The brickworks at Castlecary started production in 1904 and soon after Stein began building the workmen’s houses and the resulting village became known as Allandale. The electricity for lighting was supplied from the works at 500W DC.
“The power was switched on from the works at 5am in the morning and off again at 11pm. The only exception to this was when someone was ill, had died or was dying. A member of the family would go to the work manager’s house and get a note to take to the engineman in the works. So, if the lights did not go off at 11pm, you would wonder who they were being kept on for. Nearly everyone supplemented the electric lighting with paraffin lamps. The medium for cooking was gas stoves and the heating and hot water came from coal fires…” (Jamieson, nd, 15)
After the Second World War the village was re-cabled and a supply obtained from the national grid.
Falkirk Local History Society 