographs in the following link may be of interest: -

https://www.onthemarket.com/details/4449964/
Just checked that link Penny but the photos have gone & the text remains. A short while ago I got a good aerial photo of 17 South Crescent using Google Earth Pro ( free ) .

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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Hughie »

I get this. It was taken in June 2018.
17 South Crescent Ardrossan.jpg
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Bob Bryden »

Thanks for posting the photo Hughie. I only wish Mum was still alive to see it. If she was she'd be 106 now. Mum told us some interesting stories of her 10 years as cook there 1928-1938.One that sticks in my mind is one where she had a pheasant to cook for the family's dinner but when she went to do so felt the bird was " off " & threw it in the rubbish bin. Mrs Cowie later asked Mum where the pheasant was & when Mum told her Mrs Cowie told her to retrieve it from the bin & cook it as when it seemed " off " that's when it was right for cooking. Thankfully we never had pheasant at home.
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Re: Location of Cowie Family Home in South Beach road

Post by Bruce »

If it is 17 South Crescent, on the seafront, then that’s the building which until recently was South Beach doctor’s surgery. They moved to Ardrossan a year or two ago. As far as I can see, they moved into the South Crescent building in the 70s?
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