A MEMORIAL has been refurbished to remember 29 women crushed under a wall in one of Glasgow's most horrific workplace accidents.

The East End tribute was created to remember the fatal accident victims, most of whom were teenage carpet weavers working to adorn the homes of Victorian Britain and help the city forge its global reputation as a major manufacturer.

Strong winds were blamed for the incident, almost 125 years ago, the worst peacetime tragedy in the East End.

The youngest person killed was Annie Wilson, 14, while, at just 25, Elizabeth Sinclair was the oldest.

The victims had been in a weaving shed on Glasgow Green, next to an extension being constructed at the original Templeton's Carpet factory.

The four-storey extension's walls had been partially constructed and only the roof remained to be put in place.

It was November 1, 1889 and a cold and windy winter day. At 5.15pm and it was dark outside.

Suddenly one of the extension walls was blown over, crushing the shed.

The fatal accident has been researched recently by Alison Kevan, corporate services manager with local housing group Thenue Housing.

She said: "Industrial accidents were common in indus- trial Britain but the magnitude of what happened here caused shock and grief nationwide.

"After 124 years it may have slipped from the public's consciousness but it is marked today by the Calton community."

A granite memorial was erected in 1954 as a lasting tribute to the dead.

It was placed in a memorial garden created on London Road at Tobago Street. But over the decades the site became neglected until housing chiefs at Thenue stepped in 18 months ago after deciding to give the Calton community a new memorial.

They have had the stone plaque renovated and the garden tidied and have, for the first time, introduced at the spot lighting and paving stones engraved with the names of accident victims.

Chief executive of the housing association Charlie Turner said: "We have delivered on our promise to the com- munity which was to return the memorial to a new-look garden.

"Inscribing the names of those women and girls who died is a fitting tribute."

The gesture has cost thousands of pounds but it's money well spent say local community activisits such as Betty Cosgrove, head of the Calton Area Association.

She said: "This disaster, despite being well over a century ago has never been forgotten by the community.

"The return of the memorial and the transformation of the garden into a modern bright place where people can remember those who died is very welcome."

The plaque inscription reads: 'Green buds for the hopes of tomorrow; Fair flowers for the joy of today; Sweet memory the fragrance they leave us; As time gently flows on its way.'

gordon.thomson@ eveningtimes.co.uk

THE tragic deaths happened three years before the ornate Templeton's carpet plant opened.

It's said that wealthy merchants living in nearby Monteith Row were unhappy at seeing a factory from their homes so the firm's owners decided to model their new plant on the Doge's Palace in Venice.

The names of the 29 workers who died live on mirroring the tender ages of Victorian Britain's workforce: sisters Elizabeth, 17, and 21-year-old Agnes Broadfoot; Margaret Arthur, 20; Margaret Blair, 16; Helen Bradley, 21; Margaret Cassidy, 18; Lilias Davitt, 19; Agnes Dickson, 16; Jane Duffie, 20; Janet Gibson, 16; Dinah Gillies, 19; Jean Glass, 20; Sarah Groves, 22; Ellen Wallace, 23; Margaret McCartney, 17; Minnie McGarrigle, 24; Agnes McGregor, 17; Martha Mackie, 20; Elizabeth McMillan, 15; Rose Ann McMillan, 21; Jeannie Marshall, 22; Jemima Morris, 23; Grace McQuillan, 19; Margaret Shields, 22; Elizabeth Sinclair, 25; Mary Ann Stewart, 16; Annie Strathearn, 19; Mary Turnbull, 15 and Annie Wilson, just 14.