The Campsie Fells (‘The crooked fairy hills’) lie just a few miles north of Glasgow. They’re the highest and most extensive group of hills that form a more or less continuous range between Dumbarton and Stirling. To the west of the Campsies are the Kilpatrick Hills,...
It would be hard to find anyone who has a longer association with education in Strathblane than “Mrs Marshall”, as she is known to generations of pupils. As butcher’s daughter Georgina Campbell, she started at Strathblane School aged four and a half in June 1949 and...
Here are some wonderful class photographs sent to us for the website, with the contributor's comments below each. We won't be posting full lists of the pupils with each each picture, but some comments identify the contributor's family members in the older photos. Do...
In July 2023 we posted on the local Strathblanefield FACEBOOK group asking people to share their memories of the old school. Here are some of the responses: It’s so nice to create a bit of history about the old school. I was only there my first two years of school...
A book by local historian Alison Dryden, who died in 2009. Published posthumously by Strathblane Heritage Society in November 2012. Paperback, 218 pages. (Available from Strathblane Heritage, £8.50) From the mid 1800s, the rural parish of Strathblane was undergoing an...
Early Days I was not born in the village but in Salisbury House, Campsie Glen. My dad was a native of Strathblane, being born in Milndavie House. My mum was born at Little Gala near Biggar but came to Ballagan Farm when her father took over the tenancy there in about...
The Ladies Scottish Climbing Club was founded in 1908, by these three women, at a boulder near the Lix Toll in Perthshire. https://www.ladiesscottishclimbingclub.org/history/ At our vintage film night in January 2023 we showed a film made in 1958 to commemorate the...
This Is Our Parish 1957 -1958 is based on footage taken by Harry and Helen Arnold during this period. It is three parts. The first is a comprehensive view of life in the Parish focussing on all aspects, from the road sweepers to the trades people and the doctor, the...
The Campsies have a special place in the hearts of many and not only in the villages that fringe them. For Scots flying back into Glasgow Airport, the familiar silhouette of Dumgoyne means “I’m coming home!”. For many Glaswegians, they are the nearest place for a...
A delightful memoir of a small girl’s life in Strathblane in the 1940s & 50s
Extracts from The Campsies and the Land of Lennox by Iain C Lees, describing walks around Strathblane. (Blackie & Sons, Glasgow, 1933) Secrets of the Campsie Fells The rich valley of the Blane, which can be traced to its junction with Strathendrick, is the finest...
Extract from A New Kind of Life by Helen Lillie (Argyll Publishing, 1999) The older people living in the Blane Valley between the wars usually had unmarried daughters at home. And these middle class, middle-aged women spent their days taking care of their mothers'...
Extract from A New Kind of Life by Helen Lillie (Argyll Publishing, 1999) When they were first married, my parents lived on Cecil Street in the West End of Glasgow which I know my mother hated. I remember nothing of that period because as soon as she could, she...
On 2 May 1919 the people of Strathblane gathered to honour a local hero. They presented an inscribed gold watch to local gamekeeper James Norval Paul “in recognition of his gallantry”. Around 115,000 non-commissioned men who fought in the First World War were...
For various reasons, a number of men from the parish fell in the First World War yet are not commemorated on the War Memorial. These men are also therefore only briefly mentioned in "A Village Remembers", a book about the men commemorated on Strathblane War Memorial...
Families of some of the men on the memorial A Village Remembers (pdf)Download Contents Foreword by the Wright family Introduction by Anne Balfour (nee Johnstone) Jack Barr, inventor’s son Robert Blair, gardener James Cartwright, joiner William Cartwright, storeman...
The Strathblane Notebooks Life in a Stirlingshire Village before the First World WarBy Alex Urquhart edited by Anne Balfour Quotation from the headstone of Alex Urquhart's parents in Strathblane Cemetery Alex Urquhart (1894-1978) Strathblane Heritage Society...
In response to suggestions from several friends I have sought to give a picture of life in the village during the period 1900-1910, during the whole of which time I was resident in it. It is not intended to be what is generally known as a "history." I wish to...
Hugh MacDonald was a Scottish journalist, poet and author from Glasgow. He wrote for the newspaper the Glasgow Citizen for many years under the pen name ‘Caleb’. He is best known for his book Rambles Round Glasgow, published in 1854 by Thomas Murray and Son.
The Reverend Dr William Hamilton was the minister of Strathblane from 1809 until his death in 1835. In 1836 a memoir of his life and work was published by his son, Rev James Hamilton. (The Life and Remains of the Late Rev. William Hamilton, Minister of Strathblane:...