On Friday 17 October 2025, Strathblane Heritage committee members, Keith Vass and Anne and Alastair Balfour, plus drone photographer Jamie Ballantine met with Kenny French of Kenwil Ltd, the Kirkintilloch-based company awarded the contract to produce the boards for our Strathblane Heritage Trail.
We walked around the two-mile circuit, starting and ending at Strathblane Parish Church. With the funding package now in place, the next step is to decide on the exact locations for the six boards, which will be designed to complement the existing Railway Path sign on the Gary Wright Way.
Kenny, who has 25 years experience and produces signs and noticeboards for locations throughout Scotland, shared his expertise and made lots of helpful suggestions. Next we will move on to creating the text, selecting eye-catching illustrations and devising maps to aid navigation around the site. QR codes on the boards will link to this website for those who would like more in-depth information. The boards should be in place by spring 2026. Drone footage by Jamie Ballantine will be used to publicise the trail and enable visitors to this website to take a “virtual tour”.
The six locations are as follows:
- Strathblane Parish Church. Introduction, plus the histories of the Parish Church and the Kirkhouse Inn.
- The Village Club. Histories of the Bowling Club, the Tennis Courts and the Village Club itself.
- Foot of Campsie Dene Road. This will cover the Loch Katrine water pipeline, St Kessog’s RC Church and Strathblane War Memorial.
- Station Road/Blane Avenue. The story of the Printworks.
- The corner of the Wildlife Sanctuary beside the entrance to the horses’ field. The Bleachfields and the playing field.
- Old Mugdock Road/Dumbrock Road. Edenkiln.
If there are any aspects of local history that you would like to see included, please email the website or speak to a member of the committee.