Donald L. Reid
Yesterday's Patna & the Lost Villages of Doon Valley
Beith, 2005.
ISBN 0 9522720 4 0
84 pages; illustrated.
Price £9.99. Post & packing: UK, £1.50; Europe, £2.00; USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, £3.00; elsewhere please enquire.
Available from Donald Reid, 7 Manuel Avenue, Beith, KA15 1BJ, Scotland, U.K.

With a montage of historical fact, collected reminiscences, photographs, drawings, and poetry, the author evokes the spirit of places that have changed utterly during the past half-century, or have disappeared entirely. Despite the lack of basic amenities, the poverty and the sometimes harsh surroundings, the villages are remembered fondly by those who spent their formative years amongst their rows. There are 18 short chapters: three describe Patna and its worthies; one concerns the Dalmellington Iron Company, a major employer in the district; and the remainder deal with the small settlements of miners' rows that have since disappeared - Burnfoothill and Lethanhill, Benwhat (Benquhat), Corbie Craigs, Craigmark, Kerse, Cairntable, Tongue Row, and Beoch. This well-produced book will be appreciated by many with an association with the valley of the River Doon, and by anyone with an interest in the social history of the first half of the twentieth century.

David McClure.

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