South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture

The Kitchen Court buildings were the last parts of Hamilton Palace to be demolished. They were used as basic transit housing for displaced Hamilton families. Their condition during the demolition work was suspect to say the least. Not only the poor living conditions, but also the structural integrity of the buildings themselves. In March 1930 one family found out just how dangerous the buildings had become.

Mr and Mrs Cooney and their three young daughters were awoken at 4.30am by a rumbling sound. As the parents got out of bed the whole gable end of the building collapsed with a monumental crash. Despite masonry and other wreckage falling onto their bed and smashing furniture, no one was injured. The children’s bed now lay inches from the gaping space where the wall once stood.

The Cooney’s were living in a room on the first floor. They managed to gather their belongings and shelter with the Reilly family, also living in the Court. All the residents were now, understandably, gravely concerned with the structural condition of the buildings. On the floor below refrigerators were being stored for a local restaurant. Anyone living there would have been badly injured, or even killed. While Mr and Mrs Cooney were severely shaken by the episode, their three daughters saw it all as a wonderful adventure!

Mrs Cooney said that they owed their lives to their pet cat. The previous night she had pulled the bed from the wall to see if the cat was stuck behind it. She had not moved it back those vital inches. If she had, they would have fallen out the side of the building as the wall collapsed. They would have dropped twelve feet to the ground below and landed amid the rubble.

Burgh officials had inspected the buildings only a few days before, declaring them safe. Underground mining subsidence was blamed for the wall’s collapse.