Silvertonhill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Silvertonhill is a sought after residential area of Hamilton, Scotland based around Silvertonhill Avenue. Situated approximately 5 minutes south of the town centre, Silvertonhill contains a mix of both detached and semi-detached, privately owned housing. Silvertonhill contains two well-regarded primary schools - Woodside Primary School and Chatelherault Primary School.

Much of the Silvertonhill estate was built by breaking through the boundary wall of the "High Parks": the Duke of Hamilton's hunting estate. The old Duke had wisely insisted that this original estate have a high ratio of green space to housing, resulting in the huge green park space between Chatelherault Crescent and Silvertonhill Avenue; a factor that contributes to the enduring appeal of the area. This green land notably contains some of the Old Oaks for which the High Parks are famous. The woodland of the High Parks to the east of the area is the Duke's private land but is an extended playground for local children, along with the nearby banks and cliff faces of the Covan.

When originally built the estate was also famous for having only three patterns of key amongst the hundreds of front doors. If locked out, one simply borrowed one's neighbour's key. There were no mortice locks fitted as standard and children returning home were able to put their arms through the side mounted letter boxes and release the latches.

Originally, Bannatyne & Jackson's rose nursery occupied a wide strip of land some five hundred metres long on the north side of the wall, outside the High Parks. This ran from Hutchison Street in the south almost to the Covan Burn in the north east and the land was sold off in three stages from 1962-1977. The newest housing in Silvertonhill dates from this last stage.

Old maps of the area show only one house on the old road. It is the detached house immediately to the south of Johnstone Road.