by Roberta McGee
'In 1856 the Eglinton Iron Company - the Ayrshire subsidiary of William Baird - bought out John Wilson and took over Muirkirk and Lugar Ironworks. Ten years later their new Lugar Works were opened and production vastly expanded.'
The New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn p114
In the early 1890s Scottish coal and ironmasters William Baird & Company purchased mines firstly in Santander, Northern Spain then, in 1893, the Monte de Hierro mine (Mountain of Iron) which was located in the Sierra Morena mountains in Southern Spain. It was a significant site for the rich deposits of iron ore which were crucial for the steel industry. Baird brought in advanced mining techniques and equipment from Scotland which greatly improved the efficiency and output of the mine. The mountainous terrain meant the miners worked in dangerous conditions which led to frequent accidents and health problems.
In the early 1900s there was a labour shortage in Baird's various ironworks in Lugar, Muirkirk and the surrounding area. They began to actively recruit workers from the Spanish mines to fill the labour gap and so the exodus began. The 1901 census for Lugar shows twenty four Spanish males of various ages and two Spanish married men, their wives and children living in Peesweep Rows which had originally been built for Baird's ironworkers and miners. Read more about the Lugar Rows here.
The arrival of the Spaniards initially caused a lot of tension with the local men who saw them as a threat to their jobs.
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| North British Daily Mail 11/10/1900 |
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| Irvine Herald 27/9/1901 |
The Spanish iron workers would have sailed from Spain to Ardrossan in a coal boat then travelled to Lugar by train. Lugar, in Spanish, means 'The Place'. Being devout Catholics the Spaniards considered this a sign of good fortune.
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| Cumnock Chronicle 1986 |
Their contact in Lugar was Emilio Gomez Palacio, a Spanish contractor for Baird. Gomez, a father of four, was a widower whose wife had died in Spain. His four children at times lived with him in Lugar. His brother Ysidro was also a contractor for the Ironworks and based in Muirkirk at the blast furnaces there. The 1901 and 1911 censuses show Emilio Gomez living at Peesweep Rows. According to Bernard Giraldas in an article written by Agnes Stevenson in the Cumnock Chronicle in 1986 Gomez was described as - 'Calculating and shrewd, he was unemotional in his dealings with his fellow Spaniards as an officer for the Dalmellington Iron & Coal Company. It was he who arranged who had to go where and few Spaniards came to Ayrshire except through him.'
Some of the Spanish workers who came to Lugar only intended to stay short term. Others, especially families, settled in the surrounding villages, integrated with the locals and remained in the area for the rest of their lives.
One of the earliest Spanish workers to arrive in Lugar was Juan M. Rodriguez. On the 1901 census he is a general labourer living at Peesweep Row. The head of the household is William Robertson, born 1843 in Calder, Lanarkshire and who, according to other records, actually lived in Struan Cottage, Lugar and had been working in Lugar since at least 1881. He was the cashier/accountant for Bairds. Juan married 18 years old Nellie Stakim, who lived at Commondyke, in 1902 at St Patrick's RC Church in Lugar. He was 34 years old and lived at No. 96 Lugar. They set up home at No. 310 Cronberry where their first child was born and sadly died 4 days later in December 1903. By April 1912 they had moved to Bothwell, Lanarkshire. Juan died there in 1936 and his death certificate records that he had changed his name to John Rodgers.
Jose Manuel Giraldas arrived in Lugar in 1908. He had sailed into Ardrossan by coal boat and his passage was partly paid for by the Dalmellington Iron & Coal Company. After his arrival he was sent to work at the furnaces at Waterside, Dalmellington. He married a local girl, Kate Scally, in 1914 and moved to Benquhat . The Giraldas family then moved to Glasgow where Manuel worked in pits outside the city until 1930 when they moved to Fife. Ill health forced him to leave the pits in 1931. Known as 'Papa Nicolina' he mended clocks as a hobby and died in Fife in 1950.
(Source: Cumnock Chronicle 1986)
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| Manuel Giraldas & his wife Kate - Cumnock Chronicle 1986 |
Santiago Barrera also arrived in Lugar in 1908. He was sent to the Bank Pit in New Cumnock to work and was given lodgings in Connell Park, New Cumnock. He settled with his wife Fernanda and family in New Cumnock before moving, on his retiral from the pits, to Holmburn Road, Netherthird, Cumnock where he died in 1958 aged 85 years old.
Pedro Cano was born in 1872 in Almeria, Spain and died in 1934 at the Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries. He was an ironwork's labourer. He married Maria Antonio Rinz (perhaps Ruiz) in 1896 at Feron, Sober, Spain. He was part of the main exodus from Spain to arrive in Lugar about 1908 and lived at 96 Lugar Rows. The 1911 census shows Pedro and his family living at Old Linkieburn, Muirkirk. By 1921 the family had moved to Kirkconnel, where he worked as a colliery labourer at Sanquhar and Kirkconnel collieries. Both Pedro and Antonia are buried in Kirkconnel Cemetery. Their son Jose(ph) Cano, who was born in Savinia, Spain, married Maria Consuelo Donis, daughter of Geronimo Fernandez Donis, in 1934 at St John's RC Church in Cumnock. Maria was born in 1912 at Santander, Cantabria, Spain. At the time of her marriage she lived with her parents at Logan Lodge in Cumnock.
Mariano Carballo left his native village of Guilfrey in north west Spain and came by coal boat to Ardrossan with his wife Amalia and little daughter Antonia. They arrived in Lugar between 1911 and 1914. Mariano particularly liked Lugar and Gomez allowed him to work and settle there. In 1921 they were living at 194 Peesweep Row, Lugar and Mariano was a boiler fireman. They later moved to Logan Toll, Cumnock. A quiet, kind man he loved gardening and won many prizes for his dahlias. Mariano and Amalia had a large family. He worked as a miner until his retirement and died at Logan Toll in 1977 aged 88 years.
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| Mariano Carballo & his wife Amalia - Cumnock Chronicle 1986 |
Miguel Cardo Esquierdo was born in 1883 in Sevilla, Spain. The 1921 census shows Miguel, his wife Juona and son Antonio living at 51 Linkieburn, Muirkirk. He is described as a resident Spaniard working as an ore labourer at the furnaces of Baird Co., Pig Iron Manufacturers. The houses at Linkieburn were owned by Baird & Co. and were tenanted mostly by Spaniards. Miguel arrived after 1911 and his son Antonio was born in 1916 at Muirkirk. Antonio married Concha Donis, another daughter of Geronimo Fernandez Donis, in 1939 at Old Cumnock and Antonio and Concha lived in Cumnock for the rest of their lives. Miguel died in Dennistoun, Glasgow in 1939.
Geronimo Fernandez Donis, his wife Basilia and their four children arrived in Lugar in 1914 having travelled from Santander in Spain to Ardrossan in a coal boat and were placed in a large communal house before eventually being given a house in Brick Row, Lugar. When they arrived in Lugar they had practically no possessions but their neighbours, although they didn't have much either, stepped in to help. As the years went by their family increased to eleven children. In an interview with the Cumnock Chronicle in 1977, Basilia recalled that it was a struggle to make ends meet when there was a family of eleven to feed on a wage of only ten shillings a week. Coal and rent were deducted at source from the wages of the men and Emilio Gomez made the arrangements for doing the shopping at the local 'Company Store' for the entire Spanish colony who lived there. Basilia was an excellent dressmaker and made all her children's clothes out of old garments given to her by neighbours. Times were hard, not helped by the fact that they couldn't speak English, and in the article she admits that after a week or so if there had been a road leading back to Spain she would have loaded the children onto her shoulders and walked all the way back home.
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| Cumnock Chronicle 1977 |
The 1921 census shows Geronimo, Basilia and family living at 415 Brick Row, Lugar. In 1929 they are still in Brick Row but by 1934 they are living in Logan Lodge, Cumnock. In June of that year Geronimo and Basilia visited Santander returning to Cumnock in August. They went on to rent Watston Cottage on the Cumnock to Ochiltree road but they had to vacate the cottage when the farmer employed a farm worker. The only place they could go to was a Nissan hut in Pennylands, the transit camp in Auchinleck, where they lived for about four months before being rehoused in Dalsalloch, Auchinleck. They moved from there to 5 Glenlamont, Cumnock. Geronimo died in 1948 and Basilia died in 1978 at the grand old age of 90 years. Basilia said in her interview with the Cumnock Chronicle that she wouldn't leave Scotland under any circumstances so they didn't regret leaving the land of their birth.
World War One was declared on 4th August 1914. This meant that there was a vital demand for coal and iron and therefore more workers were needed when the men went off to war. Spain was a neutral country and many Spaniards and their families came to Lugar to work in the blast furnaces to help fill the gap in the workforce.
1918 brought a serious flu epidemic which killed many. It was also the end of the war. The men returned and many of the Spaniards went back home. However, there was a General Strike in 1926 which lasted for eight months and Bairds were forced to again bring more workers from Spain rather than give in to the miners' demands. When the strike was over most of the Spanish workers returned home. The ones who remained began working in the coal mines. The Strike signalled the end of the blast furnaces at Lugar and they closed down in 1928.
And what became of Gomez? According to Basilia Donis - 'One morning his cleaner found the door unlocked. She entered and found 13/4d on the mantlepiece and a note which said "adios mujer" - goodbye woman. No-one knew if he returned to Spain. He simply vanished. One thing that they did discover was that he apparently enjoyed a dram. The story is that a hoard of Scotch whisky was found behind a secret panel in one of the walls'.
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| Image - Europosters.eu |
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